The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Friday, September 28, 2012

More....

Worked on more repairs today but also did a ton of check outs for students. Mostly America Pathways and Chemistry books. Unboxed the new Realidades 2 books but don't have the barcodes so just had an aide break them in and stamp them. That's about it! Weekend here, Huzzah!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Again

More repairs again today on the American Government books. Yep.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Repairs

Yes, all day long! We had to get out the American Government and Politics Today books we had gotten in, so the teacher brought in his class set and Mrs. H and Mrs. M checked that out to students, and another class came in. I checked out two more class sets and worked on the poor sad old books so they'd be at least up to being checked out! All the students got a book today and I finished up repairing six more for tomorrow (students that didn't have cards today, absent students, etc.) and about 18 more on the cart to work on tomorrow! It does feel good to hand a student a book that's been repaired vs. a book that needs it. Did a few more check in/outs for the day, but yes, mostly repairs!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Everything, almost

I tried to keep a log today of what I did completely, so here it is, almost completely - I'm sure I missed a few things here and there! Checked out 40 Friday Night Lights to Mrs. P. Checked out ten dictionaries to Mr. M. Went to check out teacher resources to Mr. C and found some of them were already checked out to students - what? So I emailed our Mr. C and asked and he had no answers. So I checked them back in and out to spanish Mr. C. A student came looking for ASL books and we didn't have them anywhere. We combed the entire library and back rooms, nothing. They wanted them all put into binders, but the other ASL teacher that has that did it on her own. Talked American Pageant books with Mr. N and had two students come in and trade their old ones for new. Processed in two teacher magazines and three for the library. Got in our desparately needed teacher edition Biology books so I went to hand them to our very patient teachers. Took back a class set of Chemistry books and checked them back in so we can check them out to students. The class sets teachers use have tape running from the top corner of the first book, down to the bottom corner of the last book so they can see instantly if any are missing - a very cool trick! But I had to peel all that off the Chemistry books, but it came off very easily. Put paper in the workroom copier for a teacher (we keep it locked up!). Had a fire drill. Checked in Journal of Finn Reardon books from a teacher and began the task of renumbering them from their barcode. We use them a lot, so might as well get started on the new numbering system. Looked up some library books for a student and requested them from another school. Processed in two replacement textbooks. Got all the books that need repairs into one pile and all marked in the system. Had a desparate student ask if I could repair his composition book and I tried to reglue it for him. I rubberbanded it together and told him not to mess with it for a day. We'll see what happens. Cleaned out my email 'in' box. Checked in and out various books during the day. Put money into accounts. Got all the Realidades 3 teacher resources where they belong on the shelves. Had a call from the office on some 2012 voting pamphlets if they belonged down in the library or not, I told her I think they belong to speech Mr. C. Cleaned out our belongings closet, there were still some books and things in there from the summer bond work. I think that's about it. Mostly.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Up Periscope

Today I actually took a breath, and looked around and said "oh, I could start some projects now!" Finished processing in the American Pageant books, Realidades 3 teacher resources and the American Government books as well. Cleared out the stack of papers I had on my desk in my "I'll get to it later" pile. Figured out some book moves for the extra books we've gotten in. Begged two more teacher edition Biology books from another school. (No one was answering my emails - so I called) Checked out a class set of Prentice Hall Literature Gold books. Had a teacher that hadn't been in our system finally got added so I got his books checked out to him. Queried another teacher on the Friday Night Lights so she knew they were here and if she wanted a class set or her students to check them out. Pulled some of our old American Government books that I could do a quick fix on for checking out - they are just using a class set at the moment so now they can get their own. Had our aides unpack the last of our boxes, the oversize library books and start to put them away. Then the day was over! Shwoosh!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Check

Finished up the inventory of AV equipment at Sprague today - writing down all our notes and getting it in the excel worksheet and had it done and checked and sent by noon! Huzzah! Then went and wrote the numbers on the end of the Conceptual Physics books and started checking them out to teachers - got two class sets done and into the classroom for Monday. Had various other interruptions, but those were the major two things today! Hello weekend!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

AV

Mrs. H tried to get us out of canvassing the entire school to do inventory on all the AV equipment in the schools, but no luck! So Mrs. M did an amazing job covering the upper floors and I did all the bottom floors of the school and then I started to work on putting it all down on the inventory sheet so we can send that in tomorrow. I have more input to do, but shouldn't be a problem getting it all done. Spent most of the day doing that! Did just a bit of check out/in. But I did have great fun walking all over the school and especially watching the teachers in action in their classrooms. We have such a great dedicated staff!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Bulletin Board Day

