Saturday, April 18, 2015

This week at the library; or, We rise to the challenge

Some of the 200+ people who
came to the under the sea party.
Digging in the "sand" for shells.
What's going on in my head and at the library
  • April is always a stressful month. I tend to get sick a lot in April, which can go either way - it's stressful because I get sick or I get sick because I'm stressed. This year I'm determined to handle it and not just survive, miserably, until Mid-May. Summer aside, we have some of our biggest programs in April. Our giant, collaborative party, Battle of the Books, preschool visits, Chick Central, etc.
  • I hate our copier. It is EVIL.
  • Under the sea is our huge collaborative party. About 200+ people came - our door counter said 383, discounting regular library attendees and people going in and out, probably about 225.
  • Only 22 people at Lego Club...but almost all brand-new attendees! They will be back.
  • Puppet Story Theater - I usually get 1-2 performers for our kindergartens every year. As you saw last week, one of our kindergartens got the date mixed up and came a week early, so I only had one kindergarten this week. They were an amazing audience - really clicked with the show.
  • It's kind of a strange feeling but I realized that, for the first time in years, I have no major project on hand. I told our cataloger this and she spontaneously replied "OH NOOOOO" I promised I wasn't going to do any more major projects, especially involving cataloging or relabeling. Unless, you know, they're really shiny. I think I'm going to reorganize all the Legos.
Some Projects Completed This Week
  • Recorded three utube videos - Neighborhoods, Maker shelf, and unconventional superheroes booktalks (most of the work done by our adult services librarian - I just had to talk)
  • Finally finished the last Neighborhoods sign
  • Finished going through all the easy readers - made lists of paperbacks, needed replacements, and to weed and pulled all the nonfiction to be relabeled. I did not actually weed more than about 10 because I have no money for replacements.
  • Created a photo collage for the family (refrigerator door) bulletin board of all the Under the Sea photos
Programs
  • Tiny Tots (Jess)
  • Toddlers 'n' Books (2 sessions) (Pattie)
  • Under The Sea
  • Middle School Madness (Jess)
  • Books 'n' Babies (Pattie)
  • Lego Club
  • Puppet Story Theater
Ongoing and New Stealth Programs and Displays
What the kids are reading; A Selection
  • This is why reader's advisory is complicated. I had a parent who wanted a read-alike for Shiloh and a child who wanted Captain Underpants. I gave them Winn-Dixie and Korman's Swindle, which the older child chimed in that it was great. Then the older reader wanted books as well - voracious reader, loves manga and fantasy/adventure, but the parents do not want anything with spirits and Harry Potter is out. I gave her Sherlock Bones and discussed several possible manga series and then Ingo and a couple other things.
  • Movie for family movie night with a 2, 4, and 6 year old. I was trying to fix my computer at the time and most of our movies are in a huge mess being security tagged - I couldn't find My Neighbor Totoro, which was what I wanted to recommend, but I gave them Wallace and Gromit.
  • Small child who wanted Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles books. I went through a lot of different things and he ended up with Lego Ninjago and Lego Chima comics.
  • Where is Dinosaur Vs. Potty? Second time we have gone looking for it for the same little girl who left in tears because we couldn't find it.

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