Like a wash of grief

I've been having a great time in the school library.  There's so much to do - it's still a bit like whack-a-mole - but I do think I'm making progress.  The kids love the furniture at the high school, and circulation is up.  Things are going very smoothly at the elementary with my new schedule and my splendid paraprofessional helping out.  


Then I came home today and thought I'd read a bit of the local paper, and there was a story about a soldier who died.  I've read lots of stories like this one, I don't know why it affected me so, but the article mentioned a video that was played at the funeral.  Oh, I have a video like that, I thought.  One that I made that was shown at my sister's funeral almost four years ago.  So I watched it.  And now I'm downloading sad songs on Itunes and thinking and crying.  There goes the whole night!


The good news is, I had a bit of a health scare a week ago but was checked out completely and got a clean bill of health.  I have a great job, a great family, good health that I can build upon with better habits.  


We just don't know how long we have.  I'm happy that I'm now what I've literally always dreamed of being, a school librarian.  


It's time to stop sweating the small stuff.

Beautiful Linda

1963 - 2007

Weeding woes

Every librarian knows that weeding makes a collection stronger. I know the previous librarian did a fantastic job weeding - in two years, she improved the age of the collection twenty years. TWENTY YEARS!!!  That's pretty amazing. I've done a bit since I started in July, but it's not always easy. (Well, sometimes it is - the 600-page biography of Lyndon Johnson from 1980 that likely hasn't been checked out since 1993, for example.)  I think that since the books have moved out to the regular library space (long story) and I've done the weeding I have, it looks fantastic.  Before, in the cave, I didn't think it was a good collection.  Out here, with some more weed-worthy books out, any student could find a book they want here - and the new books aren't even out yet. It will only get better!

But getting there can be arduous. For instance, James Herriot's book, Every Living Thing. It's 300 pages,  is certainly a classic in adult literature, perfectly appropriate for teens, but it's never checked out here, and it looks like it's been here decades. There's A Midwife's Tale which won the Pulitzer Prize. I'm sure it'd be an interesting story. But it's 400 pages, all text with maybe two maps included for illustrations, and it's just not jumping off the shelves at a high school (apparently never checked out either).

Then there's the The History of Iowa, a four-volume set. It was published in 1903. It's in remarkable condition for being over a hundred years old, but that may be because it hasn't checked out in my lifetime. Literally. Three of the four volumes, anyway, were last checked out in June 1970. (One checked out in 1978. Better save that one!) But shouldn't we have a history of Iowa book? This surely goes into early history in great detail. There's a seven-volume set on George Washington, and a six-volume set by Carl Sandburg on Abraham Lincoln. (Does it matter that we have no other books on Washington?  Probably should get one.) Surely these are important books in history, certainly appropriate for an academic library, but definitely not a school library. Then why is it so hard to set those aside?

I remember well what my Collections professor said - the quality of your collection tells your students what you think of them. If you have crap, you're saying they deserve crap. Of course I get rid of crap, but what about quality history, just books that junior high and high school students won't read?

Squirrel story

This is an email that my 12-year-old daughter sent me about her recent fun at Grandpa and Grandma's:


So on Tuesday night, Grandma and Grandpa were gone and I was at [sister's boyfriend's apartment]. He was gone, but we were allowed to have some of his Twix ice cream, and L. and I were eating it outside on the deck thingy. When we were almost done eating, two squirrels abruptly jumped onto the same tree next to us. Okay, that's fine. Well, then L. was talking about how brave college squirrels are, and I threw a dirt clod at the tree (not the squirrels) to get their attention. The clod lands on a big patio table below, one squirrel running away and one to investigate the dirt mess. Apparently the braver squirrel got mad at us and started walking up the long steps towards us. And we were just like," Ooooooooooo herp derp it's a squirrel", thinking that the squirrel would stop midway. But it kept going, and L. got scared and started walking inside. I wanted to stay out, but the squirrel got all up in my face and was like," I pity the foooool that mess with me. Yo, give me your food. I'm a squirrel" so I ran inside and L. locked the door! And that's not all, about one minute later we looked out the blinds and there was the squirrel, a little aways, still on the patio, about five feet away. So L. sits down, and I go back to the blinds, thirty seconds later. And the squirrel is literally RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR, on a ledge at eye level, looking right at me!!! So I freaked out, but quickly regrouped and decided to open the door just a crack, and the squirrel runs to the door and I have barely enough time to close the door! I guess L. was right when she said how brave those squirrels where! I better be good, or else L. will throw me out for the squirrel and his little friends and they will eat me ALIVE, I TELL YOU!

