Final Week

I worked my final week at Mooresville last Tuesday and Friday. I have mixed feelings. I can't believe it's already over. I can't believe how much I accomplished. I will really miss all the great people I worked with. I'm so glad I got such wonderful opportunities there. Tuesday we had a staff meeting first thing. I got a bit of acknowledgment, so that was nice. Then I mostly worked on the shelf label project all day. I answered a few reference questions and did a little bit of shelving, but I really focused on finishing up the shelf labels. I got them all done, so that was great. Just another project I managed to complete in my time there.

Friday was my last day. I spent the morning updating the Town Criers with all the fall program information. I must say - I am excellent at PowerPoint nowadays. I think they came out looking really nice. One thing I will take away for the future - download free fun fonts for use on flyers and brochures and such. They have so many cool ones!

My afternoon was spent on collection development. Mooresville keeps reference stats (at least, the children's department does, not sure about adult reference) and whenever a patron appears unsatisfied with the answer to their question, Suzanne goes over these things and takes them as suggestions for purchase. She provided me with a list of the subjects patrons had asked for that the department didn't have and asked me to find a few titles for each. A lot of these were media tie-in sorts of books (Spongebob, Veggie Tales, Hello Kitty, etc.). It was an interesting new challenge for my last day. I also did a bit of shelving (their page was on vacation this week). And that finished up my time there.

I'm sad that it's over. I really enjoyed my time with everyone at Mooresville. However, I feel like I've learned a lot and there are a lot of practices and advice that I can take with me to my future workplace. Suzanne read over my blog and said she hoped I still wanted to be a public librarian after seeing how crazy some days are and how boring others are. If anything, it makes me positive that this is the right choice for me. I'm looking forward to the point in my career when I won't have boring days because I'll be using slow patron days to plan programs, develop the collection, and make outreach contacts. I can't wait to be doing this full-time! I still feel nervous about interviewing but, at this point, I'm also pretty sure that I'll be a valuable addition to a children's department. Overall, I'm happy with what I accomplished!

End of Summer

Friday marked the end of summer reading for me. The last day was officially on Saturday. During the afternoon, we mostly had kids coming to collect prizes and I worked on the shelf labels during the down time. Suzanne managed to locate some more magnets for me so I should be able to finish up before my time here is done. The day was pretty uneventful. Suzanne took me to dinner and did sort of an exit interview about my time here this summer. I didn't have too much to complain about. Then we headed over to the pool for the Teen Summer Reading Pool Party. I was surprised at how low attendance was for this. It wasn't as hot as it had been so I thought people might actually come out and swim. Plus, a free night at the pool - I would have loved that when I was younger. But there were only a few people there. We had door prizes and snacks, so people just swam and ate. I was on door duty, so I checked people in and drew the door prizes. Pretty boring night! I can't believe next week is my last week - I can't believe summer's over!

Bittersweet

Tuesday...Tuesday was my last day at Little Tykes. I was a bit nervous going in because of the chaos of the Tuesday before, but I had hopes that everything would be okay. We talked about farm animals today, which I was pretty sure would be a hit. We read some stories and I was surprised because the kids pretty much only wanted to read books today. Usually, they sort of zone out and don't pay all too much attention when I'm reading, but today they were better. So we read three books, with a short break for some Old MacDonald singing. They were not as excited about the singing as anticipated - I thought they'd love the chance to name some animals and make some animal noises. And they did enjoy making the animal sounds, but only when we were reading the books. It was just a bit odd. After the books, we did some coloring. They all had cow pictures to color and they seemed rather content with that. I was happy that a lot of them kept calling me over to look at their pictures and show off for me. I think it was the first time that I felt like they cared about my being there. There were some very creative cows - lots of rainbow colored ones. Then I gave them each a sticker (and mine them line up in hopes that it would lessen griping about which sticker they got) and said goodbye. It's really weird to think that I won't be doing this every week anymore. But, at the same time, I'm glad it's over. It was pretty trying at times and it gives me a lot to think about in terms of off-site programming for the future.

Back at the library, I had a pretty slow afternoon. I sat at the desk and helped with a few reference questions but mostly worked on the shelf label project. I did have quite a good time watching the teen scavenger hunt that went on. I think scavenger hunts are something that you never grow out of. In fact, I was a bit jealous that I wasn't playing along! It seemed to go pretty well, although I did notice a little bit of intra-team drama. I was impressed by the fact that the whole thing was organized mainly by one of the teens. He seemed really pleased with the way it came together and I didn't notice any glitches really. Aside from watching the teens traipse around for clues, I really just worked on shelf labels all afternoon. I'm almost done J non-fiction and then I need to try to find some more magnets so I can do the fiction section. I'm really hoping to get it done before I leave and with no more Little Tykes, I think I can.

I can't believe I only have one week left!

Wow..

If I thought Fridays were slow, boy was I wrong! I worked Saturday this week and it was absolutely dead in the children's department. Because it's so slow on Saturdays, the children's department only has one person working. They all take turns working Saturdays throughout the month. However, with Suzanne out for her tonsils, there were too many Saturdays and not enough people! So I covered the last Saturday for them.

It was so slow. I think I had maybe five questions/patron interactions all day. I mostly worked on the shelf label project and some other tasks that Jaymi had set out for me (labeling some books, making calls, etc.). Really really slow. I don't even have anything to say because it was so slow. Tuesday is my last day at Little Tykes. Here's hoping all goes well!

Article: "Encouraging Voluntary Reading"

This article discussed a study conducted within a school on encouraging voluntary reading by including more literature activities during the day and providing a library center in the classroom, as well as providing parents with information on encouraging voluntary reading at home. This was very in-depth but for the most part interesting, though not necessarily relevant to libraries. One thing I liked about this study is that success was measured by the level of reading activity not an increase in reading scores. I know scores are important, but there is such a focus on them that it sort of makes it seem like nothing else even matters when it comes to reading success. I don't believe that. I pretty much think that as long as a kid is reading, it's a success. I also liked that this study trained parents in encouraging reading at home, though, as discussed, there's no way to really know if they are following through with that information. One always hopes that parents will do things especially when given evidence of the benefits to their children but you just never know. I found it interesting that this study chose to place four separate activity centers in each classroom. I like that they gave the library center competition. Another thing I really liked about this study is that teachers were not only encouraged to include literature activities throughout the day but they were also encouraged to model voluntary reading by reading silently during free choice time. This is really important. I think people forget that children love to copy what adults they admire do. Of course we remember when they ape our bad behavior but they do it with the good stuff too. So I think it's essential to remind parents that children will learn that reading is a valid free time activity if they see their parents doing it themselves. One final thing to mention about the article was in the results. The study found that after the intervention was over, voluntary reading at school had increased while voluntary reading at home had not changed. It's important to note that this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It's wonderful that reading at school increased but there are a much smaller number of choices during school hours. At home, there are seemingly infinite possibilities and many of them are very appealing (such as television and video games). I like that the authors pointed out the difference in interest versus behavior. Interest in reading may have increased, even at home, but behavior not necessarily. A well-done study, I think.

Morrow, L. and Carol Weinstein. (1986). Encouraging Voluntary Reading: The Impact of a Literature Program on Children's Use of Library Centers. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(3), p. 330-346. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Article: "Using Children's Literature to Clarify Science Concepts in Early Childhood Programs"

For me, this is an especially interesting article. I've been told that one should always include one non-fiction title per storytime with children. However, sometimes it's hard for me to believe that children are ready to learn about non-fiction conceps. This article sort of bridges the gap for me by discussing how fiction stories can be used to identify and explain science concepts. Of course, I already knew one could do this (as I've been doing it in my own storytimes) but it's good to see how others have done it. It's important to see articles like this because most children love learning and especially love learning information regarding science and nature. I know when I was young, I loved to learn about nature and why things were the way they were. I also loved conducting experiments and this article advocates exploration and experimentation with regards to the concepts covered in the books. This article is helpful because it contains an annotated list of titles all grouped by science concept categories. However, it would be better if this were a more recent list. The titles listed are mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. I'm sure if one wanted to initiate these programs other lists could be located. It is always nice to find an annotated booklist, however.

