So Long, Farewell, the Books will go to Sleep Now!

(sung to the 'So Long, Farewell' from The Sound of Music) The last day of work and though I could stay there all summer and do lots of things, I think heading off on vacation is a good thing too! Turned in keys, worked on the rest of the math books. Used the inventory to correct book status. Cleaned up the back room which included cleaning out our fridge and defrosting it, unplugging many things and putting away stuff in cupboards. Brought in all the magazines and put them on the shelves, but left the last issues in their holders so people might not be so tempted to walk off with the holders. Placed books in order, signed off for the summer on the computer - leaving it plugged in so technology can play with it during the summer. A last farewell to the office and I'm off - and of course, I did check a few books out for summer reading! See you in August!

Last Textbooks to other Schools

Today I set out my last two boxes of textbooks that need to get back to other schools. So, those are all out the door. I also pulled the cart over to the office for our principal to see the damage from just one year of student use, and they did give the approval to bill for damages. We just have to be consistent. So, I will work on that when I get back in the fall. I put the cart in the aisle with the rest of their friends. I worked on the inventory from my ladies that came in the other day and checked in the books that were on the shelves but still 'out' or 'billed'. Mrs. J worked on getting them taken off the billing, a great team effort. I worked through the Algebra books. They had been stacked pretty haphazardly and I worked on getting them all in order for the summer and straightened up the stacks so they have time to flatten out over the summer.

Textbook Abuse

Spent time today pulling all the brand new Physical Science with Earth Science texts that have drawings or other abuse on them from the year. It came to about 80 books out of the 460+ so nearly 20% had pictures, tears, drawings, doodles and other abuse. We talked to the office and with the new administration team coming in, they decided that they didn't want us to bill for damages since we never had done such a comprehensive culling before. So, I'm pretty miffed! That money - about $400 could have gone to repair supplies, plus stopped further damage from other students. So, I've put them on a cart and we'll see what happens in the fall. They won't leave until we get a ruling. Did some other checking with our inventories that my Mom's friends did yesterday and did get a couple of books checked in that were on the shelves, but still 'out'. We did all the other billing for texts out and unusable. Checked in some students that brought in books. Two days of work left!

Volunteers

Today my Mom and some of her friends came in and did some inventory for us, it was nice to have some help and get some things taken care of! So, I helped coordinate them, gave them sheets to check off and set them lose in the stacks. Mrs. H and I do a bit more on the workbook and magazine order, some teachers came by and requested some things, so we added them on. I also learned how to do the billing today and worked with Mrs. J on getting all the billing entered in so they can print billing up on Monday. I did all the sophomores and started the freshmen. We just have about half the freshmen to go and we'll be done with that part. Our volunteers stayed until about 3 pm, and then I shooed them out of there! They had done a marvelous 5+ hours of work. Hopefully they'll come back next year! Our book repair lady also called and would love to work on our books over the summer, so she will come in tomorrow and we'll get her set up!

Magazines, Texts and Workbooks, Oh My!

Put away more books today and straightened up shelves. I also worked on billing for damaged texts and coordinated with Mrs. J to get these done. I also got packed up all the texts to go back to other schools. I'll put a couple of boxes out a day until they're all picked up. I took care of the repair pile today, making sure the report matched up with what was actually on the shelf. Mrs. H came over and we went over all the magazine, text and workbook orders for next year. I pulled up my worksheet I'd compiled and we went over the requests and approval. This year we're not getting near the amount that we have had. We lost some and picked up some new magazines for the library, and really cut down the magazine budget for this year. Workbooks were also cut down on and hadn't heard from some people, but Mrs. H went to the office and a couple of people are coming in tomorrow to finish that up. We purchase these, then students buy them from us. They only pay what we pay for, there is no profit. As for texts, we have no budget at all for next year. We did garner a request from an English teacher for a class set of a novel, another teacher for an updated text for her class. Other than that, there will be no new books next year, and those may not be approved either. We have many books that need to be repaired. Since I will be out of town most of the summer, Mrs. H has called a woman that used to do repairs for us to see if she'd like to do that for us this summer. We hope we hear from her.

Lunch at South

I come in to our staff breakfast and started to work on the billing for the seniors. We have the sheets printed and I find about ten kids that do have their books in, ten less for Mrs. S (our bookkeeper) to worry about over the summer. I found stacks that had the wrong books in them, so worked on fixing what I could. Had a father and son come in, their new puppy hadn't chewed anything until he sunk his teeth in the new Biology book! So, they went to Mrs. S and paid for the book. I think it will enter my Textbook Hall of Shame! (Though my favorite HoS is the chewed up Animal Farm!) Had several students bring in texts, lots of teachers in to sign out for the summer. We have to clear their accounts, either all texts in, or accounted for. At one point I had a parent on the phone; two students waiting; a teacher trying to find her last two books; my counter piled with a ton of Bienvenidos and Buen Viaje teacher resources; texts from the locker clean up down in 'the Pit' (downstairs where the freshmen have their lockers); my desk with paperwork and more texts brought over from the office. Today was our end of year luncheon for Library Media, so we all brought something and said goodbye to a few people. One of them is actually coming to Sprague to fill an open Assistant Principal position so Mrs. H brought him a Sprague t-shirt so he'd be properly attired when he arrives in the fall! Mr. C also reminded us to read good books this summer and bring back titles for the fall come back meeting. It was a good time to get together and as soon as I could, I was back in the car and back to Sprague. We signed out teachers all day, most books got back on the shelves and everything we got in today was checked in. Said 'farewell' to a few teachers that will be leaving us. Tomorrow Mrs. H wants us to go over the magazine, text and workbook orders for next year, so those are ready for us to just tweak them and have them wait for approval for next year.

Happy Birthday Mrs. H!

Came in early so kids could bring in texts before class this morning, only to have the computers tell us that our access had been disabled! I went over to Mr. A and he was already on it, calling Tech Services and by 7:15am I was up and able to start checking in students. We took in nearly 2,500 books today, but still around 2,500 are out there. Morning and the one break we had were rough, but my son helped out again along with students and other staff help and we left today with all books put away! I began checking the billed senior books and found four students with possible bills that did have those books in. I also withdrew more books, the French books we got in from North HS, and various other books. After the buses left, Mrs. J and I took Mrs. H out for lunch to celebrate her birthday. We had a nice time out, and enjoyed a good lunch. Usually we eat in the library, but it was a great treat to go out and have an uninterrupted lunch.

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!