Watch out!!!

Picture day

It's my first picture day as a teacher librarian!  I actually have been in a yearbook since my senior pictures graced the pages of my high school's yearbook - my "Book Lovers' Club" was featured in a yearbook, and the kids insisted that I was in the picture too.  That was nice.  But the angst of picture day . . . oh well.  They can't do much about my extra chin, sadly.  (And, whilst practicing for pictures with my handy dandy computer camera, I'm reminded of what my daughter said to me a few months ago:  "I can't believe no one's ever told you that you have a huge nose."  Wha, wha, what???)

Lots of exciting things are going on in the library and can I just say, I am very glad that I started in July because I'd be freaking out if I was starting in the middle of August.  In less than a month, the students will be here, and I still have so much to do.  But it is coming together.

I've been around the blogosphere a bit.  My friend and author Bri Clark had an interesting quandary, with a school librarian being bullied and I put my two cents in - at length or course.  I commented about what we're doing with ebooks on the Unquiet Librarian's blog. I wrote on my school blog about what's going on in the elementary library.  I read this article about how we can't teach students to love reading.  And I ordered a camera cable, so I'll be able to post pictures soon.  But for now, I get to practice using Flickr and the Iowa AEA's clip art!  :)

cadfael1979 (2008, January 17). "I'm late, I'm late, I'm Terrible Late" Retrieved online from http://www.flickr.com/photos/7547397@N06/2210257778/  Used under Creative Commons license.

Recent happenings

So much has been going on in the library!  I was waiting to post until I had pictures to show you, but what with just moving, I can't find the cord to transfer photos from my camera to the computer.  Well, just as well, then you will be able to see the complete transformation from before to after.  It's still in the process of changing right now.  My self-imposed deadline to be all done (moving books back into the library space, posters up, furniture in, and now some other things I'm excited about) is August 1 for registration.  We'll see if I meet that!

When I do post the pictures, I will also share some things I've learned in this project.  I will say that since I'm a K-12 librarian, the only librarian in the district, it's great to have someone to help with an eye toward design of the library.  I found that person at the local furniture store here in town.  It's great to have someone who knows the space, knows the people, and can see the possibilities.  Oh, also, make sure when you begin to have a tape measure!  Of course we have several at home, but since I live 20 miles from the school, when I forget it, I can't just pop back home and get it.  I ended up having to change my entire floor plan because my measurements (done with - ahem - a ruler) weren't accurate and I needed more space for fiction books than I thought, so the fiction is where I thought the nonfiction would be.  (Plus, I don't put books across the full length of a bookshelf.  I give a little room at the end so I can stand a book up vertically to feature it.)  But I think it's better this way, anyway!  

I got the go-ahead on Follett Shelf, an ebook program that will work with the students' laptops.  Very exciting!  I was always apprehensive about using Nooks or Kindles because that's an additional device to break.  I have to admit, my superintendent had the vision of this type of ebook program way before I did.  Mr. Egli, are you a closet librarian?  (Apparently I already heard about Follett Shelf at the AEA meeting I went to this spring.  I think that Vgotsky's Zone of Proximal Development applies here - I just wasn't ready to learn about that yet.)

I met with the new TAG teacher and am very excited about that.  It is so nice to have someone who speaks my language - defensible differentiation, autonomous learner, Henry Passow's could-would-should test - and we get to teach a class together!  (My son isn't too excited about that, as he is in the class.)  It's a class for any high school student, and we're going to really be able to make it our own.  It's basically a research class, but also learning about your own learning style, study skills, expanding the walls of the school to learn, and really, being responsible for your learning.  All those things that we think schooling should be - that's what we're going to do. 