Smardo, F. (1982). Using Children's Literature to Clarify Science Concepts in Early Childhood Programs. The Reading Teacher, 36(3), p. 267-273. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Article: "Training Parents to Teach Their Preschoolers Through Literature"

Since I started my Early Literacy class, I've been thinking a lot about readiness and helping parents to help their children. This article sort of seems like a precursor to Every Child Ready to Read. It describes a home-based preschool program that helps parents teach readiness skills to their children through literature and literature-based activities. It is not as in-depth (at least the article doesn't go as in-depth) as ECRR as the skills being covered are not defined really. They are briefly mentioned in regards to one specific storytime but overall guidelines are not covered in this article. I liked this. It was interesting to read about what was happening with early literacy before ECRR. This is slightly different since this approach came through the school and not the library, but many of the techniques are similar. However, it's a bit unrealistic to expect a librarian to make home visits to individual families to help them with early literacy skills (and I'm quite surprised that the district in question was actually able to do this with a teacher!). I liked some of the ideas here, though. Having the teacher (or as it would be in my case, the librarian) dress as a storybook character is a great way to promote enjoyment of books, especially if a well-known character is employed. This could really work with themed storytimes, as the article mentioned having Little Bo Peep reading sheep books and doing sheep activities. Another idea that I really love (and which I also noticed at a library visit recently) is having preselected bags of picture books to leave with parents or for parents to take home. Some families don't have books at home. It's hard for me to fathom but it's true. Providing a bag of books selected by a librarian is a great way to assure kids are getting exposure to good books, especially if the parents feel too busy to select their own books. If possible, including a sheet of information about the books and how they help with different literacy/readiness skills could add to the effectiveness of such a bag but may not always be possible. Still, I think this is a great idea.



Spewock, T. (1988). Training Parents to Teach Their Preschoolers Through Literature. The Reading Teacher, 41(7), p. 648-652. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Terrible Tuesday

Today was a not-so-great day. Little Tykes this morning was pretty much a disaster. The whole program started with one boy in tears and it just got worse from there. I don't know what it was about today but the kids would not leave each other alone. They kept hitting and pushing and generally misbehaving. There were a few more instances of tears during the time I was there and they didn't listen to what I was trying to do with them at all. It's really disappointing because I thought I had some cool fun stuff planned for them but they just didn't get that much out of it. Not all the kids were being bad, but the majority were, so even the ones who were trying to pay attention were only getting half of what they should have been getting. When I left, the counselors made all the kids take time out because they had been so bad to me and one girl burst into tears because she didn't want to be in trouble. And, here's the kicker - there were less than half the number of kids that I usually have! I don't know what it was about today but they were just not in the mood for my program. Or for being nice to each other. I admit that I may have used my loud voice and gotten angrier than I should have. I could have handled the situation better but I was sort of at a loss about what to do. Both myself and the counselors told them repeatedly to keep their hands to themselves and they just didn't listen. I don't want to be the scary mean librarian but they needed discipline - not because they weren't paying attention (although they should know better by this age) but because they were hitting each other and generally being unkind. I didn't really know what to do with the situation. I'm going to talk to Suzanne about it the next time I see her.

Once I got back to the library, I settled in for a long and boring afternoon. I worked on my shelf label project all afternoon - to the point where my hands were cramping from cutting and repetitive motion. I helped with anything Miriam and Jaymi needed but, since there were three of us at the desk, I mostly focused on my shelf labels. And I barely made a dent in them! I don't know if I will finish before my time here is up. But I do have everything made and printed so someone would only need to finish cutting and attaching the labels. Who knows, I might have lots of time my last week since Summer Reading will be over.

Overall, today was just a hard day. I'm still glad I'm doing the Little Tykes program but it hasn't been ideal. My last visit is next Tuesday and hopefully it goes smoother than this one did.

Another Friday

Another Friday, a very quiet one, too. This morning, I helped Jaymi do a program for the Y. She talked about rainforests. She showed them the different layers of the rain forest and read some books about the rainforest and then we all made snakes out of paper plates. It went okay. Some kids were a little too zealous with the watercolor (causing spillage and overpainting) and we were outside so it was really hot, but overall it went well. It's interesting to see how Jaymi handles programs and then to think about how I do it. I'm happy to see that I handle things in similar ways, such as when the kids aren't listening too well. After that short program, we came back to the library. I had another day of sitting at the desk, answering questions and handling Summer Reading prizes. I finished up Little Tykes planning and worked on shelf labels. Very quiet and uneventful day, though we did have some issues with some teen boys in the afternoon (they were trying to enter the library without shirts and misbehaving while they were here). Jaymi dealt with them. I probably should have watched to see how she handled it, but I think it's something I could figure out when necessary. Other than that, nothing terribly exciting. Just a typical day at the library.

Eleven hours...

Tuesday I worked an eleven hour day at Mooresville. Crazy? Yes, probably. But I have a reason! At the beginning of the summer when I looked over the schedule, I saw this family program, Silly Safaris, on July 13th, and I really wanted to see it. So I planned to work noon to eight (because the program was at six-thirty). Well, then Suzanne tells me about the Little Tykes every Tuesday so I have to come in at nine. I still wanted to see the Silly Safaris (because I hadn't seen a family program yet, aside from the kickoff carnival), plus Suzanne was out for her tonsillectomy so it's not like the extra help wouldn't be appreciated. Hence, my eleven hour day.

So, to begin the morning, I came in and got everything ready for Little Tykes. Then I headed over to the park. We talked about things that go. Jaymi didn't get my music loaded on to the iPod so I made the kids sing a capella. We did our opening, then read an alphabet book with transportation words. I taught them a lot of new vocabulary with this book. Then, we sang "Wheels on the Bus" and read the much-anticipated train book (they had been clamoring for it ever since they saw me put it out). After that, we tried to play a game. Now, this game was unfamiliar to me but Jaymi told me about it and I found rules online. It's supposed to be a sort of team-building camp activity. It's called "Ships and Sailors." I modified the rules I found a little bit and decided to eliminate the team-building aspect because I thought the kids might be too young to understand how to make teams quickly enough. So I went over the actions briefly and we got started. It did not go that well. Even with my modifications, I think they game would have been better suited for an older crowd. These kids were too young to understand how everything was supposed to work and were not so great at following the directions. After ending the game with a "shark attack," I headed out.

Back at the library, I set up the program room for my afternoon teen program. I had a bit of difficulty because there was a meeting in the community room and I needed to get some equipment from the closet in there. So I waited it out and eventually just had to sneak in. I got everything set up with no problems and then took my lunch break. When I came back from lunch, I finished setting up the room and waited for the teens to arrive. I had about ten kids eventually. We watched the new "Alice in Wonderland." We were supposed to watch "Percy Jackson" but the rights would have cost the library an additional five hundred dollars (since the studio wasn't covered by the library's license). I had a bit of a fail when I couldn't get the microwave to work (for popcorn, of course) but we saved the day by using the staff room microwave. We also had candy and juice. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie. I had a little bit of time in the afternoon to work on the shelf labels, so I did that in between cleaning up the program room and helping Jaymi set up the community room. I took another dinner break and then Jaymi and I got everything ready for Silly Safaris.

