The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Calendar Work

Spent today tearing out my old calendar and putting up the new one - I still have far to go, but it's kind of coming together. Did the usual checking in and out and ran the library after Mrs. H left for the day (only an hour!) and it was busy!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

PPH

Spent time today trying to find out for a teacher if there was a student edition of a text, and there is, so that was time well spent! Did more repairs today and worked on a better way to replace the hinges on books.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Replace

Today I broke down and decided some of our repair books are just beyond help and replaced them with the new refurbished texts we got from Follett. They really do look nice :) Spent a lot of time repairing today. Checked out a class set of our Algebra 2 books and got another class set ready for tomorrow morning. Wrestled with the new Outlook email again today ~ I know they have bugs to work out, but it still gets frustrating when you go to reply and the whole thing freezes up on you.

Friday, February 24, 2012

A Friday

Today I finished up with the paid/billed books and started sorting out the repair books. Sent some messages to the bookkeeper on the billed books. Did some repairs on them as well and set them to dry over the weekend. Checked out two class sets of Ordinary People, checked out some other books too. Processed in two magazines.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Grinding Gears

That's what it sounded today back by my desk. I kept wanting to go and look outside to see how many trucks were going by. Like I was working under the overpass below I-5 or something! I guess the new vent ducts sometimes sound like that - Mrs. H and Mrs. M both said they've heard it up in the vents above the main check out desk. Processed in four magazines for the library and two for teachers. Helped Mr. M with a couple of books for his class. At the end of the day I checked out 25 each of Where Have All The Flowers Gone and The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty for him to pick up tomorrow. I cleaned off the books I had on the back worktable for a student trying to save his flooded books. Checked to see if they were billed, or paid or just needed some repair and started straightening up that area. The student's books were all bad, I'm sorry to say. I told the bookkeeper to go ahead and bill him, and then I wrote him a note to be delivered in his class tomorrow letting him know and that he can come and see me if he'd like. I was so sad they couldn't be saved. I had them in the freezer for 3 weeks and then two more on the back table, but it wasn't enough. :(

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Outlook

Our new Outlook email is all on and we got in all our address books to add in, so I worked on that today. Getting used to it! Finished up the 2 Texts Out slips today and got that all cleared up and am very happy about it! Worked on some repairs, went through some of the piles of books I have laying around. Checked in and out a few things as well. Caught a student trying to get on Facebook, and when I told her not to do that (she was on an art pass from Mrs. T and said she had nothing else to do!) she then tried to get on Twitter. I told them to behave or go back to class, so they left. Also got a few other students that were down there without passes, so sent them back to class or to get a release card. Closed up the library at 2:30 and Mrs. H and I went to the Site Council meeting this afternoon and one of the most important things we did, I believe, was to decide we really need a fabulous volunteer to be a volunteer coordinator. Yep, I agree!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

2 Texts Out

Today I finished up covering the last of the Baker and Taylor order books that had come in. We had one that the spine split on, so hopefully we can send that one back. Worked on two America Pathways books, the only ones left on the shelf that are in poor shape, so I did some gluing and get them clamped for the night. Hopefully I can get them finished up before someone needs another one. Out of all those hundreds, only two left. wow. All because they decided to have the sophomore's also use that book this year instead of the civics book. Then I decided I really needed to clean out my 2 Textbooks Out folder. If a student loses track of a book, we will check them out a second one if they have the slip filled in with a parent consent (because books are expensive!). So, I had slips from back to 2008! I did find three out of part of the pile that were still on the books, but it was good to clear out the slips that had been taken care of, so hopefully I'll finish that up tomorrow!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Front Desk

Mrs. M had to go to a funeral today so I got to work the front desk all day with Mrs. H and we had a really good time! I got to talk with some of the aides that I usually don't and covered books and took care of all the regular stuff Mrs. M usually does. It was a great day and I enjoyed moving out of my back window and movin' on up to the front desk for the day!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Fronting

Mostly covered books today, and when Mrs. M left I shifted up to the front since Mrs. H was over at one of the elementary libraries she is now in charge of with Mr. C. Processed in five magazines for the library. Helped the bookkeeper out with a student. Very busy up front there! I helped get Manga Club going while they awaited her return.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

HeLa

Today we got in part of our Follett order so we have 40 reconditioned Prentice Hall Literature Gold books. Now I can surplus out some of them that are literally falling apart. Covered books all day. Had a great interaction with a teacher. Mrs. S brought in her class for research on people who have made a contribution to health, so I brought up one of our new books called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. She had cells harvested from her body (usually called HeLa cells) without her permission in 1951 and they have been grown ever since and used from finding the vaccine for polio to going up in space for experiments. So I told her about it and she'd never heard of it and was very excited and thought she might use it for her ethics section. Glad to share a new resource for a teacher.

