The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Just got home, listening to George Winston's December CD. My granddaughter is sleeping whilst mom runs errands and dad is just running! Worked on refurbishing some old books today. Checked out a class set of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Checked in a class set of Colored People. Checked out a student who is moving to Alaska over break. The wiring people came in today and started wiring the new configurations in the labs! Played some music today. Winter Solstice VI and Dave Koz. Mrs. H treated Mrs. M, Mr. B and I to lunch from Amadeus today. She is so special and does so much for the library and her family. I'm lucky to know her. My son and daughter in law and granddaughter came to Sprague today to visit some of his old teachers! Mr. S and Ms. L and Mr. J was here subbing for another teacher and my son enjoyed visiting with them! A fabulous day! See you in a couple of weeks!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Ch-ch-ch-Changes


Today we worked on getting the labs finished up since they will be in tomorrow to start wiring. We moved the tables, cleaned up all the dust and stuff. It looks so nice. We moved my desk, so I don't have quite the set up I did before, and in keeping with the ADA requirements we want to meet. So my blue lab was moved over. We have two emergency doors that were blocked by a row of computer tables, so those are now gone and the path through there is now all open. A student did some painting and Mrs. H finished it up. I redid one of the tables where the stripping had been pulled way and broken by something. So I pulled the stripping out and redid it so the stretch in the back which was good, is now in the front. We got it all pretty well set today, and things look good.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Round 2





More painting today, Mrs. H brought in her sander and I did the first coat of the darkish green in the computer lab. It turned out pretty good, but we do need to do another coat. It went a lot quicker than the undercoat! Processed one teacher magazine, and one for the library. Did the usuals. The camerata orchestra came in today and played and that was lovely. Got a confirmation that we are getting shipped in the rest of our Duetsch Aktuell 3 workbooks. We only got in 10 and should have gotten 40. Worked on the Insignia program and trying to get down the reserve system. A kid I reserved a copy of Mockingjay for today, was pulled up before a student that has been waiting since November 5th. That's not right ~. We think we may have it, but we'll test it now to see. Did some more repairs. Found a World War II book for a student that was misshelved. I was so excited today! My son and daughter in law and granddaughter flew into Seattle today and will be home here tonight!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Rotary

Came in hoping to do some painting today, but Mrs. M's hubby had lent out his sanders, and we really need to do a bit of sanding before we paint. Not to mention the Rotary Club was in today for their annual meeting here and the library was closed for their award ceremony, the choir sing and lunch, which would not have gone so well with the smell of fresh paint! So, I processed in eight magazines for the library. Worked on more repairs. Helped Mrs. M in the back during the meeting with relabeling some old books. After she left, Mrs. H went and did a book talk so I ran the front for last period and checked out books to the kids that came in from the book talk. Did the usuals as well.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Closing Up

Got some more boxes for our surplus books from the cafeteria and finished up with all the books we had pulled and they are ready to be picked up. Worked on the stack of repairs, processed two magazines for the library. Working to find a teacher edition of Developing Child, so I'm trying some different venues. Checked in(2)/out(7); log-in(2); student assists(8). Mrs. H had a meeting after school, so I closed up the library. Turned off all the monitors, pushed in chairs and generally cleaned it up just in case we have people in tonight.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Statue of Liberty

Switched shifts with Mrs. M today so I could leave early for Seattle and to visit my daughter! Mrs. M had to take her dog to the vet in the morning, so it worked out perfect for her as well! So I went in and opened up the library this morning, turning on the search computers, getting lights on and opening the doors. Did a lot of repairs today. Checked in a stack of books and one of them had a bookmark from a tour of the Statue of Liberty last summer, so I looked up the student and had one of our aides take it to her in class. I wouldn't want to have lost that! Did check ins(6)/outs(3); logins(2); print accounts(2); student assists(1).

Thursday, December 9, 2010

You're in my Parking Space!

It was pouring rain today when I came in and someone else had parked in my spot! I had to park way down by the trees and limp up to the front door :( I must admit, I sent some unkind thoughts to them during the day. Asked for more boxes from the cafeteria so we can get everything all packed up for the surplus pick up during winter break. Labeled the boxes I had used for packing up the Analysis V2 books we had gotten in (donated from another school). Since we never have used the current stash, I just boxed these up so they'll be there if we need them with the new math requirements. We talked about the withdrawn books and I repaired a couple of graphic novels and put them away. Our manga section was horribly misshelved, so I cleaned that up. I also talked with the students that are supposed to be working on those and we talked about making sure at least the series are all together and in order. I started working on the repair books we have in our 'don't put these out until repaired' pile. Just a mish mush of different issues. Checked out(3)/in(7); log-ins(2); print accounts(1); student assists(4) that I remember! But I did remember to pick up cookies from the home ec department after school today for my meeting tonight!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Painting

Today I dressed for painting and spent most of the day painting the three walls of the green computer lab. After I got all the walls painted with our base coat which took 2 gallons, I got everything cleaned up. I had about another hour and 15 minutes, so I finished up some of the repairs I had started yesterday. I did a lot of clean up as the kids were leaving, pushing in chairs, turning off the computer monitors, making it look nice for the group that is coming in tonight. Mrs. H had to leave for a meeting, so I closed up shop for the day. We'll get our new paint next Monday and we'll finish up that for when they come in and do the labs over Christmas break. Processed in two teacher magazines.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Stats - Stat!

Had a call when I got in to run statistics for how much money in textbooks we have billed. So I ran the numbers and from the graduating class of 2005 to our current students, we have over $47,000.00 in monies owed. That's just one high school. Amazing. I shelved all the new Analysis books and got that all cleaned up. Processed three teacher magazines and five for the library. Mrs. A got some parent comments on Snow Falling on Cedars and so I gave her some feedback on that book. Check outs(13)/ins(4); login help (2); print accounts (2); and student assists (3). Finished packing up all the books for clearing the shelves so they can get taken down tomorrow. Worked on some repairs to sit for the night.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Find a Remote

Today Mrs. M called in sick and so we had a sub in. I was very busy! I did a lot more than I usually do with check ins (8)/outs (25); money into print accounts (16) and student assists (14). Processed in two teacher magazines and one for the library. Helped a student with printing a brochure. Put in a call to the Pearson rep on the audio for Great Expectations and he called me back, so there's some progress there. Another teacher needed a TV with a DVD and a remote, so I picked through a box of remotes we have and found one that works for that set up! She was very happy.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Packing Up

Got the Analysis books all processed in today that came from another school. Processed in two magazines for the library, sent a book back to another library. Cleared two students from some of the books they owed us. Checked out a class set of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We found that we are supposed to get our computer labs redone during winter break, so I started packing up the books that are over there in the way of that work. Checked in/out myriad students, put money in print accounts and did a pass check a couple of times today. Finished up some repairs.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Wise Snow Finn

I had so much fun doing this calendar! Artist I am not, but just enough to make me happy for the calendar! Came in this morning a bit early and finished it off before I started work. Did the outside bulletin board for Holiday Reads and discovered our The Story of the Other Wise Man is missing. Checked out two class sets of Snow Falling on Cedars and two class sets of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Got through the rest of the books Mrs. M had pulled to redo the spine labels and barcodes on and took them up to be retagged. Did some repairs and checked in/out books, put money in print accounts and assisted several students with other tasks. Got all the back cleaned up from the messes I had made!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Starry Starry Night


Loved working on my Starry Starry Night calendar! Today Mrs. A came in looking for their next book and couldn't remember what we had discussed, so we went down the row and there I saw it Snow Falling on Cedars. So I pulled the books and they will start coming in today to check it out, so I did a class set for 8th period today. Ms. F requested House on Mango Street, which we don't have, so I had to request it from another school for her. Mr. M asked me to get ready The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for his english classes tomorrow, so I pulled a cart of those as well. Finished up the calendar. Boxed up the rest of the German books. Mrs. M and Mrs. H left today early, so I moved up to the front and handled the library on my own for the hour and a half until I left. Mrs. M had pulled books that have old spine labels, and Mrs. H asked me to go through them and keep those I thought we should keep and which we should just withdraw, so I went through two of the carts and sorted them out as to what I thought we should keep and what we should withdraw and left them on carts up at the front for the morning all tagged and ready to go!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Goodbye November

A found farewell to November. We had a storm come through and turn out the lights for a moment, but, they did come back on. Shipped out copies of Talking Earth to Claggett Creek this morning. Checked out Hunger Games. Processed magazines, two for teachers and six for the library. Worked on the calendar for next month. Checked in(17)/out(2) other items; put money into two print accounts. Checked out a withdrawing student.

