All posts by Abby

Librarianship

Mid summer & goals

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Today counts as the exact half-way point of my summer reading program.  It’s going well, with some great performers, a couple of good library-run programs, and lots of enthusiastic summer readers.

Today is also the day that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my three goals for fiscal year ’10.  Each year we’re required to come up with three specific goals, and we are then evaluated at the end of the fiscal year for our ability to fulfill those goals.

Here are the three goals that first popped into my mind:

  • Keep my head above water – don’t drown in the ocean of work to be done.
  • Keep smiling.  Keep smiling.  Keep smiling.  (Even if the teeth are clenched.)
  • Try to maintain a broad, philosophical perspective on my job.  Don’t let myself get bogged down in the minutia.

But, obviously, those can’t be my written goals.  (Though they are pretty reasonable goals, really.)  So I’ve been thinking hard today about what I’ll put down as what I want to and need to achieve this year.  Here’s what I have at the moment:

  • Finish 16 more Toddler Storytime lesson plans, which include: typed handouts with theme-based book lists for parents (each list should have at least 20 titles), fingerplays and songs, follow-up activities, and a craft idea; detailed lesson plans for me to use, with thoughts on how to introduce each theme and creative ways to present the theme throughout the storytime; and feltboard stories (made at home, of course) to enrich each storytime.  The completion of these 16 lesson plans will bring my total library of Toddler Storytime plans up to 50, enough for a full year and some change (since storytimes don’t run every single week of the year).
  • Further development of the Preschool Storytime, including feltboard stories that are more sophisticated for this age.  Also investigate additional process art projects to use with this age group, since it has been proved that the “splashy” art projects are by far the most popular.  Sigh.
  • Given the popularity of the first annual Lego Expo, research and brainstorm to see if I can come up with another community-based program that is similar.  In other words, the success of the Lego Expo was due entirely to its participants, not to a performer, and I’d like to see if it is possible to create another program that emphasizes childrens’ creativity and innovation.
  • Read more children’s and young adult books.  This obviously has to be done in my spare time, but one major impact of the budget cuts in our town is that my schedule has become odd – very odd some weeks – and I’ve dropped off on my reading.  It is vitally essential that I read as many books as possible in order to be effective at my job.  This MUST be a priority.
  • Be more regular about writing on this blog.  I love that writing entries for my blog helps me to focus my thoughts and energy.  Writing blog entries also helps me to process events at work, and evaluate what worked and what didn’t.  The blog has been yet another casualty of my odd schedule.

That’s more than three goals, isn’t it?  I like the idea of goals, but in some ways they’re a bad idea for someone like me – I’m already a workaholic overachiever, and when writing goals I end up creating way more work for myself than I would otherwise.  Hmmmm.

Etc., Librarianship

Another big thank-you…

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This time to Lizzie, who made me really smile for the first time in a while!

Today I opened our mailbox, and found a padded envelope addressed to:  “Abby Kingsbury, Librarian Extraordinaire.”  From Lizzie, of course!  I grinned and laughed out loud, because I knew right away what Lizzie had sent me – even before I saw the big red stamp saying “Perishable.”  Lizzie sent me dark chocolate!  Not just any dark chocolate – she sent the really good stuff.

Thanks, Lizzie!  You are truly the best!

(And if you’re not quite sure why Lizzie sent me chocolate, look back at this post.  And to make things even more special, Lizzie lives in Maine, not Massachusetts, and has only been to my library a couple of times over the years  :)  )

Library events

A big thank you to Alyson & the rest of the volunteers

We’ve had a lot of fantastic volunteers helping out this summer (and this past year, too), and I owe personal thank-yous to every one of those volunteers.  But I thought I’d devote a blog entry to a thank-you to Alyson, former page extraordinaire, who went above and beyond last Thursday at the Tie Dye event.  [For those of you who aren’t librarians, a page is not just a piece of paper in a book – it’s also the job title of those dedicated students who work at the library reshelving books and who also stamp and cover new books prior to circulation.]

