Sink or Swim week OWNED!

This week was a big week in my career as a Children's Librarian. It was my first program packed week of my professional career.I started my preschool programs,  which I have been planning since I started my current position in June.

Also as it happens, my Partner in Crime K was out this week on vacation.  She covered for me during the end of our prize distribution for Summer Reading, and I saw no problem in covering for her as well. So I was also in charge of her Baby Lapsits and Toddler Storytimes for the week. To top it off, I had the honor of attending a fancy schmoozing event on the clock. But more on that later.

I had my first of the six program stretch last week. It was my first Baby Lapsit since I was an intern several years ago, so I was a bit nervous. All and all, it went well, the moms were very gracious and bared through me looking down at my notes every so often during our bouncing rhymes.

I didn't run into many problems at all for any of the programs except for one day, in which I chose to pack my first Toddler Storytime since school, my first planned=completely-by-me Preschool Storytime, and the aforementioned fancy dinner. All this was accomplished by a split shift graciously granted by my manager. So any and all stress was my own damn fault.

The Toddler Storytime started swimmingly. I introduced myself and informed all the parents that I was subbing in for K. We put out toys for the babies and toddlers to play with, and there was some confusion between me and the moms as to when the kids could play with them, but we got it worked out.

My only bugaboo was one mom who decided that she knew exactly how the program should be going, and wanted to tell me in detail...repeatedly. Now, to her credit, she was a lovely woman. And I honestly think that she believed she was trying to help. But after the fourth or fifth criticism (with accompanying reminder that I was just a substitute this week and K would be returning next week) my smiling facade finally broke. She asked if we were going to sing the Clean Up Song and let the kids put away the toys (because that's what Miss K always does).

So I told her she was welcome to lead us in the song, because I had honestly forgotten the tune. She asked again. I responded the same. So we both hemmed and hawed our way through the song and all was well. Toys away. Toddlers adjourned. Apocalypse averted. Everything was hunky dory.

The Preschool Storytime went smoother. We had one little boy who simply could not sit still, or down, or stop grabbing things. But he was all of four years old, and that is to be expected. His dad was very gracious about retrieving him. And again, fun was had by all.

That evening I attended a fancy awards banquet as table filler for my library. Traffic getting there was not of the fun, but dinner was excellent. I had the privilege of meeting a number of our library trustees and sitting next to the CEO, who kissass-ery aside, is a really cool person. Listened to some good Motown music live. Chatted with co-workers about library stuff. Hobnobbed with movers-and shakers. Nearly got to shake hands with the Mayor. Even got to nerd out about Buffy the Vampire Slayer with one of the higher ups. All in all an awesome night!

The subsequent two Preschool Storytimes and Baby Lapsits went smooth except for the part where I misplaced Green Eggs and Ham. But I gave the kids some extra craft time after the felt story and they were cool with it. So long story short (too late) I'm starting to feel like a real Children's Librarian. I am no longer the the Programming Poser! Yay!

Fun at the Children's Services Conference

One of the many reasons I love my boss and coworkers is that they are so generous about encouraging professional development. So when my partner in crime Children's Librarian (joking KP), suggested that I go to the Children's Services conference put on by our state's library federation, I was over the moon.

The challenge quickly became the embarrassment of riches that was the breakout session buffet. To many wonderful programs going on at once and not enough HoGL clones to attend them all.  I have been promised handout files for the sessions I missed, but below are the highlights for what I was able to attend.

TOP 10 Highlights of #CYPD2014:

1. Adam Gidwitz , author of YHB book In a Glass Grimmly talked about the purpose and importance of fairy tales in children's literature. They create open box characters through which kids can experience their imaginations, emotions,dearest hopes, and greatest fears.

2. Picture book author and illustrator David Slonim, talked about how our creativity needs constraints to thrive.

3. The Librarian Fanatic, Sherry Gick, has now rekindled my interest in using Twitter as a professional development tool. (Thanks @LibraryFanatic! I'm totally #reinspired)

4. Suzanne Walker from our state library and Alison McLean from Elkhart Public Library showed us how playing the ukulele or guitar in story time can engage our young patron's minds, with rhythm and syntax learning, and be a lot of fun for all involved.

5. Keynote speaker Linda Braun talked about her tips for connecting to Generation Z (aka. Our baby-school age patrons) recognizing them for who they are and meeting them on their level in order to provide service. If we can key in to how these patrons see themselves and each other, we can better understand their needs.

6. Sherry Gick echoed this in her keynote speech when she showed us videos from her 8 year old son's Youtube channel where he filmed himself giving tutorials to other kids on building Lego figures. Our Gen Z patrons are technically advanced innovators who love to create and share their own content, even at a young age.

7. Deborah Reynolds and Sarah Schmidt from the Hancock County Public Library talked about preschool programs incorporating fine arts and the performing arts. Topics discussed included: practical tips for painting with kids, how fine arts develop fine motor skills, construction of props and costumes for theater programs, and collaborative narrative storytelling.

8. Alyssa Morgan from Morgan County Public Library talked about her school age book clubs, age breakdown, book choices, keeping kids accountable, and discussion vs activity time.

9. Will Smither from one of my system's branches discussed finding books for reluctant readers, particularly boys. He discussed challenges of listening to the child, not assuming that the parent automatically knows the child's interests, and suggested a reading list for topics popular with boys. Favorite quote "Underwear is funny!"

10. Favorite moment of the conference: Adam Gidwitz's rendition of the Grimm's Brothers' manuscript (1810) and first published (1812) editions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. My favorite line was from the Evil Queen: "That little punk! I'm gonna kill 'er!" (as an aside, in the original, the Evil Queen was Snow White's REAL mom! Not her stepmother! Ick!)