Monday, November 29, 2010

The One Kissing That Guy

A student came and asked if I could unlock her documents, so I looked at her computer and said I would ask Mr. B when he came back. He just happened to come back and asked where she was and I pointed and said, "Oh, she's the one kissing that guy up there." Of course I would look just then. Got in the Analysis books in from McKay today to beef up our collection. Worked on repairs. Started boxing up the cart loads of old German resources from Mr. J's old room that the substitute decided to get rid of. One of the students that really misses Mr. J came and looked through stuff and we found a 1913 copy of an English/German grammar book. Since the student really likes German and does research on the wars, I let him have the book (even though I secretly would have liked to give it to my son) and he was very appreciative. Boxed up two carts of stuff and will work on more tomorrow. We got in a box of office supplies and I checked them in and took it up to Mrs. H and Mrs. M so they could restock. Entered in a new student. Helped another with unlocking her computer. Checked in/out a few things. Helped up front a little. Made a couple of 'pass checks' through the library. Glad to be back!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thanksgiving

I'm so thankful for my job! What a glorious delight to go to work doing something you love and a place you love! It truly is something to give thanks for. I've never had a 'job' that I've loved the way my passion and interests coincide! I'm truly blessed! Monday I spent the day working in the back room moving all the math books. I still have a bit to go, but for the most part, they are all in their new homes, all the shelves tagged and with placards for the ones we can't see too easily! (On one side of the shelves, the books actually hang over the end of the shelf just enough so you'd have to bend over to read the label, so I took old date due cards and bent them with the numbers of the books on that shelf on them so we don't have to bend or guess!) I work my shift and a quarter since we have to cram two and a half days into just two! The school is closed on Wednesday, even though we're 'working'. Tuesday I did my other day and a quarter and processed magazines four for teachers and six for the library. Since the parents will have two tables to wait at for teacher conferences, I put some out for them to look at while they wait. Mrs. H wanted me to revamp the Realidades teacher resources from one catagory with everything in it, to each item having its own. So, I did that on the computer. I barcoded the last of the Literature - Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Essay. I don't have enough room on the shelf for all of them! Helped a couple of students today who were in for conferences and needed some textbook help. Went through my folder of textbook orders we had this year and organized all of them. Happy Thanksgiving to all and God Bless Us, Every One!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Friday Before Thanksgiving

Packed up Calculus books today and shipped them out. Processed one teacher magazine and three for the library. Redid all the Volume and Issue numbers for ESPN (now that I know where they have that info!), helped Mrs. H count the print money and did lots of repairs. Usuals of checking in/out, print money, log-ins and assisting students. Helped Mrs. M just a bit on her sci/fi box, found a couple of books to put in there. Kind of a crazy day, and I'm tired! Just two days next week of 7.2 hours each.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Fish in the Eddies

Had to laugh at a couple of kids that were looking for a friend today. Four came in the main doors, two proceeded further while two just kind of circled between the door and our metallic gates. They came together and then drifted apart and finally all left. They were so cute! Did more repairs today, got down the spanish Foundations of Algebra books and after talking with the department head we decided to keep them for the math department. They also don't use the CPM Calculus books, so I asked schools who needed them and one got back to me so I withdrew them, marked them all out and will box and ship tomorrow. Checked out a class set of Colored People. Worked the front desk a bit this morning and it was busy. Processed in three magazines for the library and one for a teacher. Had one of our aides pull all the math books out of the shelves I'm redoing in the back. Found a book Mrs. H thought got taken last night. Mrs. H had a meeting to go to this afternoon, so I locked up the library when my shift was over. Pulled down the screen and kind of made sure things looked pretty nice since there is another function in the library tonight.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Wednesday? Already?

Not sure where the week is going, but it's going fast! Had a request for some teacher materials so I packed them up and sent them off. Processed two teacher magazines and one for us. Checked out a withdrawing student. A student returned a lost book from last April, so I made sure it got off their billing. Sent in a Life Ring on a couple of computers that won't pop open their CD drives. Student assists(11); check in(4)/out(6), print account money(3), did a student pass check, cleaned up the library, paper, chairs, etc since there is an event in there tonight. December is coming, so worked on an idea for the new calendar, a Starry, starry night...books on stars.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Notice

Worked on sending out overdue notices today. We have to take each kid, look them up in our system and then find their language arts teacher and write the teacher's name on the notice so we can deliver them to teachers to be handed to the kids. Whew! But we got them all done, so hopefully notices will go out and we'll start getting those books back in. The extra key for the backs of the computer desks was in Mrs. H's desk, so I took it, labeled it and put it in the back for if we ever need it again. Worked more repairs today. Processed 2 teacher magazines and 4 for the library. Checked in(5)/out(6), log-in requests(2), print accounts(5). Then we have a teacher who would like an audio version of Great Expectations from the 1991 edition of our freshman lit book so I e-mailed our rep to see if he knows if it is available. We'll see!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Algebra 2

I am so excited that Mrs. H returned today! She left me a little present (she knows I love Mint 3 Musketeer bars) and it was good to have her back! Checked in(5)/out(15), put money in print accounts(3). Mostly repaired all day. Had a student ask to get her paperback math book covered and I did that for her. Processed one teacher magazine and two for the library. Worked in the back reshelving the math books after realigning and renumbering the shelves for the rest of the Algebra 2 Vol. 1 books and got through over half of the Algebra 2 V2 books. Exciting day for me, my son should be on his way out of Afghanistan back to be reunited with his family after 11 months there. He's only seen his daughter for two weeks in all that time and I was jumping around all day hoping to get the call that he was done and home! Well, they could be hugging each other a long time too!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Life Table

We had another CIS advisory today and I was again helping out the sophomore class. It's fun to interact with the students so much! I reset all my biography and autobiography books since we have so many fabulous books. Worked on repairs. Changed out the Life Magazines for three different classes and got them all put away. One needed repairs, so I glued the page together (using my fabulous training) and will check it Monday!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Magazines

Today I came in and Ms. L and Mrs. M were looking for a book, Laika. So I poked around a bit, and when a student asked for a particular book, I happened to look over, and there it was! We checked it out to Ms. O and I took it to her and she was very excited and was talking to her class about it as I left. A student came by looking for Zombie Survival Guide and I had to tell him it was checked out with 4 holds on it. He decided to wait a bit. Did a lot of repairs today and got the last set of Platinum books out to start on. Did two book reviews. Checked in(9)/out(4); log-ins(1) and money into print accounts(4). Ms. C was coming in for her class to look at our collection of Life Magazines. These are all bound in 2 to 3 month books, very nicely. Her aide picked up all the 1950's and 51's. So I e-mailed Ms. C about what she wanted, and she wanted a cross of all the 50's. So I placed on the tables starting with 1950 and had 12 books out for the students to look at. Then we discussed having a new set out for each of her classes on Friday, so after she left today, I picked up all the ones the students had looked at, and put out new issues for Friday morning. They are amazing! I had another student check out this afternoon, and one gal I helped with the books she had out. One had been mismarked on the billing, so I straightened that one out, cleared the two books off the main frame she brought in, then gave her our used book seller address and the isbn of the other two books she still has out. Veteran's Day tomorrow, so no school. Thank you to all the veteran's out there. We have several at our school and my son is currently in Afghanistan (though I hope to hear any day that he is back with his family on base in Italy). Thank you all for your service.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Lost Focus

Last night before I left, I set up the DVD player and Infocus set up we have so a group could use it for a meeting. This morning the set up was gone. Someone just came by and took it. It's frustrating that someone thinks they can just come be, see some equipment and take off with it. What if someone needed it and had requested it? They'd be out of luck. I didn't notice until this afternoon, took a look around, asked Mrs. M and Ms. L if they'd seen it when they came in and they said no. I sent out an e-mail and no one had answered by the time I left. Gave out a couple of 2 Textbooks out slips today. Mrs. H has a special key for the locking back of the computer lab desks and has it at home with her! We asked around, and the techies didn't have one, so I scrounged in the back and found some keys and voila! one fits! So we have a key! Monitored kids and their passes. Two kids had old passes, one from October, one from September! We told them, no, they had to go get a new one for today. Did repairs. Had a student report some of what she thought may be hacking issues. Had two damaged books come in today. Processed four teacher magazines and three for the library. Did the usuals, checking in(3)/out(8), money in print accounts(5) and getting log-in numbers (3).

Monday, November 8, 2010

Dive! Dive!

