The View from the Leslie Library Windows

Friday, January 28, 2011

Final

Took down the old calendar today. Checked in a lot of books and put them all away. Had several kids withdrawing so got them all taken care of. All good fun with Monday off! See you Tuesday!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Today was the last 'full' day and the kids are all done at 11am tomorrow, so Mrs. H brought in pizza for our aides as a thank you and I had some too! Took in a lot more books today. Had a teacher with nothing to do work on the reference section making sure everything was there and in order. Covered The Sixties books that hadn't gotten done before they were checked out at the beginning of the semester and did some repairs.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

1, 2, 3 Finals

Mrs. M and Mrs. H had appointments early this morning and since the students are done early today, I came in early and got things started. Checked in books, lots of money into print accounts and helped Mrs. H work with Mrs. P's class on their bookmaking project for two of the three periods. I was very busy!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Qoversized

I got all our oversized books changed over to 'Q' today. I guess the 'Q' comes from Quattro which means like a huge amount. So we now have 163 oversized books! We will tag them with different labels, either magenta or neon green, depending on which ones our office managers order! Had a lot of kids turn in books today, put money in print accounts and a lot of assists. Processed in four library magazines. I also packed up the Connected Math books and sent them back to Waldo. If they don't want them, they will send back for our special education students. Packed up some old Read 180 materials for surplus. Finals start tomorrow!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Q books

I got all the reference books moved today and the oversize reference ready for a new spot! I got everything on the new shelves nicely and we will move the Short Story section over to where the reference ended and that will free up more shelving for the fiction books. We also want to move the biography section and Mrs. H and I figured out a new spot for that over by my side of the library. I also contacted one of the middle schools because a teacher brought in books that they were done with and since they had the school stamp on, I checked with them to see if they wanted them back, or if they were given to us. I worked the front desk today while Mrs. M went off to eat lunch and Mrs. H was gone and it was fun and very fast paced! I began to work the oversized books and edit their call numbers to start with a 'Q' instead of an 'R'. Processed in seven teacher magazines and five for the library. We got in quite a few books today from the first semester students dropping off books. A good thing.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Moving Shelves

That's about all I did today. With our new shelves in, I was unpacking all the boxes from before winter break and got them all done. We took our manga section and put it onto two of the new sections so that will look nice. The old shelf will become the place for oversized books, so I worked on the shelves to get them all over there from the boxes. Mr. C came in this morning and they actually did a live remote for our daily announcements from the library workroom by my desk. I helped him get ready by getting the TV feed ready and standing in so he could play with the camera. Checked in two class sets of books. Even though the teacher brought the whole class down, it seems that we only had a 50% return on books. Not good at all.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Shelves Arrive!

We have a lot of Hunger Games out there so I sent out notices to get them back. More repairs. Helped a student with setting up headers for her paper. Mr. C came and worked on getting things ready for live video announcements tomorrow. Outside the library, a student came to let me know that one of the display cabinets was unlocked. I went to Mr. C because I know he has a key for the Speech team trophies in the one next to it! A truck pulled up with our new shelves! So exciting! I helped bring the shelves in and counted the pegs for the shelving. We pulled the first four over to the other shelving we got earlier this year. Money into print accounts(5); check in(11)/out(4) and 3 student assists. Checked in one class set of Glencoe Health books.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

They Came

Today I mostly did repairs to the Prentice Hall Gold books. We also got in a box of math books from SMc that have all the Oregon standards for math that we had requested for Mr. O'C. He was very excited that they came in. I also sent out an e-mail to the middle school librarians to ask them what books they use and if they had any SMc books they weren't using, we would like to use them, or possibly any others that are around. We also got in a box of teacher resources that would hopefully have an audio CD of Great Expectations. It didn't. That book excerpt is no longer a part of that series. I e-mailed the rep for the company to see if he wants the materials back and to send us the mailing labels and pick up call if they do. I also e-mailed SMc and asked if they wanted their materials back and the appropriate shipping labels if they do. I had a student ask me to see her story she was working on last week and I said yes! It was a great story! I also brought in my camera so Mrs. H could take some pictures of the tables we have in the computer labs and then I downloaded all the pictures to her computer from that and from the cover making yesterday. I helped Ms. A pick out a new book for her class, so we picked Pay It Forward and she will read it over the weekend.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Book Covers