Silly Safaris started at six thirty. We had about a hundred people show up. Silly Safaris is a local group that puts on an animal show for kids. Our presenter was Coyote Chris, who, disappointingly, did not bring a coyote. But he was fantastic. He was great with the kids, excellent at performing and brought a nice variety of animals for everyone to enjoy. He had a lot of the kids participate throughout the show and did really well with them. There were a couple things that he maybe needed to enforce more (such as making sure the kids stayed seated; there were a couple of children who kept standing and he sort of just ignored them after the first few times), but overall, I thought it was a fantastic program. At the end, each child got the opportunity to pet a few of the animals he'd brought in and I tried to snap pictures of each one. A very successful family program, I think. We cleaned up the community room briefly, then did closing procedures and my very long day came to a close. I had a great time doing a little of everything on Tuesday and it gave me ideas for the future. I sort of feel like a sponge, just absorbing everything I see here for use in the future. Obviously, I think this is a great thing!

Same old...

Days are pretty much the same here. On Friday, I finished planning the rest of my Little Tykes for the summer and started to get nervous about Suzanne coming to observe. I hope she doesn't think I'm doing a terrible job. I'm sure she will have some constructive things to say regardless. I worked at the desk while doing my various tasks, helping award Summer Reading prizes, answering reference questions, etc. I helped Jaymi by dancing with her for a program in the morning and making some calls later on in the day. I also continued working on my shelf label project. Pretty much a standard, unexciting day. I really don't mind though. Sometimes, I watch Suzanne during a day and she is just going non-stop. Someday I'd like to be a department head, but I always hope for a little bit of down time amongst the craziness. Tuesday will be a crazy day for sure. Anxious!

Long time...

It's been a little while since I updated. Most days here are the same really.

Last Friday, I mostly worked the desk and got started on the shelf label project. It's going to be easy but a little tedious and time-consuming. Oh well. It will definitely give me something to do for the rest of my time here. I thought it was going to be quick, but just one section of the YAZ took me all day!

Tuesday I was by myself for the morning. I didn't have Little Tykes (holiday break) so I just worked on some odds and ends throughout the morning. I looked into planning for the rest of Little Tykes sessions and took some more information down for the shelf labels. When Suzanne came in for the afternoon/evening, we chatted briefly about what I'd been up to and then she had a teen program. I covered the desk while she did that and worked a bit on Little Tykes. She also had American Girl Club in the afternoon (which was crazy!) so I made reminder calls while she did that. I can't decide how I feel about the reminder calls. On the one hand, they're a nice service for hectic parents with active scheduled children. On the other hand, they're sort of like a telemarketer, especially for parents who don't have any problem remembering what they've signed their children up for. I would imagine they're annoying for the programs that repeat as well - like Jaymi's baby and toddler programs. So I always feel conflicted when I do them. But, it's how this library works, so I go with the flow. It just makes me wonder about whether I should do something like that in the future. After that, I had a little more time to show Suzanne what I'd done with the shelf labels and make sure I was on the same page as her, then it was time to head home.

It's very routine here at the library now. I imagine this is what my future looks like!

Article: Book Trailers

I wanted to learn more about book trailers and how other libraries are using this new trend in programming. One article I came across was "Flipped." This describes a summer contest through the library in which teens create book trailers. They were then watched by a panel of judges and winners and runners-up announced. One thing I liked about this article was that it pointed out that teens don't necessarily need help with the equipment and technology - which sort of echoes what I discovered in my experience with the book trailer program. In this case, the library purchased equipment and hosted video shoot times - which went unattended. Like I saw in our programs at Mooresville, the teens caught on very quickly with the technology involved. Perhaps hosting a longer workshop program to help teens find music and photos to use in their trailers or to provide optional help with shooting their own live footage. The thing I like most about this article comes at the end. One of the judges comments, "RFW [the name of their contest] makes teens examine the books they choose. Because they have to focus on creating the elements of a movie, such as scripts, sets, costumes, etc., they're forced to wrestle aspects of the story they may not otherwise consciously examine...." This is a great way of looking at book trailers as a valid form of keeping books at the forefront.

Wooten, J. (2009). Flipped! Want to get teens excited about summer reading? Just add video. School Library Journal, 55(5), p. 38-40. Accessed from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database.

The return of Suzanne

Tuesday marked the first time I had seen Suzanne in two weeks - but that didn't happen until the afternoon so let me discuss my morning first.

I got everything together for Little Tykes and headed over. Today's challenge: the CD player wouldn't work once I got there. So, no music. I made the kids sing the first part of "Open Shut Them" acapella and then moved on with storytime. We read a couple stories and the kids mostly paid attention, although a few were distracted by the pasta necklaces they had just made. After two books, I went ahead with my art project. Though I had emailed one of the counselors on Friday to see if I could get a count, I never got a response. So I had supplies for twenty today - and there were twenty kids. Lucky! Our art project for the day was making crayon rubbings. The kids absolutely loved this! I had them use the bottoms of their shoes for an interesting change to traditional rubbings and they were fascinated at how a picture appeared from nothing. I really didn't expect it to go over as amazingly as it did, so I will definitely keep this in mind for future programs. We read another story and then it was time to leave. A bit of confusion at the end, as I had nothing on the schedule for them for the next week but the counselors seemed to think they'd still be there. So I headed back to the library a bit confused.

Worked on Youth Bio for a while, peeked in on Suzanne's teen henna program (HUGE success) and then met with Suzanne for a while. She just wanted to touch base and see how things were going since I'm halfway through my internship. She got the Little Tykes confusion sorted out and I told her about some of the other issues I've had with them. I mentioned that Youth Bio would be finished soon and she told me I could work on shelf labels once that's done. That should be relatively easy. We discussed the rest of the summer's schedule and then chatted about the other things going on in my life. I finished up the day with some more work on Youth Bio and that was that. I'm so glad I chose Mooresville for my internship; I like all the people I'm working with (throughout the day, there was much discussion of which books to recommend to each other) and I'm getting great experience in many different areas. I can't believe it's already half over!

Slow day

I don't really have much to report about Friday. It was a very slow and monotonous day. I didn't really do too much. Got some things ready for my program on Tuesday, sat at the desk and answered questions and worked on Youth Bio. That's pretty much the extent of it. The only notable thing about today is that I came in to work to find a present waiting for me. Bill, the librarian I had worked with for Tuesday's program, had created a CD for me of royalty-free music I can use for book trailers or future programs. It was such a surprise and I was very grateful. But that was my excitement for the day!

Article: "A Great Program...for Me as a Gramma"

I wanted to find an article about dialogic reading because I know it's an important aspect of early literacy, especially with Every Child Ready to Read. I've been trying to do this with the kids at Little Tykes, asking them open-ended questions about the book we're reading. I came across this article, which covers a family literacy program in Canda. I can't speak to every aspect of this study because there are a lot of differences from a library program (and especially my program, since mine is not about family literacy). First, the program discussed here takes place in a school and lasts for much longer than a typical library program. Additionally, a meal is involved, with staff, children and caregivers partaking together. Finally, the program studied here uses a much broader definition of literacy than what most library early literacy programs use at their base.



