The View from the Leslie Library Windows: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Plugging Away

Did more Unit 3 PoT's today. Checked in and out books. Boxed up the last of our surplus books so they will hopefully get picked up around winter break sometime. Sorted out my repair box.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mr. M decided today was the day to turn in his class set of America Pathways and have the kids check them out to themselves. So I checked out two class sets of books to his classes. Also checked out a class set to the other Mr. M. Processed in five magazines for the library and two for teachers. Worked on more PoT Unit 3 books. Checked in and out quite a few books for students today, even quite a few regular library books for me. I guess Mrs. H had a phone dialer go out to return overdue books and they were bringing them in! The cafeteria manager brought me in 5 boxes for surplus books so I packed them up. Helped out some kids on the computers. Got to pick some books for one of our prolific readers.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Periodic

Very excited that 24 of our The Periodic Table books came in today. I got them processed in and on the shelf I made room for last week. Processed in one magazine for us and one for a teacher. Checked out a student who is leaving us. Finished up the bulletin board, cleaned up from last week, went to the cafeteria to see if they remembered to save me some boxes for packing, they didn't (I probably wouldn't have remember either!). They did have one to give me and will remember tomorrow! So I did get one box packed with our withdrawn books. Checked out 40 BSCS Biology books to Mr. W and had to number some on the outside for him - easier to make sure they're all there. Got in our new tape (our 2012 magazines will be in pretty limish green on the spine!) and started work on the PoT books again, down to Unit 3 from starting out at Unit 14. Nearly there!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

3.5ish Hours

November 22 - Worked mostly on my new bulletin board today for the rest of the hours I had left to work. Made a nice window scene with stars and my theme is 'Hope'. Checked in books for a student who is leaving, also helped out the in service people a bit. Screwed in the 'universal screws' and the striker plates on the rest of the new computer desks we got in since those parts arrived. Set a few of the other people who were in to reading shelves since they had nothing else to do. Off to the dentist for a cleaning! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 21, 2011

11 Hours

Took last week off - just had too many things going on! Today was an 11 hour marathon since Thanksgiving is this week. We don't work Wednesday, so with the half grading day today, we actually have to work 2.5 days in 2! That comes to about 14.5 hours for me. So I packed in a ton today to just work tomorrow morning and then be off. Renamed shelves in the back. A lot of books were just numbered by masking tape and not very well, so I redid all the ones that needed attention. I also moved some books to make way for the new Periodic Table books that should be coming soon. I redid the PoT books in the back and also processed in 7 magazines for the library and 4 for teachers. Shipped out 3 sets of books and a single to their rightful owners. Checked out a class set of books to a teacher who will pick them up next Monday. Took down my November display and shelved books from there. Cleaned up books brought in for replacements and other odds and ends - processing them in and checking with the bookkeeper to make sure that the billing was correct. A long day, but that means a short one tomorrow!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

PoT

November 10th - Today I finished up the Unit 5 PoT books and headed into the Unit 4. We have a lot already on the books but they need some maintenance, so if I do it now, we'll be ahead of the game when they're needed next year. Pulled a cart of books for Mr. G for Monday, The Hobbit - one of my favorite books!

Sometimes

November 9 - Worked a lot on PoT books today. Lots of student monitoring as well.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Wordling

Processed in two magazines today and one for a teacher. Worked on the new unit 5 set of PoT books. Checked in and out books, put money in print accounts, helped Mrs. H with our print money tallying to turn into the bookkeeper. Went to the Site Council meeting and we had names all over the white board with boxes around them and stars for where they fit into out vision. Reminded me of wordles.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Staff Meeting

Today I came in to find a bunch of magazines on my desk, so I processed in two teacher mags and six for us. Had a mother call and ask if they could get a second set of books for at home since her daughter had injured her back, so I got those all ready for them to come and get in the morning. Finished off the PoT unit 6 books and started in on the unit 5 books. Worked with them in the back for the last 45 minutes since there was a staff meeting going on and usually everyone is pointed in my desk direction! I don't feel quite so looked at.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Accounting

Today Mrs. H brought up the list she gets that shows what the library has spent and she asked me to go over the magazine subscriptions. I pulled the prices apart and the two venues we use and coordinated the two. I found that they had over priced us for some things, but underpriced on others. Perhaps we got a deal on last year's prices because we consistantly order some things? So, she will check that out with our office manager. We had one place charge us an extra $50 that we don't know why. Worked more of the PoT books, monitored the computer lab today, did a lot of checks on students using the library. Checked in a class set of Hunger Games and got them ready to go out to another teacher. Sent in a screen shot to Mr. C in Library Media Services on Insignia. Processed in two magazines for the library.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Hunting for Books

Today Mrs. H asked me to work on a list of books that we need for the library. Since I am her 'fantasy' person, I took on the job of culling through the books we have and seeing what we're missing in the way of series (like we have #1,2,4,5 so we need to order #3) and what the authors have written lately. What books we need to have that have gone missing or lost that we may never see again and culling through booklists to see what's been recommended for students to read. All in all, a great way to spend the day! Finished up my display as well!

November is here!

Today I worked on more of the PoT books, processed in six magazines for us and two for teachers. Had a fascinating debate with one of the speech students and he actually shook my hand when I said I really had to go back to work! Did a lot of student work today.

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.