Oh!  And gutter shelves!  Have you heard of these?  They're going in!  I anticipate two section of them, about 48 feet total.  I'd love to put them in at the elementary, too.  We'll see.

I did a Titlewise collection analysis.  The previous librarian did a fantastic job of weeding - two years ago, the average age of the collection was 1973!  But now it's a much more respectable 1993.  I'm going to have to do some more weeding - I'm adding a lot of books to the collection, and there are still more books that probably should go. 

Loving life!

Happy!

Photo by What What, with Creative Commons rights.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatwhat/1679093/

My first week

Squee!


That's my excited voice . . . excited that I am working as a school librarian!


The thing that surprises me is exactly how many different realms there are.  I am really found of Evernote as a tool to keep track of my shopping list and my husband's honey-do list and for work, my FIRES list.  Here's the different categories (so far):

• High school library space
• New cataloging software
• Book order
• Ereaders/ebooks
• Schedule
• Digital presence
• Elementary library instruction
• Elementary tech classes
• Collaborating
• Personal PD
• Clean office

All but that last one has seen a lot of progress this week.  :)

But then a blog post I read will send me in a whole new direction.  Yesterday, it was this post by Doug Johnson.  He writes:

Unless you already have the e-reading devices in hand, cancel the order. Spend your money instead on e-books that can be read on as wide a range of students' own devices as possible. Take a hard look at Adobe Overdrive or FollettShelf. (I have no stock in either company.) The BYOD - bring your own device - are gaining footholds in a lot of districts where personally owned technologies that can be used to read e-books were previously forbidden.

I didn't go any further - but started making phone calls.  Since I work at a 1:1 laptop school, this is what makes sense.  I'll write more when we know where this is headed, but one of those two (not the one that costs $4,000 a year!) is very promising.

Then this morning, it was this post by Eliterate Librarian.  I did a featured collections project in my practicum (I wrote about it here) and now I'm really thinking doing this whole-library might be the way to go.  I think I'd phase it in first this year at the high school - we're doing a lot of changes to the space (I will post before and after pictures eventually), so it might be a good time to change this too.  Again, since we're 1:1, the nonfiction collection isn't as deep, and so this would make what is there more inviting.  I am definitely going to study up more on this.

I started creating our digital footprint - so far I have Twitter, a blog, Diigo, and Shelfari, but eventually will add Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Flickr, and probably more.  

So much to do!  It's hard not to feel like I'm playing whack-a-mole sometimes, but I can see even in a week, I've made a lot of progress. 

Love my life!

Photo by TPapi,"Seven Mole Fever."  Used under Creative Common License.  Retrieved online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tpapi/2764694929/

   

Liar, Liar

It's so sad, it's almost July 4th and this is only the second book I've read all summer!  Well, I have to start somewhere:



Liar, Liar by Gary Paulsen is about Kevin Spencer, a 14-year old boy who lies.  A lot.  But it works for him in a strange way, but the story has a good message that liars never prosper.  Or however that saying goes.

I have mixed reactions to this book.  It is so different than Gary Paulsen's other works.  Had I not known, I would have thought it was by Andrew Clements because it reads a lot like one of his school stories.  That's what I love about Carl Hiaasen - I can read his work and know it's his.  But I suppose something can be said for being flexible with your voice.  He's a ventriloquist of sorts!

But here's two things, one I liked and one I didn't.  Here's what I liked, on page 97:  "So I went where I always go when I don't know what to do - I headed for the library to organize my thoughts and hammer out a battle plan."  Love that, Gary Paulsen!  But here's what I hate, on page 108:  "My eyes stung and my throat closed, tight and burning.  I took a few minutes to stare at the floor until I was sure I could speak without squeaking or choking."  A few minutes?  MINUTES?  I mean really.  Do you know how long a few minutes is, to just sit there and wait for someone?  Certainly Paulsen is not the first writer to use this inaccuracy, but it is like fingernails on the chalkboard for me.

Writers - especially those writing for children - please use language correctly and avoid this usage.  Thank you for your attention to this very serious matter.

Even so, I'd give this book a good strong B+.  It's a fun character - plus I don't think it's going to be a series.  You know how I feel about series!