5,000 or so to go

We took in over 1,000 textbooks today and still more library books came in. We're down to just 104 students with library books out and about 5,000 textbooks with one day to go! My son came in today (he was a library aide when he went to school here) and helped out and we got everything put away today. We also had help from a couple of staff members and our aides, so they all worked very hard. I withdrew the books we had in from other schools and packed up the Wir die Jugends, House on Mango Street so they can be sent back. I caught books that need to billed for repairs - these were our brand new science texts that no one had ever used - it was sad to see the damage from just one school season. A lot of kids cleared their accounts, but a lot are waiting until Monday - so we'll see what happens. We'll do our best. I'm also coodinating a group of my mother and her friends to come in and do inventory next week, so I am blessed with a great group to volunteer to help us out at Sprague.

Books, Books and more Books

But still so many to go! We had finals for periods 8, 7, & 6 today. For some reason they decided to go backwards, probably still some of the snow schedule fallout. I started to withdraw a Skillbuilder set of manuals that hadn't been used in years. Found a bunch of Wir die Jugend that need to go back to McNary, as well as some of their Prentice Hall Literature Gold books. I also packed up one box of the Wir books and got them ready to ship. We all checked in books anytime students were out for their break! We had lots of help to put them away and I did find problems, but still most of them were good. Started documenting the damage to the new science books. Kids drew on them and we will bill them for damages. I put away books all day and got quite the workout. I came early and stayed late, but there was just so much to do. We have such a great team in the library, it's just a joy to work there.

Pizza Party

Today was our last regular day and we had tons of books brought back. Mrs. H also brought in pizza for all our aides and they were totally scarfed down! I did some repairs, but mostly checked in books and looked at accounts for students to see if they were done. We had some badly damaged books come in, so we will have to bill the students. We also started to pull the slips that the kids filled out when they returned books and attaching them to prizes. We had some really good help today, but we also found many mistakes - books just put on empty shelves - the To Kill a Mockingbird books had to all be redone. Lots of Prentice Hall Literature Gold books were in such an abysmal state I hated to put them away. Next year I'll continue my repairs and keep cycling through the bad ones.

Library Books Due Now!!

This afternoon I helped Mrs. J finish up the overdue books slips for the library. I did the freshmen class and she did the sophomores and juniors. Checked in books all day, did some repairs in between all else. Found some books kid say they turned in - they'd been put away without being checked in. But we found the copies. I found some more books misplaced and got them where they need to go. Gave out more slips for our prizes we'll be giving away tomorrow. They need to have all their library books turned in and all textbooks except what they need for finals. Lots of teachers brought up classes today, and so we got to check in lots of books at one time. One more day to go for regular classes. I'll be in early for finals since the kids leave early so we'll have the textbook window open when students arrive until the time they leave for the day. So many books that need repair - wish I had the time to do them all!

Last Fire Drill of the year

Came in and almost immediately left for a fire drill. Lots of books in today. Some repairing. I spent some time checking on books we have on loan from other schools. What the computer said we have, and what was actually on the shelf. Down to 8,375 still to check in. Processed magazines, put money in print accounts, helped a student with printing off the color printer, she had gotten way too technical! The computer labs were full all day. I sent a new list to Mrs. P on the books the english department has out.

Graduation Day

Friday, June 5th: The kids practising got soaked today while the rain just plummeted down, but the weather should be o.k. for tonight. Checked in not as many books today, worked on repairs. I had done a new hinge for a Lit text with some double hinge tape I found and wow, did it do a great job! Mrs. H and I were both super impressed. Mr. W came with his 'books out' list and we got in everything from his Biology teacher materials in. He had one missing and we started to go through materials and he found the CD I thought I had checked in but hadn't. Four eyes are better than two! Down to just about 9,000 books now and we put our incentive prizes on display. Turn in a book, fill out a slip, win prizes! So I got lots of kids to fill them out as classes came up over the day. Mrs. H did a great job of getting some fun things.
Congratulations Class of 2009!

The Call

Checked in books and worked on repairs. Processed magazines, directed some students who were helping us in putting away texts, then I ended up leaving about noon. My mom called and her doctor needed her to get to the emergency room and have a CAT scan - so I told Mrs. H and Mrs. R and was gone the rest of the day.

Count Down!

"10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1- We're out of here!" So funny to hear the seniors who were in the library today counting down to the last bell of their high school life. Checked in books all day, yes, all day. Shipped off books to McKay HS, called Silverton HS and asked if we needed to ship out books that were turned in here. They said no, those books were long gone and to just surplus them. So a call saved us some shipping money. Did some repairs in between here and there when I had a chance. Straightened out Mr. M's check out list, and Mr. J's. Since Mrs. J wasn't in, I started sending e-mails to our bookkeeper on billed books, returned books that may have been billed, so Mrs. S came and asked if I could just print up the slips and turn them in once a day! Yes, we talked about this before I had forgotten, so I felt bad to make extra work for her! We got in our 'employee come back to work' notices today and I'm expected back on August 25th - Huzzah! So I signed it and turned it in! Processed Time for the library and a couple of teacher magazines. Put money in print accounts. We still have about 210 seniors with textbooks out.

Senior Finals

Today was the first day of Senior Finals and we got lots of books in! Had the aides running all day to put stuff away! We also got in 8 boxes of new books from LMSS - our Baker and Taylor order has finally arrived! I called Mrs. H (she was home sick) and we decided to just leave them boxed up until next fall so we can put them out as 'new' books for our collection. So I put them in the back down an aisle and labeled them to be left alone until fall! Ms. I came and needed a VHS player, so I grabbed one and took it to her room and got it all hooked up. She is an amazing woman - she was playing 'Mozart: The Requiem from Sarajevo' and telling the kids how she had lived through the 4 years of bombings and how they destroyed the main post office and the national library - cutting off communication and the knowledge of the people. I wished I could have watched more, but once I got it all hooked up and on the right playing channels, it was back to our library. I also worked with Mr. L on the automotive books and we looked over our stash, and he let me know what was to go, and how much he wanted to keep. When the Seniors came and got all checked out of textbooks I also checked to make sure they were done with the regular library and all cleared. Tomorrow is their last day here - sad to see some of them go! But happy too that they've grown and matured and are ready for the wide world!

Congrats! Class of 2009

I finish up the calendar today. Lots of students checking in books. The English Department comes back with some of the old books that were checked out to the department or an old teacher and they are now checked out to the teachers that actually have them. I cleared a lot of seniors out today, they would bring in their books and then I would check to see what, or if, they had anything left. I got an email from Bedford/St Martin's got back with the prices for the Bedford Reader and Elements of Argument. I contacted the teacher that uses those and let her know what the prices would be for next year. I thought the staff meeting had been changed to tomorrow, and had totally mixed up the 'teacher staff' meeting with the 'classified staff' meeting. So, I thought the kids could stay until I left at 3:15pm, so I ended up having to get them to leave! I also worked on some repairs today, though the reality of the books I won't have time for was hard to accept. I want to fix them all! Packed up some of the withdrawn books for the surplus run in the summer. Hot in the library today!