Mrs. H is still out and will be all week, but Mrs. M was out again today which really surprised me, so we had two subs again today. (Get it? Subs, submarines, dive...) Had to immediately unlock the cabinet so we could load the copier with more paper. Processed in one teacher magazine and one for us. A student is withdrawing so had to go in on the Main Frame and check her account. She brought in a bunch of books so I cleared those and she also had three from other schools, so I packed them up and sent them off. One of our teachers came and asked "That book you recommended, I need the next one, who was that?" "Graceling by Kristin Cashore, right over there." That's always fun! Talked with Mr. M and Ms. L on her doing a book talk on graphic/sci fi for his class on Friday. He asked me, but she is very good with graphic novels and I won't be in on time to work his first class, so it worked out well. Did a bunch of repair work Checked in more billed books. One novel came from North and was badly water damaged. I let them know and they said to just damage it out. We got in our replacement The Arrival copies, so I called LMSS to see how to do the labels, they're different than the usual since it is a lit set. They walked me through it and I got them all labeled and ready to go. Worked on some lab scheduling since Mrs. H isn't here, we have a copy printed out so we can add or adjust as necessary!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Only One

I thought perhaps Mrs. M wouldn't be in today, and since I was actually feeling pretty good, I went ahead and went into work. Ms. L was in for Mrs. H and we had another sub in for Mrs. M, so it was good I came in. Checked in/out books, checked log-in numbers, put money into print accounts. Helped a student find a book on Lacrosse. When I requested it from another school, they pointed out he had several overdue books! So I got went to his class and he said two of them were turned in, but yeah, he still had one over due. So when he gets that one in, we'll send for the Lacrosse book. We had some new books to cover, so I had to find bones for them to rub the contact paper on the books like we do. Another student needed to have a video attached to her power point, and I don't know how to do that, and asked Mr. B to help her. Processed in two library magazines and one for a teacher. Worked on repairs. Helped the president of the Manga Club to set up his poster for the activity thing this afternoon.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

That's Life

So, Mrs. H left yesterday for a procedure and I had to leave early to have a tooth pulled. I first let the office know that Mrs. H was doing fine (I texted with her last night) and collected the mail. I checked e-mails and one of the teachers had borrowed some of our wonderful Life magazine collection and left it for me or someone to put away, so I took the opportunity to get those all back in order. I pulled an aide to help me, then went back and rechecked, made some more adujustments on there and got them all in chronological order. They date from 1937 to 1980 something. We had a book where a student had really ripped a page and he had brought in a replacement copy, so I took the page out of there and put it in the book copy. Hopefully the repair will be good when I check it when I go back! When I took the book out, it was on a box, so I pulled the box down to look at it and there was a whole set of Marketing materials, mostly student workbooks, so I sent an e-mail to our marketing teacher and he'd never heard of that. I will check a few more things when I get back to work. I took all the excess money from print accounts and locked them away. Mrs. H and I have the only key to the storage lock box and I'm not sure if I'll be in tomorrow or not! It hurts, goodbye for now!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Sub In

Mrs. H had surgery today so we have a sub in for the next week and a half. She used to have my job as assistant, but now she's a real teacher librarian! Ms. L! Checked out another class set of First Aid books, and 12 other individual requests. Checked in 7, checked log-in information for a couple and did print account money for 4 others. Mostly worked repairs today. Sent back some 6-Way paragraph books to Waldo. Now that we have our own, a teacher brought them in and asked if I could ship them back, so I did. We also had a fire drill today and it was soooo nice out! Enjoyed getting kicked out of the building! Too bad it didn't last longer!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Auto-Biography

Processed in the Six-Way Paragraph books for the teachers and the Realidades teacher materials that arrived late yesterday and let the teachers know they were ready to be picked up. Processed in a replacement Great Gatsby. Pulled the First Aid books and checked them out for two classes today and we will have another class tomorrow. All set for that! Mr. M needed some dictionaries for his classroom and I also suggested he take some thesauri as well. Mrs. H got permission to send back The Arrivals that were misbound, so I packed them up and sent them off to LMSS. Processed in two teacher mags and four library mags. Also distributed learning materials to teachers that came in from a teacher resource company. Fielded a request from a teacher for a book at another school and sent that out. Worked on the outside the door bulletin board on the difference between autobiographies and biographies. Worked print accounts, other checking in and out.

Nano!


Monday the 1st - What with National Novel Month Starting, the Knockout Quiz and life in general, I forgot to post yesterday! I finished up the calendar, and though it is busy, I like it. Got in the 6-Way Paragraph books for the English department and asked them if they wanted them as teacher resources or for students. Got in the 4th edition of Literature Reading Drama, Poetry and Essays. We had to buy these on the Amazon Marketplace so they are coming in from all over! I took one to Mrs. M and had her check it against the edition they're using right now and she was very happy! So I barcoded all of those and got them ready for check out. Got in 8 boxes of our Baker and Taylor order - Huzzah! That was awesome! I unpacked them all. Found a book for a student who had one on hold and got that ready for her to pick up today. Mrs. M left and since Mrs. H was teaching, I closed down my window and took a cart of repair books up to the front and worked the front counter. Checking kids coming in to see if they had a pass, having it stamped, making sure they sign in the front notebook, checking in and out, it is very busy up there! Mrs. M does a fabulous job on keeping all that going up there.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Crazy Friday

This morning was the CIS labs, so I worked with Sophomores in getting their information updated and then the classes they've taken since the last time they were on the computers. Helped a student with an assignment to write a memo. Stephen Colbert dropped by, or at least his younger double! One of the students looks amazingly like him and dressed in suit and tie today for Halloween! Helped another student with bibliography info. Helped out at the front desk. Had a billed book returned so I cleared the Main Frame on that one. Had another book returned that belongs to South, so I got it packaged up and sent on its way. Did the usual check in/out and put money in print accounts.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Thursday Post

I ended up giving my passes to another teacher so Mrs. M let me get some of hers. Checked out the Anatomy Student Art Notebooks I processed yesterday. Helped a student with some flower pictures for her poster. Did more repairs, and did a repair on All Quiet on the Western Front. Unlocked a computer, worked on the magazines and found I couldn't edit the information, so I had a conversation with LMSS on that. Had two very old books returned, but we no longer have them so they got surplused. Did the usual check in/out, put money in print accounts.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Anatomy Back in the Fold

Had a teacher bring me in 50 student art notebooks from Anatomy & Physiology. They had numbers and barcodes, but weren't in the system anymore. Someone along the line must have pulled them and sent them to a room, but Ms. R wants them checked out to students, so I reenter them and get them ready to check out. We had to check in with the hours we'd work on Thanksgiving week. We are scheduled for 2.5 days, but since the building will not be open on Wednesday, so I need to work 7.2 hours both days. I send in the paperwork to the office manager. We got in four rhyming dictionaries from a teacher to have available for the students and we put them on our dictionary cart. Processed one teacher magazine and one for the library. Our Athletic Director needed a textbook for a class he's taking, so I had to get him entered in. I helped a student with a project, did the usual check out/ins, log-in checks and money into print accounts. Our new german teacher wanted to know if we could get TPR resources for the 2nd year class, so I contacted our rep and she said that no, they didn't have one for that year, but supplied the e-mail for the author and said he loves for german teachers to contact him, so I printed off the e-mail and gave it to the teacher (she's not on e-mail here yet). I also took the original quote to her and had her check it out to see if there were other materials promised, but we didn't have yet and she needed. She didn't find anything she wanted. Did some more repairs.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Book Keeper

Had a student walk by and leave a sticky note that said "X thinks you are an awesome book keeper." It made me smile! I guess he left other notes around, the ones I saw were all uplifting and nice. What a nice way to go about the day making people smile. That should be a class! Checked in a class set of Beowulf and 8 other texts, checked in 7 books and signed out a student who was withdrawing. Put money into print accounts, then Mrs. H decided to turn over the money to the bookkeeper today, so I helped her count as her double checker person. Processed in 4 teacher mags and 5 for us. We still don't have some of our magazines on the Insignia update yet so I did put the three out since they will be in the holders. I am keeping a list of the ones I put out without barcodes. Looked at a set up for the November calendar, autobiographies and biographies. A student took a moment to look at the dewey decimal system chart on my desk today! w00t! Did a lot of repairs and got books ready to be handed out, so that stack I pulled the other day is about done. Mrs. M was looking for a book called Damage, and I knew it was in our new maintenance file, but opps! It slipped through and didn't actually get logged into that! And that was the book that got me started to do that! Had another student come to me that her computer had a virus warning, we couldn't get out of it, so I shut down her computer. Had another teacher come by and look at bringing in some books she has in class to have the students check out, they are barcoded, but not in the system, so I will process them in.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Blustery Day