It's really difficult to discuss this article but I think it was interesting to read. I'm not really an early literacy expert but some of the things about the program presented in the article rubbed me the wrong way. It's discussed that the facilitators don't teach parents any particular way of reading to their children. While there are many ways of reading and no one should be emphasized above the other, there is a definite need for facilitators and experts to teach parents the ways of reading to and with their children. This leads into another point. The program here emphasized parents sharing their own literacy expertise. There is no discussion of what happens when the parents don't know what this means. There is a bit of discussion about how facilitators need to address parental insecurity, which is definitely important. Finally, another issue that parents brought up in evaluative surveys was the inclusion of wordless picture books. Many parents felt these books lacked value and wondered how they could be promoting literacy when they don't have any words. I think wordless picture books are great for promoting one of the types of literacy with parents. These books encourage storytelling, which is great. Overall, I enjoyed this article. It was a different perspective than I had come across previously.



Anderson, J. & Morrison, F. (2007). 'A Great Program...for Me as a Gramma': Caregivers Evaluate a Family Literacy Initiative. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(1), 68-89. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Atypical

Today was a bit of an atypical day at my internship. First thing this morning, I got all my supplies together for my program. I killed a little bit of time looking for articles and then I headed out. Today at Little Tykes we discussed cooking. I think today went much more smoothly than last week. The kids were late coming back from a bathroom break so we didn't start on time. This was a bit frustrating, but also a bit of a relief. After last week, I felt a little less excited about coming back so I was okay not starting on time. At the same time, though, it's frustrating to have everything prepared, physically and mentally, and not have that reciprocated. Especially when I ran out of time (again) to finish everything I have planned. Perhaps I am over-preparing and trying to cram too much into the program. But I would rather be over-prepared than not. Anyway, we started out with Open Shut Them and sharing the bell again. Then we got right into the story. I read a book about pigs cooking and had the kids talking about recipes and ingredients and what those words mean. I also had the opportunity to teach them what a squid was. Then I did a small activity where I showed them unique kitchen and cooking supplies and had them guess what they were. The kids were great at this, especially one little boy - it seemed like he knew what everything was! However, this was a great activity for teaching them new vocabulary and practical information. I also had a chance to explain to them what knuckles were (we were talking about cheese graters). Lots of unexpected lessons in today's program. After this, I read another story and I had the kids trying to guess what happens next. After I finished that story, we were almost out of time so I gave the kids a choice - did they want to sing a song or read another story? I was surprised when they chose the story. The last one wasn't really a story - it was more a kid's book about vegetables. They were really great at this, too - they knew most of the vegetables, though they were surprised to see that potatoes come in many different colors. Finally, we said goodbye, I packed up, and headed back to the library.





I had a little time to kill so I prepared a little for my afternoon program by watching some YouTube videos. I helped a few patrons with questions. After lunch, I worked a bit more on Youth Bio, then it was off to another program. This was a teen program at the library and I was mostly just watching. The program was a class on making book trailers. I was a bit apprehensive because I didn't know too much about it. However, once we got started, I realized that I had used this software in a computer class in high school. It sort of all came back to me as Bill, the librarian running the program, explained everything to the teens. Plus, they were very self-sufficient.





In terms of evaluating this program, I think it went okay. Bill has a tendency to ramble a bit, so he may have talked a bit more than necessary for getting the kids ready to branch out on their own. Additionally, since this was only a one-time, hour-long program, the kids didn't really have time to actually create a book trailer. It can be time-consuming - to find royalty-free images and music to use, to think of what to say, even to come up with a book you want to promote. So, I think some of the kids were a bit dissatisfied with not actually creating a project, just experimenting with the software. Other kids seemed totally fine with this and I think might actually be motivated enough to go out on their own and work with this program (we used Windows Movie Maker). So it was kind of a draw.



We actually ran this program twice, back to back, because we were working in a very small computer lab and the space was limited. We had more kids interested than space available for one program, so we did it twice. The second time around went a little better in terms of Bill's tangents, but the majority of these kids seemed less interested in practicing with the software. Overall, I think it was a bit of a draw. I also had some time to talk to Bill and get information for future reference, in terms of finding public domain music to use in book trailers or programs I might make in the future.

After we finished up, I worked a bit more on Youth Bio. We're almost done already! I don't know what I'll do with my spare time around the library once we're finished; maybe the shelf labels that Suzanne has mentioned. I'm sure she'll find something for me to do! I made some reminder phone calls for Jaymi's baby programs tomorrow and then my day was done. Overall, it was a decent day, better in terms of programming, I think. Every day is a learning experience!

Alone

Friday was my first day all alone in the department. Totally alone, I was responsible for everything that went on during the day. My morning was pretty hectic. I arrived and went through opening procedures. Luckily, Diane (the library director) had already started setting up for the join program we'd be running. I'm not sure I would have had time to get it all done in time. So I finished opening procedures and finished set up for our morning program.

Since everyone else was on vacation or off for the day, Diane and I tag-teamed a program that Suzanne had planned. It was for a local kindergarten (I think that's what they were) and it was about cubism. It went okay. My issues with it were that I only found out I'd be doing it on Tuesday and it was someone else's program. I know Suzanne's passion is art and she loves introducing it to kids. But I don't share that passion and I'm not particularly knowledgable about art. So I wasn't too interested in the program to begin with. I also worried that the program was a little too specific and advanced for the children we were presenting too. Additionally, I was expected to present this program with the library director. THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR. Talk about pressure.

Once we got into the program, though, it was okay. It had clearly been a long time since Diane had run a program and I think she seemed a little nervous. Perhaps I was the only person who noticed but she seemed to ramble and lack focus a bit. I believe that you don't need to talk down to kids when talking to them. However, you have to make sure they understand what you're saying, and I'm not sure Diane really accomplished that part. And I discovered an additional issue with performing someone else's program: Diane kept mispronouncing the artists' names. After Diane's overview of cubism and my presentation on the color wheel, we let the kids loose with watercolors and reproductions of cubist paintings. They were great! They were all so into painting and so meticulous about the details. All the paintings were unique and well done. I was a bit at a loss about what to do while the kids were painting. I basically just told them how great they were doing. Diane kept trying to teach them information, which I think bothered some of the kids. Towards the end, I read a story while they finished up. They seemed to like it. Then we went outside and played with the parachute for a couple minutes. And then our program was finished. Like I said, it went okay. I don't think the kids noticed any discomfort Diane or I might have been feeling. I would have felt better if it was a program I had planned myself or had more of an express interest in.

I cleaned up after the program and then sat at the reference desk until lunch. I worked on my program while covering the desk. After lunch, it was more of the same. I sat at the desk, answered questions, signed kids up for summer reading and programs, awarded prizes, and worked on my programs in between. It was actually a really slow afternoon. Usually, the afternoon is the busier time, especially in the children's department. But I only had a handful of patrons throughout the afternoon. It was good in that I didn't feel too overwhelmed for my first solo day in the department, but it made for a long afternoon. Overall, I think the day went well. I did all the closing procedures and everything went pretty smoothly. I didn't come across any questions I couldn't answer and I didn't feel swamped at any point. I think I can do this!

Do or Die Time...

Tuesday was a big day. As soon as I arrived at Mooresville, I started getting all my supplies ready for my program. I was a bit all over the place - I kept forgetting things I needed and having to retrace my steps. Just a bit crazy. But I finally got it all together and headed over. I got set up and then it was go time.