So Alyson was our library’s page extraordinaire, and now she’s half way through college, but still regularly comes back to visit with us and to provide invaluable volunteer assistance.  Lisa was the staff member who worked with Alyson at the Tie Dye, and Lisa told me after the event was over that we really owed Alyson a BIG thank you, because she “worked her ass off.”  Lisa rinsed every one of the t-shirts that came her way (we estimate 200 people attended the tie dye program), and Alyson lugged the millions of buckets of rinse water across the driveway, down a brutal slope, and into a storm drain.  I hear tell that she even wiped out once going down the slope, but she still had good humor about it.

Thank you, Alyson – you’re the best!  And thank you to every single volunteer who helped out last Thursday.  We could not have run this event without your help.  I really, really appreciate all that you did!!!

Librarianship

The hidden things

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Though the public side of my job involves helping children find books, running storytimes and book groups, and generally being a welcoming face in the children’s room, there are hidden aspects of my job that take up a lot of time and seem worth mentioning here once in a while.

There’s the event planner part of my job description – coordinating volunteers and resources and figuring out how to run an ice cream party for over four hundred, or working with Lisa to plan a tie dye party for an as-yet-undisclosed number of drop-in attendees.  Event planning seems to be most intense when an outdoor event is involved, because that requires much studying of weather forecasts and weather radar and sweating over whether to postpone or go for it.  So far it seems as though rain has been a factor in every single outdoor event I’ve planned, and believe me, it’s a challenge to know what decision to make:  rain date or original date.  This year we went for the original date for the ice cream social, and it worked out well – cloudy but no rain, and tons of rain on the two rain dates.  The tie dye party was a tougher call (I’m writing this Wednesday night, with no knowledge of how Thursday’s weather will turn out): the tie dye event was scheduled for 3:00 PM on Wednesday, and the morning was beautiful and sunny.  “Oh no,” I stressed, “Maybe I shouldn’t have moved the program to the rain date…”  But then the heavens opened up at 2:30, complete with booming thunder, and I felt much better.  We’ll see how Thursday’s weather pans out.

Another hidden part of my job is the shopping.  Sometimes, especially in the summer, I feel like a professional shopper.  Popcorn and water for movie nights, ice cream and toppings for the ice cream social, craft supplies for storytimes, tie dying supplies for (yup) tie dying, bagels and juice and cream cheese for book groups, felt for my storytimes (always bought with my own money, that felt) – the list goes on and on.  It’s really hard to keep track of time that I spend shopping for supplies, so I usually chalk all that shopping up to being a good person and don’t bother putting those shopping hours on my time sheet.  I like to tell myself that the good karma will keep me going for a while.

Another hidden aspect of my job is the time I spend making feltboard stories for my storytimes.  As I’ve written here ad-nauseum, I spend my own money for the felt I use and use my own time to make the feltboard figures, so that those feltboard figures belong to me free and clear.  Which is all good, but we shouldn’t ignore the fact that making those figures takes a lot of time and creative energy.  And my storytimes are WAY better for those figures.

Also in my free, unpublic time: book group prep.  It’s impossible to read a book at the library when I’m on duty, so I don’t even try anymore.  All that prep is done at home on the weekends, which is why I insist on picking a lot of new books for the book groups (keeps me up to date on what’s being published, and keeps me interested).

And then there’s something hidden that goes on while I’m at working: book ordering.  I’ve come to realize that most of the library’s patrons don’t know that I order every single book that’s placed in the children’s room.  And ordering books requires careful reading of reviews and meticulous tracking of series so that we’re never missing the next great series installment.  It’s really hard to read reviews while I’m sitting at the main children’s desk, because many a raised eyebrow is aimed my way when I do.  Review journals look like cheap magazines, and it really does look as though I’m reading People or US Weekly while on the job – but I’m actually working.  Not to mention that it’s hard to read reviews in the face of constant interruptions.  So I keep my review reading for my rare office hours, or I bring those review journals home and chip away at reading reviews in my own, off the clock time.