Spent most of today working on repairing books. I had one that had "I AJD" in all different ways and on innumerable pages. I went through the book about four times, and was still catching pages. But I think I finally got most of them. Oh, she also just 'likes' Derek. I got more of the books ready for check out. Checked out individual books, checked some in. Put money into print accounts. Had a class come in from the dlc and I had to get log-in numbers for about 12 of the students.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Updates

Homecoming today! I got in four magazines and when I went into Insignia this morning to work on them, they said two of them didn't exist! We had an update last night, so I e-mailed LMSS to let them know we lost some. I found eleven magazines titles have no records. We also talked about the barcodes from the magazines are not working, so I printed up a barcode on my printer, and then our main printer. Wow, you can really see that my printer is smudging things, so I went through a good cleaning on it. Checked out two class sets of Ricochet River. Did more repairs mostly on the Prentice Hall Platinum books. We are so low on them, and the ones we have left are the real dregs of the batch and I determined not to check another one out unless it had been repaired! So, I had a student that needed one, and tried to get it repaired before class started. I didn't have enough time, so I sent her to class and had the book delivered! Gave out help in the computer lab today, monitored our students for passes, checked out 5 books, looked up 2 log-ins, put money in 4 print accounts. Mrs. M and I also took all our print account monies, sorted them and put them into the cash box for the weekend. Happy Homecoming you Sprague Wild Things!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Don't Take my Vine!

This week is homecoming and it's all about 'Wild Things'. They decorated all the hallways and mine has grass and rivers and these twisted green vine things hanging down. So at the first break today, I heard a kid grab one and he was walking down the hall with it. I hung out my window and told him to bring my vine back! He was so funny! All embarrassed and said it was coming down anyway, so he put it up and over the drink vend machine. Too funny! He even came back later to apologize! Checked out 11 individual requests, checked in 4. Helped 4 kids with log-in issues and put money into 4 print accounts. Ms. L came over and asked for some Sentence Combining books, so I got those ready and she came the next period with her class and checked them out. Did a new book review for Tender Morsels. Worked on some repairs. Put the library books that need repair into a maintenance account (they didn't have a repair account) and Mrs. H liked it and then called to see how to generate a report on that. Helped a student print out a paint (program) project, helped another figure out how to print. Handed out 3 Longman Readers to students that had purchased them. Liferinged in a student who has had one computer log-in number that no longer works, and now she has a completely new number. Mrs. M has had this happen too, so we're letting the techs know that this is coming up and they might want to check into it. Mrs. H had a meeting after school today, but the Manga Club was having a brief meeting before the homecoming parade tomorrow so I was the adult-in-charge so they could go ahead and meet. We've really been cracking down on students coming into the library during class time. They need a pass, a project, and to sign in on our log sheet, otherwise, back to class!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Arrival

Checked out 27 individual requests today, along with a class of Abraham Lincoln's DNA, and The Ear, the Eye and the Arm. Worked again with Ms. A on texts for her students. Walked the lab several times to monitor the students working there. Did more reshelving and it's not working out the way I'd hoped. Sent a '2 textbooks out' slip home with a student. Something we do to just let the parents know that a student has misplaced a book and they are now financially responsible for 2 books of the same title. I confirmed the purchase of the Six-Ways Paragraph books today and wrote up the form for the purchase order. Got a couple of log-ins for students and checked in a book. We have a teacher that uses The Arrival to show how it might have been for immigrant families coming over to America, and she noticed that there were duplicate pages in 5 of the 45 books! I tagged them all and Mrs. H will speak with a rep to see if we can get replacements. I helped Mrs. H to make a sheet on procedures for Study Hall students that come to the library. We came up with quite the list!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Life Ring

Checked out 24 individual requests for texts throughout the day. Talked with Ms. A on texts for her students and she brought in two classes this afternoon to check out The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Mrs. M needed a quote on some books, so I checked my sites and sent out some e-mails for pricing.When we have technical issues, we will often go directly to Mr. B and ask him for help, but still put in a 'Life Ring' so they can catalogue issues and time. So I had a student that couldn't access SK OnLine, so I asked Mr. B to help her, and put in the Ring for his log book. Did 2 simple book repairs. We have one Art History book in the library to study, but another student needed one as well, so I got her one from the back. Processed in two teacher magazines and five for the library. Mrs. H wanted one that dealt with Alzheimers for her Diversity class, so I just handed it to her rather than putting it on the shelf. One of our other teachers wanted to get the last People magazine on bullying, and I found it today, checked it out to her and put it in her mailbox for her to retrieve and let her know I found it. Also did money into print accounts and looked up log-in numbers. Pulled books for tomorrow, The Eye, the Ear and the Arm and Abraham Lincoln's DNA. Worked more on the shelving in the back, getting all the spanish done up to the new books, reconfiguring the spacing on the shelving. Mrs. H is doing a book talk on fantasy/sci fi/ type books along with some other genres, so she came over and went over some of my recommendations for her to talk about.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Pizzicato

We had our wonderful orchestra in again today playing Sarabande and Pizzicato! So much ear candy! Finished up the surplus boxing from the Friday half day - 31 boxes total all packed, marked and ready to go! Shifted shelves for the language books, since I surplussed out half the Bienvenidos, could make some room. Some of the shelving made no sense, 40 books on one shelf, the one underneath could only hold 8, so I evened them out and renumbered them. Checked out two classes, one of Fahrenheit 451, the other Prentice Hall Platinum lit books. Checked in and out various other books during the day. Checked out a student leaving us. She is going to South with two textbooks still out to her, and a library book. So I noted them. The office asked me to bill her, so I did. We had decided our 6th period aides needed to listen to Channel One before they began work for the day. So I rounded them up and they listened nicely, then off to work! Helped a student with deleting columns on a spreadsheet, checked students in the lab making sure they had passes and signed in our log book, entered in a new student and got her texts for her classes. Processed in one teacher magazine and a library magazine. Checked in a stack of books left on my desk. Put money in print accounts.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Surplusing

That's all I did today for our half day, pack boxes of surplus books. 3 hours worth! Got done all the german and most of the spanish before it was time to go!

Forgotten

Thursday - the 14th - Forgot all about this! I went to the dentist after work and found I have 4 abscessed teeth! Oh my! But, in other news: I had a teacher ask for a resource that we hadn't gotten in, so I decided to go over the teacher materials list from our original invoice to see what we'd gotten in and what we hadn't. There were still three items out, one of which was the Audio CD's - very important for language classes! I e-mailed our rep and let him know. Tomorrow they are having an inservice in the library and I am working a half day, so I withdrew all the rest of the old german books and some of the spanish books. I will pack them up in the back tomorrow! Did lots of print accounts, checking in/out. Mr. S told his kids to do work in their text, and they hadn't come and gotten any yet! So he had two classes to come down and pick up books! They are the ending dregs and I hated to hand them out, but the kids needed them. I also talked with Mrs. H about our resources, and she wants me to change back to the old way of listing each resource separately so she can easily see what we have for teachers, so I will work on that next week.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Cycling Freshmen

Today I went in early since I needed to be in and help the freshmen get through their CIS program. Little did I know that not one, not two, but three classes of freshmen would cycle through in 2 hours, 20 minutes. Wow! I was busy helping each of them get logged in, filling in their personal information, their classes and filling out a worksheet. I also checked on some Teacher Express resources, packed up some workbooks that Follett bought from us, processed in four teacher magazines and six for the library. Checked the repairs I did on the last two Realidades and they look good, so I barcoded/processed them and they are all set. Begged for another copy of Bien dit! 2 for Ms. B from another school. I got to try out one of the things I learned on my training, to make a bunch of barcode labels at once instead of one at a time. It worked great! Also got the approval to ship out the old german books and half of the spanish 1 & 2 old books. So I withdrew the Wir, die Jugend and got almost all of them packed up before I left today. We also had a teacher come to me with the new People magazine and its focus on bullying, and I could show her the new Time magazine on cyberbullying and give her several books off my shelf to show the teachers. They were going to do a training on suicide prevention and bullying was included in there. Glad to help!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Bio-Shift

Worked on covering the paperbacks today with our contact paper, helping out students with check in/outs, putting money into accounts and various other requests. Also looked through our biography section for books. It is so crowded and no real room for what we have, much less to try and get the books in there if we have new ones. So Mrs. H and I decided to put a row on top of the middle low shelf and relieve some of the crowding. Looks so much better! I also cleaned behind two entire sections, ugh! the dust! Checked out two class sets of books, The Arrival and Immigrant Kids to Ms. O and took them to her since her class is close by.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Jackets

So I brought in all my books this morning and spent the day mostly in working on getting the jacket covers ready to put on the hardback books. Too much fun! Did the usual student helps as well. Also processed in one teacher magazine and five for the library. Got to thinking that on Wednesday they want me to run the freshmen lab, and I don't normally come in until 9 and school starts at 7:50, so I sent an e-mail to Mrs. A asking if she'd like me to come in early. Since the kids are all done by 11:30, there's no need for me to stay late that day. Also had a librarian from a private school call and say that she'd been in our building for training on Friday, and asked to look at our library. She is getting to do some remodeling. Mr. M brought her down and told her we were getting rid of all the shelves and probably all our fiction too, with just a little bit to keep. Ah, HELLO!!! We set her straight, that no, the library is going nowhere and that the shelving removal is going to renovate the old computer lab, we're not changing the library to all computer labs! And definately no, we're not getting rid of any books.