My first solo Little Tykes program. I was really nervous but so crazy rushing around that I didn't really have time to think about. I started out with introductions again then we did "Open Shut Them," an old standard song for story times. Everyone sang along so I was really excited. Good start. We shared the bell (which the kids love doing), and then did a little chatting about the theme for the week (parties). Then I read my first book, I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems. They seemed to enjoy this one and it was a very easy read. After the book, we sang "The More We Get Together," another classic story hour song. And this is the point at which I think I lost them. Very few of the kids tried to sing along and one of the counselors gave off a vibe that she didn't really have any interest in helping me out. Next I brought out the instruments and we played along with an upbeat song. I knew this was going to be a tricky portion because I had a bunch of different instruments. I wasn't really sure how to go about distributing them so I kind of let the kids choose what they wanted. Only a minor disaster. One girl didn't even want to play because she didn't get the instrument she wanted. So, if I do this again, I will have to try to come up with some solution. However, I was really happy when the kids started sharing instruments on their own during the song. I made sure to praise them for this. Then I read another book, which maybe three or four kids paid any attention to. I tried to sing another song and absolutely none of them showed any interest. Then we got to the craft portion. I had brought some pre-cut birthday crowns and crayons and asked them to decorate them. They love to color, so I wasn't too worried about this. However, I discover that I don't have enough for each child. Our first program with them was attended by nine kids, so I brought supplies for twelve (I planned on extras, including one for myself). Turns out that this week, there were thirteen kids. So two children had to share and I felt like a complete amateur. I ended up running over a few minutes (and I still had another book and a song). Overall, I don't feel really good about how it went. I don't know what it was, but the kids didn't seem to pay as much attention as they did the week before. One of the counselors did mention that they had just played a lot of running games, so they might have been a little wound up. I don't know. I just really wish it had gone better. I was definitely not pleased to have one child say they didn't have fun and didn't want me to come back next week (granted, it was the little girl who didn't get the instrument she wanted, so she may have been bitter, but still).

Back at the library, I put away all my supplies and then covered the reference desk while Jaymi was at lunch. In the afternoon, I worked on planning more Little Tykes and working the desk. I also helped with assorted tasks as Jaymi and Suzanne asked. I had a brief meeting with Suzanne and Diane, the library director, as she and I will be running a program on Friday. Another thing for me to be nervous about. Not only will I be alone in the department on Friday, I'll be running a program that I didn't plan and really don't know much about with THE DIRECTOR OF THE LIBRARY. Not a big deal or anything. I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed this week. Especially since Friday, I don't have the luxury of the half hour before patrons show up to get opening procedures done. I have to do them when I get there at nine and the program starts at ten, so I will have to try to squeeze the opening procedures and set up for the program in the first forty-five minutes of the day. I just don't have a real great feeling about it. I'm probably underestimating my abilities, but I'm a worrier. I guess that's all for today.

Book: "Storytime Sourcebook II"

Since I have been focusing so much of my energy on planning my Little Tykes programs, I have been using this book nearly every day throughout my internship. I love this book. It's indispensable to me as someone just starting out with programming. What I love most about this book is that it's organized thematically. Pretty much any theme you could think of has a listing in here. And I absolutely love the suggestions of when to use the different themes - the book has interesting holidays and celebrations listed to go along with each theme. I love this feature! There are holidays I've never heard of that I think kids would just be wild about learning. Each theme has the holiday listing, then a list of videos & books. There are 15 books listed for each theme so it provides you with a wide variety to choose from. There is one fingerplay for each theme, then 2-4 activities and usually one song. What I don't like about this book is that I think there should be more songs listed. I know they provide a number of videos, which often have music, but singing songs with kids is a huge part of most library programs and you can usually use songs no matter where your program takes place. Another thing that I don't like as much about this book is that it only gives you the name of the fingerplay and the source it can be found in. It would be much more helpful if the actual fingerplay were included in this text in case you don't have time to go hunting in other books for the one listed. Overall, though, this book is amazing. I've consulted it for every program I'm planning. Eventually I'd like to not be as reliant on books such as this, but for really unique programming, this is an especially helpful title.

Cullum, C. (2007). The Storytime Sourcebook II. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Bad day...

I suppose it has to happen sooner or later - Friday was my first "off" day at Mooresville.

The day started off fine - I had a bit of time in the morning to kill before accompanying Suzanne to Children's Park (local kindergarten) for a program about bugs and insects. The program went really well. She showed the kids pictures of bugs and asked them to guess if they were good or bad. The kids were not too bad at it - and they really seemed interested in learning about why some bugs are actually good. The program lasted for about a half hour and then Suzanne and I headed to the grocery store to pick up supplies for her Teen Council Lock-In. This was mostly unexciting but I did discover the joys of tax-exempt shopping and that she occasionally buys titles she thinks the library should have from the grocery store.

We headed back to the library and I had a little bit of time to work on my program (my first solo venture is Tuesday!). However, it wasn't long before Suzanne was hauling out brochures for me to staple and Jaymi was asking me to do some other menial task. I get it - I'm the intern so I get to do all the boring and monotonous tasks that they hate doing. And yes, I understand that it's probably taking me longer than it should to get these programs planned. However, this is my first time planning and executing a program on my own. I don't have a whole litany of books, songs, and activities that instantly come to mind as guaranteed successes. So, right now, the process involves quite a bit of research and checking things out for myself. I want to feel comfortable before diving in on Tuesday and, right now, I don't. Suzanne kept saying I could do these other things "when I had time" but it seemed pretty clear that they were expected to be done sooner rather than later. I just got annoyed.

After lunch, it didn't really get any better. My new distracting task was calling patrons about Saturday's program and about a third session of a program later in the summer. This was time-consuming. And, personally, one of my least favorite tasks in any job is phone calls. So I was doubly not excited for this. When I finally finished that, I tried to at least get Tuesday's program nailed down and I think I have everything figured out. However, I'm still very nervous. When I go in Tuesday, I'll have probably 45 minutes to get everything together and ready before heading over on my own. I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't spend more time researching for my programs at home so I won't get frustrated when I get sent these other tasks at the library. I guess I'll see how it goes Tuesday. One thing is for sure: I will need to practice my children's music at home before my programs. It doesn't go over well if you want the kids to sing and you don't even know the words. So I'll be spending some time doing that before Tuesday. Overall, I'm enjoying the experience and I think I'm getting a lot of chances to do many different kinds of things in the library. I just was a bit frustrated on Friday for lack of planning time.

Frenzy!

Today was a hectic day! First thing in the morning, I did a little bit of work on Little Tykes for next week and then Suzanne and I headed off to the park for the first Little Tykes program.

Suzanne had planned and was running this one so I wasn't too nervous. However, when we got there, the kids (and counselors) were nowhere to be found. That was a bit worrisome. We finally tracked them down and it became clear that they had not been expecting us at all. Apparently, they had us written down as coming on Thursdays, despite the fact that Suzanne and I had both emailed the director and confirmed Tuesday mornings. That was a bit stressful, but I'm glad Suzanne was there to handle it. They were surprised but accommodating and I'm sure I would have been fine on my own, but it was nice to have two of us there to confirm that we were in fact supposed to be there.

Anyway, after we got it all straightened out, Suzanne went into the program. We had nine kids between the ages of three and five and two counselors. We sang a song, then read a book, then did a fingerplay. Then we played with the parachute, read another story, drew some bugs and sang another song. Finally, we said goodbye and Suzanne and I headed back to the library.

My feelings about the whole thing are mixed. I know they are preschoolers and, thus, a very forgiving audience, but I still can't help but feel nervous for next week when I do this all on my own. I plan on doing the same song for opening every week so that the kids can really get to know it and feel comfortable with it and can get the feeling that they've mastered something. I might also try to do a similar thing with closing - pick one song and sing it every week with them at the end. The books went over rather well - I will have to try to make all my stories interactive because the kids really like that. The kids also really loved the fingerplay which is something that I had been really hesitant about before so I might have to rethink my position on that. I had been all about the parachute beforehand because Suzanne told me how much they love it. However, after seeing it in action, I'm not sure I want to go for it. It seemed to get the kids a little too high-strung for the next thing. The drawing went well for the most part - of course, the kids weren't terribly good at it and following directions was not their strong point but they seemed to have fun with it. Clearly, I won't be able to do anything more complex than that in terms of crafts with them so I'll have to figure that out.

