Day 3: 2/6/12

The morning was basic, getting used the routine: turning on the computers, lights, etc.; checking in and out books for students.

Marian and I discussed graphic novels and changing novels into graphic novels. My sister recently went to India and brought back "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" in graphic novel form. We looking into ordering these for the library, but couldn't find a way to purchase them b/c they were printed and distributed in England.

I got to use my book cover skills to mylar cover a few new books. I learned how they make labels and add them into their system. This was an important skill because I don't do a lot of acquisition at work, and really wanted to know how they deal with this task in the schools. I like how easy it is to catalog to books. I also was interested to learn how easy, and fairly inexpensive, it is to order books pre-labled and cataloged.

I learned how they take money for fines and printing and how they do the paperwork for this. As a former math teacher, I really like this aspect as well as the budgeting and spreadsheets. We had a chance to talk about budgeting in respect to collection management and how fines can help with this by giving some wiggle room.

They are working on a Manga Mania event for the students and I made the poster for the students to take home. I also needed to make COBRA posters to post over the halls to keep the students (and teachers!) from plagiarizing and incorrect citations. We also worked on material for staff development together.

I had a chance to pick a few alternative books to "Tears of a Tiger" for a lesson. This was an interesting ordeal because the books needed to be religious in nature, but tread carefully. If the parents don't want their children reading this book, it is unlikely they will want a different similar book. We worked with one of the teachers for this lesson on a phone message to send out to parents about the book and the lesson (hoping they would want the students to read such a great book).

The library leaders (student volunteers) came in again and I love working with them. They are always very helpful and interested in what we are doing. We worked on shelving books which they are great at.

Marian and I had a chance to talk about core curriculum and how the library fits in with supporting the classes. We looked at this in relation to a few of my assignments as well. We seem to work together as a team really well; keeping each other on task and remembering what we need to work on next.

I feel quite at home here and enjoy working with both the staff and the students. It's sad to leave and go to my other work, but it's great knowing that I'm going to school for the right thing!