Friday, October 8, 2010

LMSS

Today was a statewide inservice day, so I chose to head over to LMSS for the Insignia training. Since I was going across town, I also volunteered to work the rest of my day over there and they accepted. I was hoping they would pull all the books we'd sent in and I could get those ready to take back, and Huzzah! they did! So I brought home 6 boxes full of books that I'll bring in to work on Monday so our kids will have brand new books to peruse sooner than if I hadn't gone down there. I did a bit more work for them while I was there and the inservice training was great! Thank you LMSS!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Lots of Things




Can I just say I love my job? Just everything about it, and even the drive in. On my way I get to pass Crossler Middle School and they have these amazingly beautiful trees all turning color. Spectacular! Today I came in and put away 6 boxes of paper for the big copier in the workroom and loaded up the mega tray. Had one of our aides dust all the shelves in the back, especially around the bottoms. Checked out a student leaving us. Checked out a second set of books to another student that is on crutches. We got in college writing books, Longman Readers, so I redid the workbook price sheet that we have each year. Sent an e-mail on old german workbooks that we no longer need to Follett to see if they want them. Checked out some books to a teacher. Checked out another book to a staff member for a student (the student already had a book out to her, but it was at home). Processed in our replacement Biology book. Shifted some math shelves. Need to do more! Mrs. A came and walked me through the freshmen agenda for next Wednesday. My book repair supply box was a mess, so I revamped it. We got in a delivery of books that I don't know what to do with! So I will see what Mrs. H knows when we all come back on Monday. Went around the computer labs to see if the keyboard keys were in the right spots. Some of the students have been flipping them off, losing them, turning them around. It's a problem. Mr. B showed me how to get the last student off the computers, so I wrote down their names and sent an e-mail to Mrs. H on them. Worked on repairing an old humungous dictionary and also repaired the three Realidades books that had some very minor damage. Better than sending them back. Some students were freaking out about a dead spider on the bottom of the 300's shelves, so I got some wet tissue and picked it up and threw it away for them. Worked on my fantasy list for books to read. Turned off monitors for the weekend. Stayed another 20 minutes so a student could finish an assignment from watching a DVD. She was grateful and got it all taken care of. And of course, the usuals.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Concerto in La maggiore

Came in and went through the computer lab picking up drinks from students. Most put them away in their packs, another I took to my desk. We got an e-mail saying that we'd be doing video announcements, but I haven't seen a disk, so I e-mailed Mr. C and he says they have gremlins, maybe next week. Mrs. I brought in her seating arrangement for the orchestra and we set it all up for them. They played Vivaldi's Concerto in La maggiore. Beautiful! They could play in here every day as far as I'm concerned! Haulage came and carted off our surplus books. Had to give some computer assistance to some students today and made sure they had passes and signed in the notebook up front. Mrs. O came and took 12 books with her to write brief synopses for. I numbered the Bien dit! shelves. Checked out another class set of Physical Science w/Earth Science books. Withdrew our old Precalculus books and boxed them up for the next surplus pick up, about 20 boxes worth. Got in another magazine subscription discount notice, so I checked it against our current suppliers and they weren't any better. Mrs. M had brought a box of Dramatic Tragedy in before we left last summer, so I did as she requested and barcoded them and put them up in their box on the top shelf. They are very old - copyrighted 1971!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Ancient of Loans

Checked in old german books and out the new ones for two classes today and a class checked out the new spanish books as well. I did a couple of new book reviews and later in the day, one of the books was gone! Someone had checked it out after reading my review, of course! Processed 2 teacher magazines and 4 for the library. One of the teachers asked if we had renewed his Sports Illustrated subscription and since he hadn't responded last year, we didn't. So he came down and we talked about what he wanted and he'll talk with his department head on that. Straightened out the magazine spinner rack and made some extra room for our weeklies. Renumbered the shelves for The Journal of Finn Reardon. We had gotten in some copies from another school. I hate to have lots of marker covering on the books, so I used the same numbers and we now have 1 - 40 of two different sets of the same book. But I'm thinking we can do this! So I did the shelves with a 'J. Finn Reardon 1 - 6 & 1 - 6' and I hope it works! Sent off 3 boxes of The World of Fashion Merchandising to another school. We have one school that has kept track of books they loaned to us for years. Like one was checked out in 1998! These were all books that kids had then checked out from us, and never brought back. So, I asked Mrs. H if we could just go ahead and withdraw copies we had to replace the ones she had on her list - so I pulled 22 books (mostly novels) and sent them off and that should clear us all up except for one we don't have (checked out in 2000) and the three they just loaned us. We had cleared up all the other schools last spring and this one didn't let us know until we were ready to leave last year. So, hopefully we're almost all good with all the schools now.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Busy!

Checked out books all day, the new Realidades, Deutsche Aktuell, Fahrenheit 451, Physical Science with Earth Science. Checked in old german books. Withdrew three texts and boxed them up for the surplus run this month. Seems like I turned around and it was time to go!

Friday, October 1, 2010

No Bullies!




Finished up the Realidades and the Deutsche Aktuell books today! Finished up the October calendar on Bully Prevention Month and very excited that I get to move the slash to circle each day. Here also is Mrs. M's Banned Book Month board up at the front entrance to the library. Did the usual student stuff. Did have some students help out today that made a big difference! Got all the boxes sorted, stacked and put away so I'm so much happier with the workroom! The german teacher came in and checked out a bunch of the new teacher resources to go over this weekend and gave me her schedule to pick up books for Monday and Tuesday.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Realidades

Huzzah! Our Realidades came rolling in today and I got 175 all broken in, processed and ready for checking out! I started working on my October calendar when the boxes came rolling in. I managed to get some of it up, but still have more to go! But books come first! I had to help check out diversity books this afternoon after Mrs. M left for the day up at her desk for about 45 minutes. Then we had a great book on a bully come in yesterday, so I checked our union link on the library info page, and since one was already logged in, I could just call in and get a barcode number for it so it can go on my shelf tomorrow! I got the barcode and spine printed up, so just need to laminate the cover! Yeah! Had two of our Spanish teachers come in before I left looking at the new book so I got a bit hung up talking with them. They will bring classes in on Monday to check out the new texts. Then I turn around, and the German 1 books came in! A wealth of books is always good!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Finishing Up

Finished up all the Deutsche Aktuell we had in today and loaded them on the shelves. Worked on a book order for Ms. M. Worked on the calendar for October. Did the usual checking in/out, $ in print accounts.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Grinding

Mrs. H had left an old hole punch on my desk, so fiddled with it to see if I could get it to work and within a few minutes, decided to take it down to Mr. L and the shop kids to give them a crack at it! Mr. S came and wanted a class set of Sentence Combining, so we got those checked out to him and off he went! Then in between the usual student helps, I processed in all the german teacher resources and remembered we had some preview stuff in the back so I got those all processed in as well. Processed in the year 2 student texts and the year 1 workbooks.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Aktuell