The only reason I mention all of these hidden parts of my job is because most non-librarians really don’t have a sense of how time-consuming the job is.  We all know that teachers put in tons of hours of their own time preparing lesson plans and such, but few know that librarians work the same way, and year-round, too – no summer breaks for librarians.  I do my job because I LOVE it – passionately, happily, thoroughly LOVE IT – but I’d also love for the world to know how hard I work.  And, I never thought I’d say this, but I also miss those “teacher gifts” I used to get at the end of each school year and at Christmas.  Yes, I have way too many mugs now, but it was also kinda cool to be given tangible expressions of thanks twice a year.  (I do love dark chocolate, by the way!)

Cats Dogs Plants Animals, Library events, Summer reading

Winston the therapy dog

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Today was the first visit from Winston the therapy dog at the library.  He did a great job, and two very happy families got to hang out with this gorgeous and sweet pooch.  Winston is a golden doodle, and he’s very tall and very soft and (despite the golden) pitch black.  He’s one of the coolest looking dogs I’ve ever met, and he is very, very well behaved.

In case you’re not familiar with the use of therapy dogs in libraries, the idea is to provide children with a non-judgemental listener to whom the children can read aloud.  Dogs don’t speak English, and they certainly don’t read, so they don’t know if their child reader friend has just mis-read a line from the book.  All the dog knows is that he or she is happy to hang out with his or her young literary fans.  And the kids who read to a therapy dog come out smiling and happy and with renewed reading confidence.

It’s a terrific program, and I’m so glad that Julie, Winston’s owner and handler, came to me with the proposal of doing a program at the library.  And I’m really looking forward to the remaining four “Paws and Read” sessions that are scheduled for this summer.

Library events, Summer reading

Summer update

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So the Ice Cream Social was a huge success, with over four hundred people attending and enjoying the ice cream and the fun stuff to do.  I was beyond tired that night, but man was it a good tired.  Slept like a rock, too.  And now I’m already plotting what we could do a bit differently next year…with the sudden increase in volunteers, maybe we could add some games like sack racing or jumproping or maybe put a few Frisbees in the mix.  I don’t want to go overboard next year, but it would be cool to add a few things that are new and different.  And I’d like to see if we can encourage people to bring their own bowls and spoons and cut down on the amount of disposable dishes that we use.

The summer reading prizes went out the day after the Ice Cream Social; so far quite a few kids have come in to collect these incentives, and it seems like my toy choices are pretty ok.  Happily, the one toy that I felt I was taking a bit of a risk on has turned out to be quite popular: pinwheels.  I was worried that pinwheels were too low-tech for today’s kids, but now I’m very glad that I did end up ordering them.

This week’s big program is Wednesday’s Tie Dye Bonanza.  I have a feeling it’s going to be insanely popular (weather permitting), but some great volunteers have popped up to help out with hauling hot water and controlling the chaos.  And my dear sister just gave me these wise words of advice to calm me down as I stressed about doing tie dye:  “Oh, come on.  If stoned hippies can tie dye, so can you.”  She’s a smart one, my sister.

And, most of all, I’ve been learning how big an effect being out sick for a week at the end of May can have.  I’m just now starting to feel like I’m catching up.  I shudder to think where I’d be if I weren’t compulsively organized.

Library events, Summer reading

Ice Cream Social

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Looks like it will be today!  Weather forecasts predict some chances of afternoon rain, but it appears that the pop-up showers will mostly be west of Worcester, so we should be safe.

I’ve been busy with the last minute details for the Social, so I’ll write more once this giant event is over.

Spare time - Culture, Teaching

Moving on

My tutoring gig ended for the school year (and most likely for good) on Wednesday, and school ends today, so I’m moving on to the next phase of my year:  summer reading.  Our first event is tonight – a movie night, we’re showing Bolt – and the summer reading kickoff event is scheduled for next Tuesday, though I’m guessing that it will be rained out and we’ll have to use a rain date.