Back at the library, I worked a bit more on Little Tykes planning for next week, then took my break. When I got back from that, Suzanne and I set up for the teen program, button-making. This was much better attended than I expected it to be and it went pretty smoothly. The kids got the hang of it really quickly so it almost didn't seem necessary for us to be there but, of course, we still needed to supervise. Suzanne told me to make sure that any library I work at in the future has a button-maker because it's an easy, fun craft that kids love and she uses it to make buttons all the time. It's also not terribly messy so that's good too. We picked up afterwards and then I pulled some books for Suzanne for the next program. I helped her set up the room for that as well. Again, I had a little bit of time to work on Little Tykes but then Suzanne poked her head out of the program room and asked for my help so I stepped in to assist.

Suzanne was having Boys Adventure Club, talking about pirates. She had already done a PowerPoint with information and the boys were working on making their own pirate flags. She had 24 boys in there all by herself! I helped clean up after the pirate flags and then helped them with making pirate ships. A lot of the kids wanted to keep their pirate ships so I helped try to dry them off for bringing home. What I learned from this program - never have 24 boys all on your own! Suzanne definitely needed a helper! Also, I like the idea of having separate programs for boys and girls but, before I went in to help, I definitely heard a few girls who wished they could participate as well. Suzanne told me that they didn't really enforce the segregation; this program just happened to fill up. Another thing I noticed about this program was that the older kids really seemed to like helping the younger kids; they just needed a bit more direction on how best to do so. This is definitely helpful if you're by yourself with this many kids, or even if there are only a few adults helping.

After we cleaned up from that program, I had just a little more time to work on Little Tykes planning. I imagine I'll have more time on Friday to polish up my plans. Today was hectic but good. I felt like we got a lot done and had great attendance so yay for the library! I also feel like I'm getting a lot of ideas to hold on to for use in my own career. I think this is turning out to be even better than I expected!

Book Chapter: "Picturebooks"

Since I am most concerned with selecting picturebooks for my preschool program, I went back and reviewed the chapter in one of my textbooks regarding the subject. I love this textbook; I think it's an invaluable resource for any children's librarian.

The chapter on picturebooks covers a wide range of information. There is a brief definition of picturebooks and then an in-depth discussion of the art and artists in the picturebook world. This is fascinating to read about but it is not my primary concern for this programming. It has gone into my considerations, however. I always try to look at the illustrations of the books. I know there was one book I didn't choose because I felt the illustrations would be too overwhelming for a child of this age. This is something that I probably wouldn't have given much thought to before previously reading this chapter and knowing that illustrations are as important as content.

The rest of the chapter focuses on themes and subjects of picturebooks. Most picturebooks deal with familiar subjects for children and this is important. Kids love to see their own experiences and images reflected back to them through books. It makes it much easier for them to engage in the story and invest in it. However, fantastical books that engage their imagination are incredibly important as well. I'm hoping to strike a balance between the two in my selections for storytime.

Kiefer, B. (2010). Picturebooks. In Charlotte Huck's Children's Literature: Tenth Edition (pp. 154-223). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Preparation is Key

Let's see...Friday was another full day at Mooresville, and another day without Suzanne. Much like the previous days where Suzanne was not working, it was a more free-form sort of day with Jaymi and I each doing our own things.



First in the morning, I went through most of the opening procedures on my own since Jaymi had a program at 10am that she had forgotten to get entirely ready for (see: entry title). It took me a little while to get everything done to a point where I felt comfortable. While Jaymi had her program, I sat on the desk on my own, a little bit without direction and trying to get in library mode for the day. But, I finally realized that I needed to get working on Little Tykes, so that was my plan for the day: get all my programs figured out.

Plan not entirely successful. It is a lot of work to get programs planned! For each program, I need to find 3 or 4 books and 3 or 4 songs plus some sort of activity that fits the weekly theme. Easier said than done. So, despite working on this planning all day (literally, ALL DAY), I still don't have any of the programs completely planned out. Granted, it wasn't a steady day where I locked myself away to work on planning - I was on the reference desk all day, registering people for summer reading and programs, answering reference questions, and giving reminder calls to all the kids signed up for Saturday's programs (4 different programs!). There was even a period when I was on the desk by myself and, while I was nervous at first (as I usually am about new things), everything went fine. I feel like every person I interacted with went away from the desk mostly satisfied. The only thing that really bothers me about being alone at the reference desk is when I encounter questions that I just don't know the answer to because I am new to the library. I hate having to rely on someone else for answers - I feel like I should be able to figure it out - but it's just a fact of life here. I'm not from the area and I only work at this library two days a week for three weeks now - I just don't have all the answers!

Anyway, the day was mostly just a day of regular library business. I worked on Little Tykes all day. My process was such: look at theme. Search catalog for children's picture books that fit theme. Write down locations. Search document on sharedrive for songs and music that fit theme. Write down titles/CD information. Gather more than I need of both. Read said picture books and decide which might work. And that's about as far as I got. I have some books picked out for each week but not enough for all of them and some of the ones I chose, I'm not really completely satisfied with. I didn't do any of the music stuff yet and I still have to work on figuring out activities that preschoolers will do where I don't have to lug huge quantities of supplies back and forth (did I mention this Little Tykes is taking place off-site?).

Jaymi and I went through closing procedures and we all headed home. I am going to try to look at some of the resources I have here at home for more picture book options before I go back on Tuesday. It is much more difficult than one would aassume to select picture books for preschoolers. A lot of the titles that I was most excited about ended up being way too long or complicated for a preschool audience. I am hoping this is something that will get easier to do the longer I work in the field.

I think that's all for me today! First actual Little Tykes program is Tuesday morning so I will get to see what it will actually look like!

Full Swing

Today was a nice steady day, although with too early of a start for my liking. This morning, I arrived before the library opened for a staff meeting. We had a brief session regarding cataloging before joining the rest of the staff for the regular meeting. It was interesting to see how things work at the library on a managerial level. They are just now having one person head a cataloging "department". Additionally, they are having issues with RFID. Mooresville was the tenth library in the nation to adopt RFID when it first arrived on the scene and now all their equipment is antiquated so it's impossible to replace. However, to update everything is a huge budget expenditure so they really have to consider and plan for this. During the regular staff meeting, the director spoke first, covering a variety of topics, including increased patronage due to the Got Access? program, the success of some recent events, and upcoming events. Then representatives from the various departments took turns providing information about happenings within their departments. The meeting lasted for just over an hour and then I headed off to the children's department and Suzanne left for a while.

Jaymi and I went through opening procedures, each taking separate tasks, so I will need to be reminded of the things she handled before I'm there by myself. Time seemed to fly by this morning as we completed these opening duties, registered kids for summer reading, and I worked on Youth Bio. I got the hang of that pretty quickly and worked on that for most of the day, answering reference questions and getting kids signed up for summer reading throughout the day. After Suzanne came back and ran her art program, we set up the community room for the family program tonight. Then we had a brief meeting about Little Tykes. I still feel pretty unsure about it, but I guess I'll see next Tuesday how it goes. I'll just have to work on planning that on Friday.

I actually don't mind working on Youth Bio (although this is only my first real day with it, so I may regret that statement later). Sure, it's tedious, but it's real technical library work. It makes me feel important being able to change the cataloging information. I don't know if it's really the best idea for space-saving but I suppose all libraries deal with space issues differently. Hmm...seems I don't really have much to say about today. I think days at the library will be more ordinary from now on. I suppose we'll see. I enjoyed it!