Heard from South HS that they didn't want the Dime books, so I packed them up for surplus. I also took their isbn #'s and three other texts and e-mail Follett to see if they would like to buy any. Did the usual check in/out, $ into print accounts. Got in a box of resources I had no idea whose they were, so I e-mailed the office manager, found out who ordered them and they were almost immediately picked up! Did a repair on a biology dictionary. Then we got boxes, lots of boxes! I was so excited! Hoping they were our desparately need Realidades I checked the labels, nope! They were our new German books - Deutsch Aktuell. I sorted them out. Texts, workbooks, teacher resources and checked them off. Let the World Languages IL know they were here. She came and looked through them and I will catalogue and barcode the teacher resources when I come in the morning. I worked on breaking in the new DA level 2 books after Mrs. M and Mrs. H had left for the day up at the main desk. Sent in a life ring request to see if I can get Trac-it transferred with my login when I have to trade desks. Heard from Follett that none of the books are anything they need at the moment - oh well!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Disgruntled


Had a phone call from a disgruntled mom calling about why we didn't have any Geometry books there. She offered to go out and buy a book so I gave her Bookbyte and told her they had some available and she told me that we should be over there buying them, not her. I could feel her frustration. However, I did use that to contact the loaner school again and get things going. They responded immediately and by 1:30pm we had the books in and were checking them out. It's often too bad that it takes a complaint to get things to happen. Made up the outside bulletin board for banned book week. I had some stuff from last year so I used that and added to it. I think it turned out good! We had our first advisory today and I worked with the sophomores checking personal information and getting classes entered. Checked in and out individual books. Put money on print accounts. Got a box of Algebra books sent back to South since they had run out. Checked on the PO for our back-ordered Realidades books. Mrs. H was hoping we might be able to get at least the on-line access codes for them. Sent an e-mail to central stores to return some of the books we had purchased that had defects.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fractured

Mrs. M came back today and was really hurting. She had fallen Sunday night and fractured three ribs, and she was back at work! We still had boxes of reference books that needed to be put back on the shelves and I took those over and had our aides help me unpack the boxes, break them down and load the books on carts. Since we were going backwards, starting from the end, it was a bit different to read the shelves! But we got them all out, all done and that part of the library all cleaned up and functional - I know Mrs. M would have slipped out and tried to do that herself but Mrs. H and I already decided we wouldn't let her! Got in the extra IPS books and processed them in as well as some High Point resources for another teacher. Processed those in and had an aide take them to her. Processed four magazines for us and one for a teacher, checked out Street Law to a class. When Mrs. M went home, I worked up at her desk until school was over. Processed in some new Journal of Finn Reardon's that were given to us and did a quick check on the CIS lab I need to run tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Bildungsforum

Discovered this new word today! It's a book genre! Check out the definition and how to pronounce it here: http://www.answers.com/topic/bildungsroman. We were lucky that Mr. J, our german teacher, was in the library and he told us how to pronounce it! I did a new book review since I hadn't done one yet this year and worked on my book talk list since Mrs. H said Mr. C was asking if I'd come and do one for his sci-fi/fantasy class. Pulled The Martian Chronicles and Ender's Game for that class as well. We had an unexpected fire drill and that took some time since the school had to track down what had happened. Shipped out the rest of Working with Young Children to South and asked them about some Dime books a teacher had brought in. Withdrew the Reading and Writing Sourcebook and sent those over to Mrs. D. Had a teacher request a resource on Kandinsky, and we thought it was a book, and I couldn't find it. Then I realized it was a print and found it in our poster collection and took it to her. Learned that we needed to e-mail our freight to Mr. C to get picked up. We had been able to leave out a box or two to get picked up, but this year they said no, we need to e-mail every box for a pick-up. Checked on getting a teacher edition, put money into print accounts and did more individual checking in and out.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Knack

I went through our texts and found books that no one had checked out in a few years and today one of the teachers requested one of them! Getting the Knack they decided to keep and use so that was nice to see it go out today. Processed in the rest of the AVID resources and put them in Mrs. H's office. Also processed in bits and pieces of things teachers have brought in over the last few weeks and I had piled up! There was also a big pile on a cart and in two boxes of books that I went through and found some books that needed to be checked in and some teacher resources that hadn't been processed, so I did that. Boxed up all the old stuff that we won't be using to get ready for our next surplus book pick up. Processed in five new issues of magazines. Processed in the new French encyclopedia's and took them down to Mrs. B's room. Checked out a class set of Chemistry books and got ready another set - but Mr. S came in after school to say that they didn't need to come, the kids already had their books! He felt bad about it. Got in 40 extra copies of Algebra Connections V1 from other schools, got them processed in and sent out an e-mail to the math department they were here so the students that didn't get one can have one now!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Western Garden

Got all the magazines from the summer all catalogued today and out on the racks - glad that project is over! In between doing that, I checked out two classes of Biology, had an aide come in and pick up 25 Western Garden to check out to Mrs. S. Mr. C came in and took a class set of US Government and Democracy in Action. Withdrew some old Working with Young Children and packed them up to send to South HS. Fielded a book request since Mrs. M wasn't in today for Where the Red Fern Grows. Judson is sending us a copy. Checked out a student who is withdrawing, checked in and out individual books, put money into print accounts and helped a couple of students get onto computers. Ms. F wanted to check out some more AVID materials and I hadn't barcoded them yet, so I got them ready, checked them out to her and took them to her to make sure she didn't need anything else for their meeting tonight. I finished up the day getting the rest of the AVID stuff all stamped and barcoded. Will just need to finish that up in the morning - another project almost done!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Slogging Through Magazines

Today was all day cataloging in the magazines. 13 different issues of Sports Illustrated alone! I got most of them done, just have Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker to go, but the other 21 magazines with multiple issues (thank goodness some are monthlies with only 2 or 3 issues!) are all done and out for the kids to see and check out! Still checked out books today, and helped individual students. I looked back through my check out records and I have logged in requests for 235 classes, and that doesn't count the teachers that just came in or e-mailed with 'can I bring in my class in 5 minutes to get XXX?' So, probably more like 250 or so! An impressive number!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Mandatory

Finally today I got time to do my mandatory 'training' on the district web site and fill out all my paperwork for the year, and turned all that in! Lots of individual students, a few classes came in. E-mails sent for books and we'll be getting some math from another school! Yeah for sharing! Got all the magazines out to teachers today and started barcoding the pile of magazines in the back. A teacher had some old texts and wanted to know if he should just throw them away, I said 'No!' and had him bring them to me for processing out and to box up for surplus. Barcoded some new AVID resources and a found teacher edition of our 10th grade lit book. My repair on a lit book yesterday worked fabulous and the girl came in and was very happy (since I didn't have any copies to replace it). Heard a student and a teacher talking about his love of writing and asked if he knew about Nanowrimo, and he hadn't, so I showed it to him and the teacher asked for me to send the link, so I did. A very good day!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Helping a Student

As I worked through my stack we had a book that had been donated to 'a student that needed some help.' So I printed up the report and took it into the bookkeeper and she indentified a student that could use help on their bill due to financial circumstances, so we took that off her bill and I processed in that book. More classes in, lots more individual students. We had the first two rows in the computer lab suddenly all turn off. So I hopped over to the computer techs and Mr. R was right there and had access to the room with the breaker boxes and flipped the breaker back on. We are short books and the math department was looking for extra books, so I sent out a few e-mails. One school did a 'permanent' loan on Geometry books, so I asked if we could get some back. Another school offered to loan us books until we got in new books. Looked for prices for Mr. S for a grammar book and worked a bit more on getting things back in some kind of order in the back room. Blew the video announcements this morning, Mr. C came dashing in and we had to find the remote for the player and played the Monday and the Friday for a few seconds until we got the Wednesday one loaded! Argh, I hate to blow that!