Going forward from the conference I'm excited about trying out some art and theater story times for the new year. I think I'll try to gauge interest for the book clubs before jumping on that band wagon. And I will be asking my manager how she feels about me applying for a grant to get a ukulele.

As Tigger says TTFN!

This makes me laugh while crying. There are no words. R.I.P Robin.

Book Pick: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

What do we really know about history? Our country’s, or our own?

On a harsh winter night in 1681, Deliverance Dane races to the bedside of a sick child, only to face the fear and derision of the townsfolk when her skills as a healer are called into question.  The resulting lawsuit changes the course of her family’s history forever.

Connie is a modern day PhD candidate in American history. She’s desperate to find content for her thesis on American Colonial history. Meanwhile, she must spend her summer preparing her grandmother’s run-down ancestral house for sale. It’s pointless to Connie, until she finds clues that could lead her to historical gold.

Katherine Howe’s novel keeps her audience riveted with the contrast between the grueling life of Colonial Massachusetts, and the mystery unfolding in modern day New England. The author’s own background as a historian provides richness to both settings, letting us walk a mile in both women’s shoes.

The "Little Red" Haunted Schoolhouse and I,Q

We are in the swing of the Summer Reading Program. Most of the questions I've been fielding at the Information desk have to do with where patrons can register for the various programs associated with SRP. There are some Reader's Advisory questions.

But for the most part my day has been spent making virtual copies of booklists on our social media accounts. Then I had a patron come up with her son. Her son wanted "John and the Giant Peach" which was easy enough to translate.

Her request was more esoteric.

She wanted a book that she thought was titled "The Little Red Haunted School House". Supposedly she had read it in grade school in the mid-sixties and it had a the titular little red school house on the cover. She was nostalgic for her son to read it, because it was what really spurred her joy of reading as a child.

Eventually she lost patience with the amount of questions I was asking and, when I said we would have to put a request on James and the Giant Peach, she decided neither was worth the trouble. She walked off.

Afterward, the best I could do was to find that there was a story called "The Haunted Schoolhouse" in a collection of stories called Strangely Enough. It was first published in 1959 and written by C.B. Colby. the story was about a local legend in Newburyport, Mass. No mention of the schoolhouse being red, but it was plausible. Unfortunately, she fled the library before I could present my findings.

Enter quiz master #2 - a 7th grader who wanted to continue reading a series that he dropped almost a year ago, and could not remember the name of. Over the course of the Reference Interview, I got that the series was about:  a brother and sister who join the government in Washington (possibly the Secret Service) as spies. Also he thought the cover had the number 1 on it.

After much research I found the I,Q series by Roland Smith. Again, my patron seemed to have disappeared. Luckily, I found him crouching among the middle school paperbacks.

Success! It was the exact series that he was looking for! The only snag was that we only had books 4 & 5 checked in, and he wanted book 3. A quick request on his library card, and he walked away happy.

Conclusion: My reference skills for children's book queries need work, when the books are older than me.

The Heart of Gold finds a new Mother Ship

I am so excited to announce that I finally have wedged my way a full halfway into the proverbial library door! I am now a half-time Children's Librarian in a local branch of my library! I now can start doing storytimes, programming, reader's advisory, and collection management. So,yay!

Though I am sad to leave my old crew at our main library, I love the people at my new branch. My personality seems to fit right in and they are all extremely welcoming. I already feel at home, and it is a much more intimate place. I mean that in all the right ways.

UPDATE:  I wrote this draft about 8 months ago. I quickly found that the work-load for a part-time juvenile librarian left no time for blogging. So I apologize profusely for the tardiness of the actual post. This month I accepted another promotion and moved branches again.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind. I can say that after my first week, I love my new branch, and miss my old branch terribly. I made a lot of good friends and learned from some amazing librarians and paraprofessionals!

But now it is on to a new career adventure. New co-workers, and patrons to get to know. New branch policies. New collections and programs.

And hopefully, more time to write down my thoughts.

SRP will set you free

Okay, now that I've dispensed with the poor me post, here are some cool things that happened this week at the library.

First, I was on desk with the seasoned tech librarian on the music floor of the library. A patron called in and at first got my colleague. It was clear from the side of the conversation that I heard that the patron was not making much sense.

He was asking if we had the CD of a song, but he didn't know the name of the song, the artist, release year, or any lyrics, just the melody. My desk buddy was very thorough in his reference interview but alas, did not have enough information to guess the song. So he politely asked the man to call back with more information.

I found out later that the patron had also called down to telephone info. While my desk buddy was talking with our telephone info librarian about that, the patron called in again. This time I got him, and though still very hard to understand, he'd called prepared. He actually held the phone to the speaker as I searched the lyrics of the song. Unfortunately, we did not have a CD with the particular song, but we did have a few compilation CDs with the artist's other music and that sufficed.

Then, I had a lady who wanted to get Scott's The Sorceress on her tablet. Unfortunately, the tablet had a memory problem and kept crashing. So I got her a paper copy. The cool part was how excited she was about the book. I went out and purchased the first book in the series (The Immortal Nicholas Flamel) The Alchemyst just on her say so. And I am highly impressed and engrossed so far.

Finally, something I am excited about. My reading world is almost entirely inhabited with juvenile and YA fiction books, what with it being Summer Reading Program season. I just found out that Rick Riordan added a Percy Jackson/ Kane Chronicles short story called The Son of Sobek to the recent paperback release of The Serpent's Shadow. I am a crossover junkie. And Riordan has said that the next book in his Roman mythology series will be coming out in October. So now, I'm squeeing like the rabid fan girl I am.