The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Training

Came in and did a bunch of laminating today. There were teacher schedules, 'keep off track' signs, posters, an amazing newspaper copy from the Kansas Times about WW II that was awesome! Loaded more carts up for teacher class sets, processed in all the new AP Chemistry actual textbooks - put those out on a table for pick up next Wednesday. Snagged emails, replied, had lunch then off to the LMSS Destiny Training for the afternoon. Took books, picked up books from the other high schools, learned a few things about the program and then done for the week! Phew! Back to work on Tuesday and all our new incoming freshmen!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

AP books

Opened up the boxes of AP Chemistry and got them all unpacked, the boxes put away for use later. Stamped and barcoded all the Student Guides, the AP Test Books, and almost got to the actual texts! Did a lot of carts for teacher class sets today and answered a lot of emails. I kept very busy, and my list of books for student pick-ups starting next Wednesday is growing.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Welcome Back Teachers

Which made it very busy for me today! Checked out four class sets to teachers today and took the numbers and days for when they'd bring in students to check out books. Did reconnect with quite a few! Got in our new AP Chemistry books, and Mr. W was very excited and pleased that I got him all fitted out with the teacher resources we got in, and he approved all the books for the students so I can start processing those in. Helped out some of our new teachers. Worked with Mr. D on the Conceptual Physics books and how we lost so many last year. With only two teachers, they can each have a class set and I'll have some extra for the students that really need a copy. Working with Mr. J and our admin to find out how many Earth Science books we need to keep and who to send the rest out to. Had a student and mother come in. They had been billed for books and said they were in, so I checked, and yes, the books were in! I love it when that happens. One came up with a note that a different student had been billed for it, so I checked her out to make sure that she had no fines on her account from us. Good to have our teachers back, a very busy day!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Almost 7

That's right, ramping up my time to get in so next week I'll be coming in at 6:45 for the students. Worked on another box of the Baker and Taylor order, putting in strips and checking off titles. Placed some more on the rack, and others on the rolling book shelves over by the 900's. Worked on the bulletin board by the front door, Mrs. M always did an amazing job, she is so talented and artisitic, so the kids will have to put up with my sorry excuses for boards! But that's all right! At least I got it started with 'Welcome Back Oly's' on there for the staff meeting tomorrow! Checked in several books for students and helped clear a few. Talked to a student about our Manga club today. She had heard about it and will be a freshman this year, and she's really excited about it. Finally heard that we did get our AP Chemistry books in, but they sent me a document with labels, but the labels won't print correctly on the labels! Only three rows actually were usuable :(   So I sent an email letting them know they didn't print correctly. I have been having to tweak my printing of labels, so maybe this will get my settings back in line. Checked out a class set of books to Mrs. W today, and have to get some for Mrs. J tomorrow. The rush is on!

Friday, August 23, 2013

Manga

So today I finished putting the books back on the shelf with their new spine labels, had to laminate some covers for them as well. Do a couple of repairs. Then noticed I had a stack of Manga books on the top of the two rolling bookshelves we use for them, and dug in for the long haul to get those in order. Ended up shifting a bunch of the series books and redoing shelving for them, and I must say, I did put a few copies of things in the back (extra Naruto for the most part) and got everything on and they looked good and even a tad of wiggle room! Put tattle strips in the box of Baker and Taylor I opened and put books on the new book display rack, realized I hadn't checked in the books I'd put out so I scrounged through the other boxes and found the inventory sheets, so got that done. Covered some of the paperbacks. A good day! But, aren't they all?

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Spine Labels

Worked on a cart of books that needed new spine labels. Mrs. M had started them before we left last June, but I worked on finishing up that project today. Even though she had made changes to the program, turning the lower case to upper case, it didn't take and I had to call LMSS to find out how to get them redone. Had to 'edit' them by adding in a '1' and then save it, then go and 'edit' again and remove the '1' and then it would come out all upper case. Definitely a glitch in the system on that one. Went into the very back and all these carts that have been around, I found out that when the custodial staff waxed our floors in the back (which are so clean and shiney now they make me smile) they moved carts around, and not being sure of what goes where, they had put carts with books scattered around, and all the empty carts where I had the carts with books! So I put them all back where they belong. Did some repairs on books and will have to laminate some covers tomorrow of the ones that got new spine and barcode labels. Put out a few more of our new books on the new book shelves. Helped a few students with getting replacement books today - had a very happy mom after I sent her and her student to Bookbyte here in town to buy a replacement at a cheaper price than what we charge to replace. Also found out today that the district has finally decided to go after people that never paid for their book charges, back five or six years our bookkeeper said. Good! We have tens of thousands of dollars out at Sprague alone, hopefully they will have people pay up and not say 'oh, you are wrong, I turned those in.' One person has already said that our bookkeeper said! We look on the shelf, no books there that were attached to that person.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