I love my bulletin boards and so I finally started my Shakespeare "All the school's a stage" one today and by the end of the day it was awesome! Ms. S came by and said "Oh, I have a Globe theatre set, would you like to use it?" Ah, yeah!!! So she brought it by and it is PERFECT!! I'll just have to remind myself to work and not play with it! Got in our new, new Conceptual Physics books so I let the teachers know and had some of our aides work on them today so when the barcodes get here, we'll be all ready to slap them on and get them to the class rooms. Took the last six boxes of the new/old Conceptual Physics down to the office to ship over to North HS.  Got some extra textbooks for a girl who can't carry things back and forth whose mom came in to arrange that. Took care of some lost books. Checked out a class set of Friday Night Lights to Mr. G. All in all an exciting and busy day!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

New Homes

Spent most of today finishing up the processing and boxing up the Conceptual Physics books. Half of them are on their way to their new home and as soon as they are gone (space issues!) I'll put the other half there to await their carriage to their new home. I have them all boxed up and waiting! Started to work on my bulletin board today. Checked in and out books all day. Had a mom calling about a book that her daughter lost. Turns out that it is just a spiral notebook and she can just go get a new one and catch up on the teacher's web page. Put barcodes on the teacher editions of the Conceptual Physics books that we will keep. Sent emails to our textbook guy and the two schools getting the books so they'd know who wanted them and to get the books permanently transferred to the other schools. A good busy day.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Book Kudos!

Mr. Y called late this afternoon to say he had two schools that want our Conceptual Physics books! I am so excited! What a weight off my mind after staring at them for the last two weeks! Thank you Mr. Y! Cleaned up more in the back and got the worktable all freed up today. Checked in and out books. Did a lot of emails on various topics - book transfers - numbering of books - who needed books - did our Realidades 2 get ordered - did our magazines get ordered - we were all over the place. A mom brought in books from her daughter and I had to charge her for some book damages so I left the papers and all with Mrs. S for her to take all the books off the bill but add a damage charge. I turned in my attendance form we now have to do, watched the library a little bit this afternoon while Mrs. H went to a meeting. Processed in one teacher magazine and two for the library. Got in some more ASL books so I sent in copies of the title page and backside of the title page (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what that is!) off to our textbook guy to generate barcodes for those. I love our students and it's great to reconnect with them!

Oktoberfest!

Friday the 14th - Had to get home and off to Oktoberfest so I didn't do this! Got in to a whirl of activity, Mr. S had driven over to get some American Pageant from another school for Mr. N so we were able to check those out. Figured out why we had 91 extra Chemistry books on our list, they were actually teacher resources so now I'm getting all the ISBN's and information so they can have their own place and not with our student editions. The library is pretty cleaned up now, just some more books on carts. Mr. D came by and got some books we had extra of for his school. Mrs. H went home early so I had the library basically to myself for the afternoon after Mrs. M left for the day, so I was busy with lots of student help! Yeah! Then home and off to Oktoberfest with our granddaughter's first Oktoberfest at Mt. Angel! Can we say Chicken Dance? :)

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Alone

Mrs. M left today at her regular time and Mrs. H had to go to a meeting, so I closed up the library by myself tonight for the first time this year. I'm sure it won't be the last! Got in the Dime Pasaporte for Mr. C. Finished up all the magazines! WooHoo! Checked out lots of books. Had to rewrite up a purchase order for American Pageant books. Got some books ready for Mr. D to come and pick up tomorrow for McKay HS, and he's bringing Bien dit! 2's for Mrs. H to bring back from her meeting. Boxed up and sent Journal of Finn Reardon's for West HS.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Chunkin'

Today I got through another whole set of magazines and still not done. Hopefully I'll get all done tomorrow! Got in the new barcodes for the Realidades 3 so they are now all ready to go. Checked in and out books all day. Set up my contacts list, turned in my employee check list. Worked with our textbook coordinator about the transfer process, and he's also sending me the barcodes they have for our Chemistry books since Destiny says we have 91 more than what we do! I will check them all out. Got in our extra Chemistry books so I was glad that kids were coming and getting them. Got in the new Geometry Supplement books so I'll start on them tomorrow or the next day. Had to send an email out for book requests since quite a few teachers have not yet been in for books and other schools are 'you have some available! We want them!' So we should have still more checkouts, though we did get all the books off the tables in the library today and just on carts for now. It's always a big relief when the tables get clear. Helped a student learn our library search engine and he was able to find the book he wanted and I put in a request for it. Happy day!