Valentine

2-14-12 - Our meeting got changed from another room to the Oly Forum today, so that was nice since it's right by the library. Pulled copies of Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Dead for Mrs. M's class. Pulled The Adoration of Jenna Fox for Ms. A. Covered books and processed two teacher magazines and five for us. Mrs. H is my valentine since she brought me a card and some Mint 3 Musketeer minis!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Still

Covering books. I got all the manga titles done on my cart and started working on the fiction titles today. Checked in and out books. Clicked the kids out of facebook and tumblr. Got through one whole roll of contact paper and started the next. Got back in some of the Life magazine books we had lent out so I put them away. Another three day weekend coming up, see you on Tuesday.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Round up the Angry Villagers

Sometimes I am just a geek. Not a techie geek but something a little more bookish. I so love Chi's Sweet Home which is a manga series all about a kitten named Chi - he is soooo cute! Mrs. M had them to cover and I totally took them from her and did them myself today and put them on our manga shelves. Yes, I know. I even showed some of the kids them. *happy sigh* On the other hand, today I processed in two teacher magazines and four for us. Packed up books that belong to West HS that we are done borrowing, withdrew them and sent them back to their home. Checked out a set of books to Mrs. S. Processed in Frankenstein books that came in and sent an email to the two teachers that wanted them. Mr. S wrote back saying he'd round up the angry villagers - I think he meant his students, it made me laugh! Had some parents come in with books to clear their daughter's account and neither of the books were hers. Makes me sad when that happens. Had a lady who will be using the library over the weekend for a group come in and I gave her information on where things were and showed her around a bit just before I left. *sigh, Chi is home*

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Voice Command

So there was this kid in today who had his own little computer and was trying to get it to work on voice commands. I wanted to tell him to just go ahead and type! I don't think he got anything done on the paper at all since he was 'teaching' the computer to recognize his voice. Then he would give a command 'open document' and then wait. 'Control L' and wait again. 'Header' and wait again. Oh my! Checked out two class sets of Foundations of Algebra to Mr. O's class. Checked out a set of Understanding Movies to Mr. S. Processed our four magazines and put them out. Did individual checking out. Had a kid who was leaving and after he brought books in, I just had to go to the office to see if he was still there because his Biology book was in pretty poor shape. I wanted to show it to him and tell him I'd have to bill him, but he'd already left. Spent a good part of the day covering the new paperbacks. Still a lot to go!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Happy Birthday Mr. Dickens

Today I shipped out four boxes of books for other schools to use since we aren't using them. Checked in and out books. Checked out a class set of David Copperfield. Checked in all the rest of the books from our order and started covering the paperbacks. Processed in three teacher magazines and never got around to doing our four!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Baker and Taylor

So excited! Our Baker and Taylor order came in today, 13 big boxes and 2 little ones! These are ones I worked on while I was at LMSS one day. I unpacked for an hour! Three carts of hardbacks and one big three tier cart for the paperbacks! Then I checked in two of the hardbacks as well! I am so excited! I only took four home with me (insert blushing smilie here)! I also put away all the Foundations books, checked in and out a few kids, worked the front desk after Mrs. M left this afternoon since Mrs. H had gone to one of her mentor schools and wasn't back yet. Did a few repairs and did a book rep contact for some more information. It was a great day and can't wait to work on the new books tomorrow!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A Day Late

Yes, this is actually Friday's report! Made up an order for Follett since we have a nice credit coming from them. We got 30+ reconditioned Prentice Hall Platinum books and then Mrs. H made a nice library book order from the rest. Processed in eight magazines for us and two for teachers. Worked on covering the last of the new paperbacks with Mrs. M. Still checking in and out books, mostly on individual basis at this point. Checked for some online resources for Mr. A with our rep, so we'll see what she comes up with.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Got Ya Covered

Along with checking in and out lots today I worked on covering books from the five boxes I brought back last week. Helped a teacher with some Precalculus materials and another with a publisher rep to try and get some online access.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Shipwreck

Ah matey! The theme of my bulletin board this month is shipwrecks since I just finished reading Shackleton's Stowaway. What a great book! Checked in and out books all day today for the most part and finished up the bulletin board. Processed in two magazines. Requested some Frankenstein books to come in from another school. Helped a teacher with some movies for her class. I love my days in the library :)