Article 2: "Summer Reading Incentives: Positive or Pernicious?"

I had wanted to find an article about Summer Reading program kick-off parties but stumbled across this instead and it definitely struck me.

For a class I took in the spring semester, my final project was a group one, wherein we had to design an entire summer reading program for grades K-6. Among other things, I was in charge of looking into the history of summer reading programs. During my research, I came upon the debate surrounding incentives in summer reading programs and I've been thinking about it since.

This article is mainly an overview of research regarding incentives for inherently interesting tasks, such as reading, and whether the extrinsic motivation of incentives increases or depletes intrinsic motivation. While it seems that, yes, in fact, extrinisic motivation diminishes intrinsic motivation for inherently interesting tasks, the article didn't entirely discourage librarians from using rewards/incentives with their summer reading programs. Here, it is suggested that one can encourage intrinsic motivation by making the children responsible through goal-setting and free choice. This article also points to research that indicates presenting stimulating tasks and books on the same topic, something nearly all library programming for youth does, increases intrinsic motivation and reading comprehension.

I like the paragraph at the end that offers suggestions about what one could do in their summer reading program to touch all the bases covered. My only hesitancy is regarding the verbal praise. While I know nearly everyone enjoys verbal praise for their work, I'm not sure if this alone can replace a tangible reward for children in summer reading. However, all the other suggestions are quite sound and, from what I can tell, the Mooresville summer reading program is adhering to many of them. I think it's especially important to give books as rewards.

One thing I would have been interested in as well was a look at whether or not this argument regarding incentives is true across all age groups. I just wonder if young adults would respond even less without tangible rewards. I'll have to keep an eye out for articles touching upon this.

Stauffer, S. (2009). Summer Reading Incentives. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 7(2), 53-55. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Carnival Time

Friday was our Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival. I went in to work at noon. I met with Suzanne briefly when I first arrived, just to do a bit of check-in. We talked mostly about Little Tykes and decided that we are going to plan and execute the first program together and then I'll be on my own after that. It made me feel a little more at ease to do it this way, and also to have her let me know that she has more of an idea of what they're expecting from us than I do. Other than that, we both agreed that things seemed to be going fine so far.

I had a little bit of time to get started on the Youth Bio project before Carnival preparation got fully underway. Jaymi went over the details with me one more time (and I'll probably have to ask her to show me the cataloging bit again once I get around to that part) and I set to work peeling many, many, many very stubborn labels.

We started prepping for the carnival around two - setting up tents and tables, getting all the supplies ready at each table, putting together equipment, getting food cooking, etc. My main task became blowing up balloons. Because I have "expertise" - I work part-time at a party store right now and have probably inflated more balloons in the last eight months than most people inflate in their lifetimes. So I got to do that for a while and it ended up being rather frustrating. The room we were working in - their programming room - has vaulted ceilings, so I couldn't just let the inflated balloons go until we needed to gather them. And of course everyone was doing their own part to get ready so I was really on my own. I ended up having to tie the balloons loosely in one spot and then a Teen Council member gathered them in bunches to decorate the tables outside. I must admit, I'm starting to get a bit sick of balloons. Thankfully, I got to take my lunch break in the midst of the balloon frenzy and imparted my helium knowledge to Jaymi.

After lunch (well, dinner), it was pretty much Kick-Off time! I got set at the front table, known as "Carnival Registration." This mostly entailed providing all the kids with their "passports" for the carnival and explaining how they worked. The passport had all the different activities on it with boxes to mark off as the kids completed them. Some of the things they only got to do once - like the food items and face painting - and others they could do as much as they wanted. My only criticism with this part of the carnival is that our table was not in the best location - most people were approaching the carnival from a different angle than our table was facing and didn't notice us so we basically had to try to snag patrons as they attempted to sneak past.

Anyway, the first carnival lasted for an hour and was for kids up to grade six - and we ran out of passports! Suzanne had printed 125, so that means we had more than that many kids show up, which is great. We had to dip into the young adult versions of the passports (they were slightly different from the kids'). After the first half hour, action at our end kind of died down so we got to look around and see how things were going for the other booths. There was a duck pond, dunk tank (featuring Suzanne), bounce house, food (including hot dogs, popcorn, juice, cotton candy, and popsicles), Snakehead Ed, balloon dartboard, lollipop tree, face painting and climbing wall. And of course a table was set up for Summer Reading registration. We only really had a direct view of the climbing wall and dunk tank, but those were definitely two of the most popular attractions. However, a number of people told us that the line for Summer Reading registration was longer than the line for anything else!

We closed up that carnival - which was a tricky thing to attempt as many kids were in line for various activities and were not thrilled about having to leave. We only had a half hour to try to get all those people out and things picked up a bit before the teenager carnival began. But we managed. The second carnival was a totally different vibe. There were much fewer people there and the most popular attraction, besides the dunk tank (which apparently everyone loved), was a magician (he was only there for the second carnival). So, this was more of a relaxing end to the day than the craziness the first carnival had been. I should mention that this was all happening outside in 85 degree direct sunlight so that might have contributed to some craziness. Like I said, this was a much calmer carnival and was over quickly. We picked everything up, except for all the rented equipment, and that was the end of our day. The real clean-up came Saturday (which I was not there for) when Suzanne had to attempt to find places for all the leftovers and such.

I think it was a pretty successful day and I'm excited to see things now that it's really in full swing!

Slowing down?

Well, today was a bit of a different day than my first two. And I apologize ahead of time for any typos I don't catch, but I've been having troubles all day.

Anyway, the first thing different about today was that Suzanne was not around for the majority of it. Instead, I worked mostly with Jaymi and things moved at a bit of a less frenetic pace than they did my first two days. First thing in the morning, I worked more on Town Crier. Then I spent an hour with the women in circulation, getting the basics of things up there. I don't know if I'll ever be working behind the circ desk (I know the Youth Services staff covers the desk during breaks on Saturdays) but it's still useful to see how they do things there. My only circ experience has been at an elementary school library so it's a bit different. Also, their library uses RFID and that is something I've never seen in practice before. After that, I spent some time with Bill. He's in charge of the Indiana Room in the library, which is the source for local history and genealogy information. He seems to be a man set in his ways - his talk with me was peppered with "I prefer if no one but me touches THIS." But he also seems very knowledgable and I'm sure he himself is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in local history.

The afternoon was a bit without direction. I worked a bit more on Town Crier but sort of floundered when I had a question only Suzanne could answer. I researched movie licensing information for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and I think I came across the answer, but I suppose we'll see for certain when Suzanne follows up on the information I gave her. After that, I tried to get started on programming for Little Tykes but I feel I'm lacking information. I emailed my contact in the program and asked if they had expectations or ideas of what they wanted us to be doing each week and have yet to receive a response. So, I'm not sure I can really plan a program until I get a little bit more information. Additionally, Little Tykes runs Monday through Friday for two hours and I will only be doing 45 minutes on Tuesdays. I would ideally like to know what they are doing each week so I don't do anything redundant and bore the kids (incredibly important as this program is for preschoolers, already notorious for short attention spans). I don't know if I'm going to get the sort of information I want before it's time to just jump into this programming (my first day there is June 8th). I will have to try to talk to Suzanne a little bit more about it and see if she has any ideas.

When Suzanne arrived, I asked her my questions and finished up on Town Crier and then it was time for me to leave.