Magazines

Actually, this post is for yesterday, Tuesday 9-11. I'll never forget that I was working in the cafeteria as the manager at Sprague on that morning and had to continue on with the day. Our custodian kept me informed as to what was going on since I didn't have time to sit and watch, thank you Mr. B. Finally got around to start entering in the magazines from the summer. I enter them all in Insignia and then tape the spines, sharpie on name and date, print up the labels (I do 30 at once!) tape over the labels, put the current issue in the holder then put them in the display and the extras in our magazine rack. More check outs today, put in an order for more Realidades 2's, we'll see if it goes through or not. The languages admin said 'no!' but our principal said 'yes!'. Asked for some more Bien dit! 2's as well, but that was from another school so hopefully we can borrow. Got in barcodes for the Realidades 3 and noticed they were coded for the wrong school, so I called and they said not to use them, so I lined them out. They called back 5 minutes later and said 'go ahead' explaining that they were our code in the computer, but had to print them out under another. Man, I am just too quick this year! They printed up some more and I should get the new ones in the mail today. Sent out emails and went to the Classified Staff meeting. Had to get my sheet and almost have that ready to turn in. I'm missing some 'classified staff memo' that I'm supposed to have and have read. So I've requested it. Sent another email to our office manager to order our magazines for the year - she usually does that in July, but with the bond work she hasn't done it yet and our subscriptions are starting to run out, so I gently hinted at it and she said she was working on it!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Getting There

Getting down to the last few classes coming in for check out. Asked for some more chemistry books today and noticed that the report in the new system says we have 421 books while we really only have 330! Something isn't right there...so I emailed our textbook person and Mr. C and they will check it out in the morning. Checked in and out books, did my mandatory training and got 100% on the test, so I sent that in to my supervisor. Got out all the teacher magazine subscriptions that came in over the summer and started to work on the library copies. Transferred off 10 Anatomy and Physiology books to Early College HS. Also got a call from our head of curriculum and he may have some takers for the Conceptual Physics books! Huzzah!

Friday, September 7, 2012

Huzzah!

Wore in my rennaisance faire outfit today since I'll be off to The Shrewsbury Faire this weekend and had fun telling the kids about it! But, still checked out books. Caught a few teachers before we ran out of books and had them check out class sets so they'd have enough for the rest of their classes - glad to be on top of that rather than the 'oh, we're all out'. So now the kids will have the books in class at least and most also have them online as well. Got my desk almost all cleared off and the back room is nearly totally unpacked and things back where they belong. Did repairs on five AP English books so we can get them checked out on Monday since kids have been added to classes. Had the books, but they were falling apart and I wanted to be careful with them. Tried to start the Mandatory Training but never got around to it, so I will have to do it Monday, or at least next week sometime. Still have classes coming in on Monday so we got all set up for that. Figured out how to put books into repair catagory. Checked out some library books and helped a student who needed two sets of books, one here and one for at home. Had our art teacher try to sand off the stamping on the physics books and he did a great job, but you can still see the marks from sanding - drats! Have an idea for my bulletin board since I haven't done that yet either! But things are falling into place and school goes on!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Catching Up

Today was a bit better, got a lot caught up - all the classroom sets got out which was good until a teacher came at the last minute today and asked for two sets. Lost my Thursday check out sheet, but that wasn't until late in the day, so we got through it all right! Most of it was out anyways! Processed in the Financial Algebra books so they'll be ready first thing in the morning for Mrs. K. Went in early and prepared the order for the correct Conceptual Physics books. Went to Mr. S and he said he knew all about it, go ahead and order, so I had the paperwork with me, he signed it and I handed it to our office manager to order. Got approval to add a few more books onto the American Pageant order. Checked out books all day. All in all, a good day, the program seems to be running fine, found out that we are better off just calling a school for the books we need rather than the LMSS office, I think our liason is a bit overwhelmed at the moment, and needs some time to catch up himself.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Workout

Got in some new information today on the Conceptual Physics books - turns out the NASTA edition is just a college edition that's been bound  to stand up to high school use. So, I learned something new today. Looks like we can only sell the $80 books back for $21 a piece since I stamped them, wow. I'm still just sick about it. So, I'm seeing if someone else in the district could use them rather than take a $60 loss per book (we have 120). The rest of the day I just cranked out books, showing our aides how to get books to put out for kids to check out, filling the class set orders, putting more books on tables and getting set up for tomorrow. *sigh* I hope something works out with these.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

A Host of Misunderstandings

Yes, I now have 120 stamped books that the science department wants sent back and to get a new set that is the previous printing. *Sigh* It would figure that I'd already stamped them so it will be pulling teeth to get them sent back. Made some calls, sent some emails. Took down some old signage on the bulletin boards, but don't have time to put up anything else at the moment. Got all the schedules set for tomorrow and have the first few periods all set out and ready to be picked up. Started to check out some class sets and the new Destiny program is running great. Getting ready for the long haul tomorrow!