Lost Tuesday

I was so busy last night, I didn't post! Another day of checking out a lot of individual students. We had classes in the blue computer lab by me and I helped quite a few students in there. Got some more books condensed down onto less carts and had our aides start putting them away. Had a tech call to see how the Main Frame and I got along yesterday and I said 'great' and I logged in while I had her on the phone, and Huzzah! I was in two days in a row! Started working on my back shelf of 'things that need to get done when I get time' since I also needed the Main Frame for that and got about half way done with that. Replaced books, a book was lost and they went out and bought a new one, so I had to take care of the old book, rebarcode the new one and check to make sure it was off their bill. I did check out some classes, got to help a student pick out a book since Mrs. M had gone home for the day and Mrs. H wasn't in. I loved it!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Steady

Today was just a steady all day checking out. Not quite the fast and furious of last Wednesday and Thursday, but still a grind all day. We ended the day clearing off all the tables from books and getting all the extras on carts to start putting away. Did a lot of individual check outs as well, AP English came in pretty steady all day. Tried to do our mandatory training and couldn't find it, so I'll recheck the e-mails about it tomorrow to get that done. Did good in running the video announcements and Channel One. Took the rest of the book covers up to the main desk to get to kids that want them. I had saved them for the new books, though some of the books were too big for these covers. Checked out a set of books to the LRC class by name and have them for the teacher to pick up tomorrow. Yeah! Mr. C in technology got me onto the Main Frame so I cleaned up all the kids who brought books in and let Mrs. S know what I'd done.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Breathe

At least we got a few moments to breathe today! I even got up the numbers for the calender on the bulletin board for this month, finally! Though nothing else has been done, unburied a few books in piles. Talked to tech services about again not being able to get into the Main Frame. Did about 1200 checkouts today and got ready for Monday morning. Had some student help today and that was very nice. As the class sets slowed up a bit, we started to get in all the individual requests. One boy dropped a class, brought back his book, then decided to go ahead and take it, so back to get the one book checked back out to him! Others were students that didn't have their card with them on a certain day and we have to hand pick their books for them. Other kids drop a class and get another book for the next one. A few kids are bringing back books from last year and they have to get checked in and off to the main frame to take those books off their bill (except for me since I can't get on, hopefully it'll be fixed by Monday!). It just takes a lot more time, but the kids are great and we get them taken care of!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

21 Hundred

That's how many books we checked out today. I knew I'd need to finish processing in the new American Government books, so I did that and had enough ready just in time. Talked to some of the tech people about how we use the Trac-it program. Rumor is that they may create a new program for us. Pulled more books, got ready for tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Checked Out

Just checked out books all day and brought out more books for tomorrow. Answered some e-mails and scheduled in some more teachers that hadn't checked in with me yet. Had a new aide and he did a great job getting some books loaded on carts for me - I hope he stays with us! Got all the books ready for the first two periods tomorrow. Talked with Mr. C and the video crew about the video announcements that start tomorrow and I'll be in charge of showing.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

50 Classes


That's how I spent the day, pulling books for classes. I had 55 e-mails when I got into work today and finished up the list for book pick ups and started to pull the books for tomorrow. I plan on each class taking about 30 books, and there were a few that were double that so I pulled at least 1500 books today and put them on tables or carts for pick-up tomorrow. Today was freshman only, so a bit of a reprieve before the big rush to get students supplied with the texts they need. I think I may be a bit sore tonight! (I actually took the calendar pic on the 21st, it's kind of lame, but serves the purpose! The bookends up at the top hold string with the orange dots and some sparkly pompoms on them so they waft in the breeze!)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Heading South

Since the South HS people were out of their building early for the remodeling and bond projects over the summer, we returned the hours and favor by spending the day helping them unpack. Mrs. M did a lot of processing of new books and I spent the day unpacking all the textbooks they needed out of their boxes for checking out next week and arranging them on carts and tables. Whew! That was a lot of boxes!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Job A-Like

Today was our opening Library Media meeting. So this morning we spent up at that learning about the changes they've made over the summer. Went back to Sprague and barcoded the new leadership texts, scheduled appointments for textbook pick-ups, answered e-mails. Worked with Mrs. H on the floor plan of the library - do we want to get rid of more tables? Or not? Helped out Mr. J to print some stuff. Talked to various peoples on what we have for textbooks, teacher materials and novels for classes.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Literacy

Today we had our opening meeting and did a lot of talk on literacy and what that means to the school and our community. I stayed for about half the meeting time, and as they got into the more teacher specifics, I went into the back and began to work! Had to take some time to peel and put rubbing alcohol on stickers from some of the used books we got in. Sorted through all the magazines and got teacher copies put in their boxes with some other bundles of magazine stuff that we give to them (like updates on materials for their specific department). Got a couple of teachers to clean out some books and Mrs. H was working with the English department when I left on some of their old stuff to see if we could delete it. Another teacher asked if we could get perhaps some extras of some old books, so I checked and sent off an e-mail to see if we could get a better price on those. Sorted through the library magazines and will work on processing them tomorrow. Decided to walk over to Ms. W and ask if we'd ordered the new Spanish and German books and she thought we had. When we checked, she had made an error thinking the French books were the Spanish ones - opps! So, she pulled the quotes. I let the World Language IL (Instructional Leader) know and they signed off on them today so we will be ready when they get here.

Monday, August 30, 2010

First Monday

Today I finished off the new Precalculus with Limits books. Some had been broken in, but I finished them off and barcoded them, made room on the shelf for them as well. Also finished off the French books and got them all reshelved and tagged. Redid the Civics shelves and found a lot of room. Still no room for the English books, but they can stay on a cart for now. Mr. C came from Follett and bought some old workbooks from us and a set of textbooks we were getting rid of. I withdrew the textbooks and they are all set for pick-up tomorrow and he left us a check for what he bought (I gave it to Mrs. H!). Sent out my 'you need to schedule your textbook pick-ups' out to all the teachers today and already had one response before I left today! w00t! The teachers are all due back tomorrow so I'll start writing things down on my pick up sheets to start getting that all organized. Checked out some new materials to new teachers, and some to old teachers. Started working on the last of our 80 box stash of books - the American Gov. books. Some have stickers that need to be peeled off and the stickiness taken care of. I asked Mr. C how they got the stamps and numbers off the ends of books and he said they have these amazing belt sanders and have 4 people running them all day - I want one!!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Barcoding

Spent most of today working on the new books. Making new entries for AP Physics, the AP Testing Workboooks and AP Biology and stamped and barcoded them, and moved other books to get them in place. Also placed the new Mythology books and regular Biology books in. Revamped the French Bien dit! books and workbooks and broke in the spines on the new ones we got in and started to stamp them. Helped get the boxes of books out for the new shelves to continue the 900 section. Barcoded Street Law and made space for the new copies rearranging the old ones that were too crowded and barcoded Homes Today and Tomorrow and got those into place. Sent out e-mails to teachers on what they wanted to do with certain books. Mrs. B wants all the new Guide to Good Foods checked out to her for her classroom sets so I checked them all out to her and let her know they were ready for her to pick up. She wanted to keep all 40 of the old set of books for absent students to check out, and I asked if maybe we could just keep 20 instead. Less space to use up and she said that was fine. Sent an e-mail to our Follett rep that we did have some books and workbooks for him to check out and he will be out on Monday.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Moving Furniture

No silly's! The furniture wasn't moving on its own, we were rearranging it. Mrs. H decided to move her library desk over by the main door, and we moved the couch and chairs over to where her desk used to be, and the magazine racks, and the manga shelves as well, rearranged all the tables in the main part of the library and moved in the new shelves for the 900 section. It really looks nice! Also did a lot of barcoding today on the new books in and opened up my new boxes from yesterday and got those all set to go. We have really appreciated Mrs. K from South coming this week and helping out, she got all our new Biology books broken in and barcoded (100 of them) and some other stuff as well. She's back to her school and we'll miss her great work! She made a huge difference! Thank you Mrs. K!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Freshmen

Today I got in quick to start barcoding teacher resources. I knew we'd be busy with students and registration the rest of the day. I barcoded the Precalculus, Foods and AP Biology resources. I also printed up barcodes for some of the texts I had already unboxed and gave them to our helper (her school underwent major changes this summer, so they're not open yet) and she worked on barcoding our BSCS books and Biology extras we had gotten in. The rest of the day I spent working on registration with office people and volunteers. It wasn't too bad. We got in new boxes in the back! I fended off everyone since I want to unpack them! They are a whole assortment of books we got in, bits of this and that and I want to make sure they are all accounted for and in good enough shape to use! Yeah! More boxes!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Boxes and Registration

Very happy to be back at work! I was in last week and picked up my badge and keys, so I knew about all the boxes that are waiting for me in the back room! We did get in new textbooks, not as many as were requested, but more than I thought would be approved, so happy unboxing day! I decided to unpack everything, a cart for each title. There were about 70 boxes I unpacked and some teacher resources and AVID things as well. I put the AVID stuff in Mrs. H's office. I did get everything unpacked and ready to work on. Checked amounts on the packing slips. When I came in, the office asked me to help out a bit with registration today and especially tomorrow, so I took a crash course in the program and helped out for about half an hour today changing data for students on our database, new phone numbers, addresses, etc. Once I got all my privileges set, it was a pretty easy process and I actually helped some kids! Today was easy, just seniors and juniors, tomorrow are the sophomores and freshmen which are quite the herd...