Today was a little less frenetic and structured than my first couple days were and I don't know that I liked it better than the fast-paced days. I felt sometimes that there wasn't really much I could do for lack of information about what exactly I should be doing. I don't necessarily need rigid definitions, but at least a more general idea would be helpful. I also panicked when Jaymi went to lunch and left me alone in the department. I prayed no one would ask me any questions because I still haven't really gotten any training on the desk.

I'm looking forward to Friday - our Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival. It's going to be crazy and fun and different. I hope it all goes smoothly!

Article 1: "Reaching Out to Young Adults in Jail"

Since I have done a lot of outreach type work this first week at my internship, I wanted to try to find an aritcle about the importance of outreach in youth services. I ended up stumbling across this article and thought I'd check it out.

Throughout my first year in library school, we have often talked about providing outreach services, especially from a public library. While I have learned about outreach to youth and outreach to incarcerated persons, I don't think I've ever before come across outreach that combines the two. This article provided a brief overview of providing outreach library services to incarcerated youth. While this is obviously not something every library can or should do, it seems to be something that should be considered if presented with the opportunity.

One of the things I liked best about this article is the discussion of measuring this sort of outreach program's success. If you only look at statistics and traditional methods of evaluation, these programs make little to no sense. However, if you take a more qualitative approach and look at outcomes and not outputs, they look much more successful.

I also liked the discussion of dealing with issues of intellectual freedom in this situation. Correctional facilities can and do limit what materials their prisoners have access to. This can be a frustrating obstacle to many a librarian who supports intellectual freedom for all patrons. But by focusing on the good one is doing simply by providing any sort of service to this population, it may be easier to push that issue with intellectual freedom to the back of one's mind.

This sort of outreach is something I would definitely have an interest in seeing on a first-hand basis. I know Mooresville doesn't do anything like this (at least not in youth services; I'm unsure about adult services) and it may be because there isn't a call for it. But I would very much like to see how this sort of outreach functions and how the librarians who do it feel about it, as well as the patrons being served.

Jones, P. (2004). Reaching Out to Young Adults in Jail. Young Adult Library Services, 3(1), p. 16-19. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Ah, the Joys of PowerPoint

Friday was my second day on the job and, as before, it was a pretty busy day. I arrived bright and early and Jaymi went over opening procedures with me. I hope I get plenty of practice with them before I have to do them by myself. I mean, it's mostly pretty basic stuff but I still worry about missing anything. After that, Suzanne went over Town Crier with me.

Town Crier is basically a PowerPoint presentation that runs on various computers throughout the library. There are a few different versions depending on where in the library you are - one for adults, one for young adults, and one for children. I'm going to be in charge of the Town Criers for young adults and for children. They highlight programs and library policies and occasionally, specific titles or sections of titles. So, after Suzanne showed them to me and explained what exactly she wanted them to contain, I got to work on updating the young adult Town Crier. I haven't done a lot with PowerPoint because, honestly, I just don't really like it. But, I don't think it's difficult to use, just tends to get a bit tedious. I worked on that for a few hours (there are a lot of programs for summer reading and we wanted each art class to have its own slide) and I definitely felt the tedium. However, by putting everything into one giant Town Crier and then deleting slides as events pass, I won't have to do as much in the long run. But, I didn't finish yet and I still have the children's version to do. I'm hoping to get time on Tuesday to work on them because I'd like to get them finished before the Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival next Friday.

Suzanne and I went to the local high school for some more outreach. We set up a laptop and some prizes near the cafeteria and, if students had their library card, we would scan it. By showing their library card, we would forgive any fines or late fees (unless they had lost a book) and they could get some small prizes. We also, of course, had The Abstract, the library's teen newsletter, with all the information about the Summer Reading Program. I met a few of the regular teen patrons and got a feel for the teen population in the area.

When we went back to the library, I worked a bit more on Town Crier and then Jaymi introduced me to the Youth Bio Project. This is a project they started when they began to run into space issues. They've decided to move all their 921s, from juvenile and young adult, to a separate shelving section in the children's department. This means that all the books in the 921s currently have to be re-stickered and updated in the catalog. So this is another project that I'm going to be working on over the summer. I don't expect it will last me the whole summer; Jaymi has already completed all the juvenile 921s and about half of the young adult ones. But it will be another tedious bit of work. Still, I like the idea of having a more technical services piece to work on as well.

Finally for the afternoon, I was put in charge of the Wii Gaming program in the Young Adult Zone. This was really simple. I just had to stay in the room with the kids and make sure everyone took turns and no one damaged any equipment. I guess it also includes jumping in when they need a singer for Rock Band. There were only three boys there to play this time, so it was pretty low-key.

Finished up the day by going over closing procedures, which I'd also like to practice more. Thankfully, I think I'll have a chance to go over opening and closing most Fridays since I'll be working open to close those days. Throughout the day, I also sent a couple emails to people I need to be in touch with regarding programs throughout the summer. It looks like I won't have to work at the Twilight Prom, which could have been fun but I'm okay sitting that one out since I have a lot of other programs to look forward to.

I think the first week has been successful. I have a lot of work ahead of me for the summer, but nothing that I don't think I can handle. I'll be busy and I think I'll learn a lot.

Day One

Today was my first day at Mooresville and I guess you could say I jumped right in! As soon as I arrived at the library, Suzanne and I took off to Neil Armstrong Elementary for an Access Giveaway program. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this when I was a kid, but this was a fantastic outreach program. Suzanne and I visited all the fifth-grade classrooms (which she has been booktalking to all year) and gave a presentation on the summer reading program. Well, Suzanne gave a presentation and I watched but, come on, it was my first day! Anyway, after that, we headed to the cafeteria where we set up a table. The kids had all been told to bring their library cards to lunch today and any child that did received a free book! The kids were all excited and even the ones who didn't bring a library card were happy to see us (we gave them bookmarks). This was a great way to get kids interested in the library as well as to give them a book for their own collection and keep them reading.

I know that I never had a librarian come to my school and give booktalks when I was younger and I never got free books to keep just for having my library card, so this whole thing seemed fantastic to me. Outreach is incredibly important when it comes to youth services, I think, and obviously schools are a great place to do that. Ever since deciding to come to library school, I've been thinking about libraries and promotion. I think libraries really need to work on promotion all around. Giving kids books and bookmarks and just talking to them about the things they can do at the library is a great way to promote your library.

After we finished up our giveaway, we headed back to the library and Jaymi showed me how to register patrons for programs using the Evanced software. Then we had a staff meeting regarding the summer reading program which I think went really well. I had a chance to meet and interact with all the youth services staff and I think I'm going to get along well with them. Everyone seems laid back and friendly. There are a lot of things planned for summer reading which is great - this library is lucky to have an endowment for children's programming. It got a bit hectic trying to arrange schedules to accommodate staff vacations and such, but we all managed to work it out. Suzanne and I had a meeting after this where I discovered that I'll be responsible for planning some programs in partnership with the Parks and Recreation Department. I'm a little bit nervous about doing this completely on my own, but I know I'm capable. I'm just a natural born worrier! Suzanne gave me information about some other tasks I'll be in charge of over the summer and we talked briefly about my goals for the internship. We staffed the reference desk for a while and I made my calendar for the summer and then it was time to go home!

All in all, it was very much a headfirst, hands-on first day but I think it went great! Suzanne is going to be a fantastic supervisor - she is not at all intimidating and very personable and friendly. I think she knows that I am willing and able to do pretty much any and everything she needs to give me and I appreciate her faith in me. I'm really excited to be working for the duration of summer reading and getting to see such a variety of programs. I'm also excited about doing the everyday work at the library - reference and readers' advisory and upkeep and all that stuff. I think this is going to be a wonderful internship experience!