56

Spent most of today processing and displaying the 56 new magazines we got in over the summer. Cleaned out our display rack (had to vacumn up the stuff that had fallen in, fix the filter to fit the vacumn) wiped it all down and it looks good! Got in the box to ship back the Scantron machine they found at the end of last year so I packed it up and sent it on its way. Prepared our Junior Library Guild books for processing at LMSS (stamp, tattle strip them) and boxed them up and sent them off. Collected a cart of books from our bookkeeper who had students bring her stuff all summer. Things are beginning to get settled in.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Reconstruction

Welcome back! Started back today and worked mainly on reconfiguring the front desk area. Since Mrs. M was transferred, and there will only be Mrs. H and I, we reset all the front desk area to make it a little more accessible and to keep a better watch on the kids. We pulled and prodded, snaked electrical connections in and out of the modules and had it just about all set up when we left today. Took our box of mail and went through it all and gathered all the new magazines together for processing. Collected the old magazines and put them in the back along with some freebies that students can use to cut up for this year. Opened up some new boxes of books that came in and I set the new hardbacks on our new circulation shelf. Cleaned up the front desk where Mrs. M used to sit and made it my own. Took my computer into Mr. R because when I turned it on, absolutely nothing happened. He couldn't do anything with it either, so I used Mrs. M's for now, it has most of my stuff on it, so it can work. Turned in a heat ticket on it. Enjoyed seeing some of our teachers today and saying 'Hello!'