At any rate, after the marathon of seven tutoring lessons in ten days, now I feel like I can breathe again.  As much as I loved working with my student, I am tired tired tired of tutoring.  It’s just too much intensity and focus on top of my full-time job which also demands intensity and focus.  I’m not quite sure how Jim and I will manage without that extra money, but sometimes, truly, the money isn’t worth the toll on the body and mind.  Last Thursday I came down with another brutal head cold, which I’ve passed on to Jim, and I’m sure that my long days of regular work and tutoring contributed to my getting sick.  (Though the main reason has to be the cute kindergartener who accidentally sprayed spit on my lower lip as he responded enthusiastically to the story I read to his class on Tuesday of last week…)  And my mind is tired, too. 

A couple of weeks from now, sans tutoring, I’m sure I’ll be my usual energetic self – hopefully healthy, too – and no doubt I’ll start to think wistfully of tutoring come September.  When that happens, please remind me that I’ve retired from tutoring in order to get my life back.  I know I’ll need that reminder.

Blog administration, Teaching

Doubtful this week…

I’m afraid I won’t be posting much this week (week of June 14), due to extreme busy-ness.  This afternoon I’m making the felt pieces for tomorrow’s storytime; the theme is “Mealtimes,” and I’m currently debating whether to make pieces for Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar or if I should go with the lesser known but very cute Pizza Kittens by Charlotte Voake.  Either way, it will take me a good amount of time to make the feltboard story for tomorrow, and I won’t have time today to write a week’s worth of blog entries ahead of time, which is what I would normally do (and yesterday was one of my Saturdays to work at the library).

And this coming week promises to be, shall we say, a bit killer.  Quite a few classroom visits are scheduled for this week, which are a huge amount of fun but also – at times – a bit more tiring than my usual routine at work.  And I’m scheduled to work this coming Saturday, culminating in a B.J.’s shopping trip for Ice Cream Social supplies with Lisa (Lisa belongs to B.J.’s and I don’t.)  But more importantly, my almost-graduated tutoring student and I are fitting in four lessons this week in a desperate attempt to meet our semester total.  Josie missed three lessons in the last few weeks due to school and athletic commitments, and I missed two lessons due to that nasty illness a few weeks back.  Which means that we’re fitting in five extra sessions before school is out on the 26th.  Lesson learned here: though semester pre-payments are nice for tutoring clients, they can also cause problems that are hard to solve.  We should have figured out a way to buffer in some absences when we did this semester’s schedule back in January.  Too late now, though.  And the week of the 22nd will be similarly tight, as we fit in three lessons on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights.

At any rate, know that I’ll be posting again as soon as humanly possible.  Until then, check out some of my new favorite books:  Deeper by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams and The Ruby in the Smoke and its sequels by Philip Pullman.

Blog administration

On the negative side of things…

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Last night, when I got home after tutoring, Jim asked me something along the lines of “What’s up with all the photos on your blog?”

Here’s the scoop:  summer reading is coming, and I’m working like a dog preparing for the summer, but I don’t feel like writing about it.  There haven’t been any cute stories recently that were worth sharing (there was one nice story from yesterday at the library, but it’s not one that I’ll share on this blog because it’s about two moms and I think they’d prefer not to have the story told).  And then there are the things that I’d like to write about, but won’t, because they’re negative – or cranky – or controversial.

If I had an alter-ego on my blog like my brother does on his in the form of Mr. Crankypants, then I’d be all set.  Mr. Crankypants will say controversial, incendiary things without blinking, and he can get away with it.  I’m not quite sure how my brother manages to have Mr. Crankypants on his writing team without getting into trouble, but he does.  Working in the public sector makes that kind of honesty dangerous, to say the least.  One of my coworkers often says to me that she thinks blogs should be anonymous, which would certainly solve for me the problem of writing honest entries, but I completely disagree with her about blogs and anonymity.  In my opinion, if you’re going to have a blog, then you need to own your writing.  Anonymity breeds extreme grumpiness, and can spiral into all kinds of problems, including entries that are personal attacks and hurtful to others.

So I guess it’s a good thing that I have my name as my domain name, and that I don’t have a Ms. Crankypants on staff.  But it also means that I’m struggling to come up with library-related entries at this moment in time.  I hope you’re enjoying the photos and non-library stories – they might be here for a while.