Wish I had a marbling font! We had two classes today that came in to do their book project and they did their covers. Some did chalk, or string dipped in paint, bubbling, shaving cream and food coloring or marbling. Some of the kids did some amazing stuff! I worked all day mostly on helping the kids and keeping the supplies going. A really fun day for the kids and for us as well!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Yes - I Mean You

It was a CIS day today and I had a group of juniors. Last time they were in on the computers, they were supposed to put in all their classes and grades, but they had none of that done. I guess the computers were so slow, they never even got on, so I got them all started and they got a lot of work done on that today. The rest of the day I mostly worked on repairs for the Prentice Hall Gold books. I also made a note for the emergency doors over by me. Even though they are not alarmed, we don't want students using it because there are no detectors there. Kids can just pick up a book and walk out the door with it. So I made a small sign to put up about face high for them to use only in an emergency - yes, this means you! Please use the main library doors!

What I'm Reading

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris was a great non-fiction read! Love a good non-fiction! Joseph Lister worked hard, studied hard, never gave up on his ideas that something outside was causing untold numbers of people to die after surgery. His quest to find the answer was long overdue and he was the one to craft it and make it a medical standard. Brilliant!
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy by Emmanuel Acho was so good. I liked it even better than Stamped. His honest and open look at what is was like for him growing up really brings the issues into focus. Highly recommended!
Verify by Joelle Charbonneau - what if everything went digital which gave the government and people in power a way to change history, past and current. What happened to some words, like the word 'verify' that is no longer in the digital dictionary. Meri has lost her mom and her dad drowns sorrow in liquor. Meri is entranced by her mom's last art pieces and is given a slip of paper (the horror! what about the trees? recycling?) and on it is the word 'verify'. Atlas gives her a dictionary, a paper one and an old history textbook. Meri jumps on the train with him so they can change the world.
Kalahari by Jessica Khoury - what a ride! I even took this home one night to finish! Sarah lives with her dad doing research deep in the Kalahari. A group of students are sent to see if they can qualify for a grant and when her dad goes missing when he heads off after poachers, she is left to take care of them. Her dad doesn't return and the poachers are after them. They come across a white lion stalking them, but wait? It isn't white it's something else. They come across a lab and realize there is a virus, that has been let loose on the Kalahari that could destroy the whole world. So exciting!! Great ending as well!
The Year of the Buttered Cat by Susan Haas with Lexi Haas - Okay. I have to admit that I got this book because of the title. Buttered cats, what an intriguing thought! But the real intrigue is the persistence, the optimism of Lexi. Because of jaundice, she was disabled and this story is about her decision to take a chance on ground breaking surgery to try and get some mobility, speech and live her gifts. She has five she had to find. Read it for Lexi (and maybe to find out about that buttered cat).
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. There are spaces only you can fill, and Darius learns this as his family travels to Iran to see his grandfather who is dying. Along the way he deals with his depression, makes a friend, has innumerable Star Trek references and also learns that it's okay, to not be okay. I must admit, I had to look up some of the places he got to visit. What a rich heritage. I thought Zoroastrians were long gone, but no, they are still practicing today in Iran. Great book, totally okay.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - perfect book lover tale of a woman captivated by a man and a bookstore and how she made more impact on her fellow book lovers and the man who got her to read than any bomb that fell during the Blitz. Very lovely!
The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat - Lovely WW2 story by Jenny who actually grew up on one of the Channel Islands. Hedy fled Austria only to find her island haven invaded by the Germans. And though she is wary, she falls in love with a German officer. The twists and turns of German occupation test them both as each find a way to help the allied forces win.
Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I loved these short stories that all center around a modern day Native American Powwow. My fave was Rez Dog and they were all a great window into culture that I have rarely seen. I watched some videos on Fancy Dancing because of this and I would love to attend one, but feel a bit like a looky loo if I did. Fun, eye opening and full of information. Loved it!
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams Loved this fictionalized tale of the daughter of one of the lexicographers of the first ever Oxford Dictionary. As Esme goes from hiding under the sorting table, to one day being a lexicographer herself, we see her story unfold along with the people attached to the dictionary. It was really wonderful as we glimpsed her life and how the words she found and rescued formed the backbone of this novel. Really well done. It will stay on my shelves.