Reading List 2012 - 2013

  • Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - what a tale of poverty growing up in Ireland and how they still managed to laugh and be a family when nothing helped. Told with wry humor and a sense that everything really does come out all right in the end.
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker - This was amazing! I've heard of Dracula for forever, but had never read it, so a reading group I joined picked it and it was so good! I even won a contest for making Eggplant Impletata from the book!
  • The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister - Nice, enjoyed her first better, and this one sent me for a loop there for awhile, but all comes out right in the end and made me happy.
  • Tam Lin by Pamela Dean - I love my fantasy, but this was 400 pages of a college diary. Only about 30 pages were remotely interesting. Too bad, the Childe ballad this was taken from was beautiful.
  • VIII by H.M. Castor - Fabulous tale of King Henry the VIII! First person POV that is exceptional! A look into his private thoughts and demons throughout his life. Really excellent, just breezed through it!
  • Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure by Matthew Algeo - What a fun little book! After leaving the White House, Harry and Bess putter along for awhile and then he gets a speaking engagement in Philadelphia. Harry is a car nut and he and Bess take off on a road trip! Just a fun little book, lots of historical goodies as well!
  • Uglies by Scott Westerfield - had nothing else to read one day when Mrs. H was gone so picked this up and liked it in spite of myself. In a place where you come of age to get 'pretty', some decide that ugly (normal to us) is better and live an alternative life off the wild. It was all right and well written.
  • Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - wow, was this a ride! Biopunk extreme! Felt at times like I was slogging through the humidity of a south pacific generipper paradise. Hold on to your hats, this is not for the faint of heart!
  • Cinder by Marissa Meyer - Cinder is 36% cyborg and has the metal foot to prove it. A mechanic that has dreams of her own life, she finds the prince and herself. Very nicely done.
  • Safekeeping by Karen Hesse - wonderful. A girl comes home to an unraveled america and decides to head north to canada where things are a bit more settled. She picks up a friend and a dog, and together they make a life in an abandoned home. More a diary in Hesse's style, Hesse walked the route herself and the book is illustrated with her photos. Quite lovely with a good ending of finding themselves.
  • Legend of the Book Keeper by Daniel Blackaby - Mrs. H picked this up from a book convention. It was all right. A boy and girl get caught up in a book that takes them to Atlantis.
  • Sapphique by Catherine Fisher - made me so glad I read Incareron! Finn and Claudia deal with the 'real' world while Attia and Keiro try to leave Incarceron since it seems Finn has abandoned them both. What a great ending!
  • Sabriel by Garth Nix - oh my!!! Wonderful tale of young Sabriel who becomes the next Abhorsen in her line - those that keep some from death, and to make sure the dead stay dead. Must read the next!!
  • My Name is Not Easy by Debby Edwardson - Luke and others are sent off to boarding school in mid Alaska. A good telling of what life would be like since the author used her husband's stories to write this.
  • Changling by Philippa Gregory - A young monk is taken from the monastery to find out about the soul of Europe in the 15th century. His first task is to check out a convent on the Lord's lands and finds that the Lord's daughter was forced by her brother to take vows and is now being accused of being a witch at the convent. There will be others as the girl and her friend get free and join the monk and his companions down the road.
  • The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb - started off wonderful! The Fetch is sent to dying souls to let them know they have a choice. If they choose to move on, they guide them down the hall to the river and they go on to heaven. Loved the play of their death so they understood it, the feasting hall, the pictures down the hall of their life and the prisoner. Then it went into a historical fiction of Rasputin who the Fetch is using his body and has totally messed up 'purgatory' until he can make it right.
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Was not expecting this! The tale of Victor and his creation was so far off from what I thought it was about. Glad I finally read it!
  • Dodger by Terry Pratchett - Charlie Dickens works in London and comes across a young man by the name of Dodger. Cute maybes on how he might have put some stories together.
  • My Book of Life by Angel - Martine Leavitt - a young girl is told to leave the house by her father and ends up working the streets for a man named Call. He drugs her, threatens her brother, anything to keep her 'working' for him. A tale that came from 49 murdered prostitutes in Vancouver, B.C. Haunting in a soul searing way. The prose poetry was amazing.
  • The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff - a collection of short stories from their merryfates website. Liked some, didn't care for others, but it was worth the read.
  • Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orleans - A look at the life of the dog and the people involved with him and his progeny. The subtitle, The Life The Legend describes it very well. I was more of a Lassie fan, but the story of Rin saved from a bombed out shelter in France was touching and highlighted the bond between Rin and Lee Duncan his trainer.
  • The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - one of my all time favorites and so delighted to read this charming tale again since the movie comes out in a month or so!
  • Medicine Road by Charles de Lint - I love a good fantasy though I'm beginning to think he has a love affair with the American Southwest - those long cold nights in Canada must get to him!
  • Gifted Hands by Ben Carson, M.D. with Cecil Murphy - Cec gave this to me at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference in August and I enjoyed it as well as learning a lot about what surgeons have to all think about. A humble man who has a gift and used it wisely.
  • Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister - When Kate gets the all clear from her battle with cancer, her friends decide she should go rafting down the Colorado. So she challenges them to do something they may not want to as well. I must admit that something about Ava's story made me cry. Another good setting of wonderful vignettes about people. I really enjoy Erica's writing!
  • The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck - Charlotte owns a wedding dress shop and inadvertantly buys an old chest with a vintage wedding dress inside. She has a gift of finding the perfect dress for a bride, but why did this dress show up, and who will be its bride?
  • A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi - Nice story of finding her love in Venice and how they got together and got married.
  • The Road to Santiago by Kathryn Harrison - I keep hearing about the Compostela de Santiago, so I read this book! It was all right, but now I need some facts!
  • Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson - When Michael and Roselle go to work on the 78th floor of World Trade Tower One, they have no idea of what September 11th will bring. But teamwork and faith prevail and they both made it out to tell their story.
  • Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors - A tapestried telling of the building of the Taj Mahal and the emperor's family. Very nice historical fiction.
  • God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet - She goes to work at America's last almshouse for two months and stays for over 20 years! I really enjoyed this book on her research on the medicine of Hildegard of Bingen, and the wonderful anecdotes of some of her patients there.
  • Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore - part of her Graceling series - took me awhile to sort out everyone and I had to go back and read the synopsis of the other two books, but as I got deeper, I did enjoy how this princess turned queen used her brains and self to turn her kingdom around.
  • Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert - Wow! Not for for the pure in heart Little House on the Prairie lover! Melissa lived life large and without boundaries, an interesting look at a very public figure and how she handled her fame and the questions that came with being adopted.
  • Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James - not an approved Sprague book! It was interesting to find out that it was originally a fan fiction from the Twilight series and starred Edward and Bella! Oh my!
  • The Pomegranite and the Rose by Winifred Roll - nicely told and interesting tale of Katharine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry the VIIIth! She died with her head on, but heartbroken. An interesting look at the politics and time of change.
  • The Great Himalayan Passage by Michel Peissel - Interesting non-fiction of a man who piloted hovercraft up rivers in the Himalayas - to see if it could be done, and perhaps be a way to travel and communicate better in that region.
  • The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx - This certainly deserved the awards it has taken in. Loved the story and the characters, as well as a real glimpse into Newfoundland. I felt as if I could go there, and be part of this rich heritage in some way, a piece of flotsam from another country that drifted in to a home port.
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare - Another school read from our shelves, Tessa is pulled into a world where people make automatons and use them for evil purposes. She is befriended by the Shadowhunters, otherwise known as the Nephilim of biblical fame.
  • Mink River by Brian Doyle - Took me awhile to get into this, but once I began to feel the cadence, the rain, the river, the crow, the lives that give this work a pulse, I truly enjoyed it. Well done!
  • The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister - What a delight filled book! Just the kind of mouth watering taste of good writing with a great story I wanted to savor! A cooking class not only explores food preparation, but the lives of the participants blending in their choices with a stir of a spoon. Absolutely a must read.