Reading List 2009 - 2010

  • Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig - Based on a true story of the author's family, this tale of the Danish effort during WW2 is amazing. A must read.
  • Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs - Love these stories of the shape shifter Mercy Thompson. Another wild tale of the fae in the Tri-Cities area.
  • Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines - Gladinating! This tale of a girl who has lost 7 fathers to gladiator fights caught me by surprise for an entertaining match!
  • Longitude by Dava Sobel - Fascinating story of the men who struggled to claim the prize for finding out how to calculate longitude. Someday I will go see the Harrison's!
  • His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - Excellent! Dragon's are the 'air force' of the early 1800's as England and Napoleon growl at each other across the channel. Enter Captain Laurence and a hatching dragon egg. Temeraire choses Laurence and they learn the importance of their new life.
  • An Arsonist's Guide to Writers Homes in New England by Brock Clarke - This guy thinks too much and I was tired of his inner ramblings. Put it down after 117 pages.
  • The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey - Quick read of how possibly Shahrazad used the 1,001 stories to save her life and the life of her husband. I enjoyed it.
  • The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig - I want to write like Ivan does! Another superlative tale of life in 1900 era rural Montana that revolves around the one room schoolhouse. A must read.
  • Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch by Charles Leerhsen. Harness horses were king at the turn of the century and Dan Patch was an amazing pacer. His story is woven into the history of the time, his owners, the drivers and others touched by him. Some writing flaws, but a good spin.
  • Made in America by Bill Bryson - quite the read on words in America with a lot of history to boot! Quite the slog, but enjoyed the early years of the country bits and learned a few things. Did you know that bicycles were at one point called Boneshakers? I liked that book though there were no bicycles in it!
  • Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards - A woman fosters an abused horse and finds in Lay Me Down's gentleness there are things she needs to learn about herself. Very nice.
  • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - I finished off this marvelous trio and was sad to see the charactors go! Mr. Larsson died just after delivering these and there are no more. I enjoyed these immensely!
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson - more twists than the 33 inverted loops I did at Magic Mountain one day. Fabulous!
  • The Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez - A hairdresser lands in Kabul amongst all the agencies tryng to help the people there. She is immediately welcomed and comes to open and run the beauty school to help the Afghan women. At times funny, and others sad, this true story is a page turner. I loved it.
  • The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. A tale of personal worth and choices by a young Pakastani financial genius torn between home and family, America and a lost love. He tells his listener his story over a dinner with a stranger. My son is serving in Afghanistan and recommended this.
  • The Places in Between by Rory Stewart - Rory backpacked through Afghanistan in 2002. An interesting view of the country and people, though Rory admits he was not feeling well during the trip. I was ambivilent about it.
  • Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. Honest Abe had a secret diary that chronicles the great fight of his life, the war against vampires. When you think that plantation owners may have been vampires, buying their next blood feast at the slave sales, you can see why Abe was so focused on freeing the slaves. A nice historical/speculative fiction read.
  • Boneshaker by Cherie Preist. Loved this steampunk Seattle story. The 'Boneshaker' goes awry and digs under gold rush era Seattle releasing 'the blight' creating zombies, so they wall it off. Zeke's father created the boneshaker and he wants to find out what really happened and goes under the wall. Mom, of course, suits up and follows him in. Great story, marvelous characters.
  • Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs. The next story of Mercy Thompson as she's up to her neck in vampires. Reading candy!
  • Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead. Great next tale in his King Raven series. I'm enjoying these immensely!
  • Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - another of his stories of what influences decisions. I used to work on ground proximity warning systems when I was an electronic assembler, so I really got into "Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes" chapter. They should have listened.
  • The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. Enjoyed this little trip around the world in search of happiness. A fun little book.
  • Stones for Schools by Greg Mortenson - what a wonderful book, and a great story. I'd love everyone to read this about his continuing quest to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The afterword was written just last October, so very relevant and current.
  • The Dragon's Trail: The Biography of Raphael's Masterpiece by Joanna Pitman - A biography of a painting! I was fascinated by it from the hand of its master to its current residency at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. Compelling!
  • A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher - Sprague Staff Book Club pick for March - some very beautiful language in here, She wrote this from snippets of a diary from her family's journey to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. Did not care for the 'forbidden love' bits, but overall, a good tale.
  • The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson - Loved this tale of the future, can a person be saved by just a butterfly? One of the best scifi I've read in awhile
  • Little Girls in Pretty Boxes by Joan Ryan - fascinating look at what the training does to the best gymnasts in the world - and how the price for many has been too high. I truly hope that things have changed in those sports.
  • Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - a well crafted tale, but I didn't care for it.
  • Flirt - by Laurell K. Hamilton - Another librarian sent this over so I could read how she came up with the idea for this story and I read it all. Though it should have come with a warning! This is not an appropriate book for the Sprague library!
  • Gwenhywfar by Mercedes Lackey - Mercedes found a Welsh traid that suggested there were perhaps 3 Gwenhywfars married to King Arthur and she writes about the third one, the warrior Gwen.
  • The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman - Sprague Staff Book Club February read - I was expecting more of a story, but still the pieces were an interesting perspective of the Warsaw Zoo during WWII.
  • Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett - another great Pratchett read - Tiffany Aching inadvertantly dances with the Wintersmith and he is smitten by her. He makes every snowflake her portrait, even the icebergs at sea. The only question is, will summer come again?
  • Hood by Stephen Lawhead - superlative retelling of the Robin Hood legend - he does for Robin Hood what Jack Whyte did for King Arthur. He used history and went into ancient sources to weave a truer legend that has its foot firmly in fantasy and yet totally believeable. I loved this and will be reading more of the series!
  • The Purple Emperor by Herbie Brennan - very nice sequel to Faerie Wars - can't wait to read Ruler of the Realm! But, yes I can wait. I have another to read first!
  • Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - very intriguing set of information! I enjoyed this.
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson - Sprague Book Club for January - Wow, what a novel! Thoroughly enjoyed the characters, the complex script, almost read it straight through. Well worth a read.
  • Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice - took me awhile to get into this. It was after they arrived in Nazareth that I thought the story really started to grow
  • Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd - wonderful tale of a runaway who dons her 'Solace' wig and tries to get home to Ireland
  • Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher - what a hoot! Had to try and stop from laughing from time to time since my hubby was sleeping:)
  • Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund - fabulous telling of the life of Marie Antoinette garnered from her letters to and from her mother - enjoyed it immensely
  • War Horse by Michael Morpurgo - from a picture he puts together how WWI may have looked like to a horse - I thought it was nicely done
  • Venice Against the Sea by John Keahey - a great account of the city of Venice bringing history alive in today
  • The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks - a lovely set of stories centered on the real life Sarajevo Haggadah that could explain some of the wear and tear on the book through the centuries. Loved this!
  • Wednesday Sisters - by Meg Clayton - Sprague Book Club December read - Had some good parts, but the ending was rough and the years zipped by too fast
  • Fire by Kristin Cashore - supposedly a prequel to Graceling, rainbow monsters and a horse named Small. A wonderful fantasy love story.
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith - Sprague Book Club November read - what a hoot! Loved this version, done so well tongue in cheek - at least if you have cheeks, which I'm not sure Zombies have.
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - a book to read slowly and chew over it. I loved how he kept the 'voice' of the book throughout - amazing.
  • Fablehaven by Brandon Mull - great book, loved the concept of fantasy preserves
  • Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult - Sprague Book Club October read - interesting to learn about brittle bone disease, but the story felt flat and like a formula book.
  • One Tough Mother by Gert Boyle with Kerry Tymchuk - what a hoot! Worth reading for the 'tough mother' ads alone!
  • The Strictest School in the World by Howard Whitehouse - A rubber boy and a girl who wants to build airplanes, and how she is rescued by the boy, an eccentric aunt and an Indian (like the country!) butler.
  • The Coyote Road edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling - found three new authors in here I need to read more of!
  • Firebirds Rising edited by Sharyn November - some great stories in here
  • Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You by Hanna Jansen - a Rawandan girl survives the massacres and is fostered into a German family. Based on her survival during the ordeal with wonderful vignettes of how she and her foster family come together
  • The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - a very dark book, but some great pieces in there
  • Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher - wasn't real keen on this one, though the insights into a teen's thoughts are priceless.
  • Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan - this was a great page turner with great characters
  • Moon Called by Patricia Briggs - I liked this tale of the shape shifter and her friends the werewolves, nicely done.
  • Graceling by Kristin Cashore - Great Tale! Gracelings have gifts and Katsa has the gift of killing. Her journey with Po is transforming to both and well told.
  • Travels in Greater Yellowstone by Jack Turner - lovely essays on his impressions
  • Lost in My Own Backyard by Tim Cahill - I am off to Yellowstone this summer so I've picked up some books to learn about it!