Finishing touches - school starts in t-minus 3 days!

So I'm finally feeling like I'm maybe ready to be a school librarian!  I have 3 days left until school starts.  In that time I need to create my class lists, finalize my schedule, do some cataloging and then shelf the books.  I really think I have done a good job with the library.

I finished up early last week with the weeding.  I wasn't able to clear quite enough room in Jr. Fiction to get all the books on their appointed shelves, but once check outs start, it should be okay.  My solution was to pull large series from the shelves (waist high) and put them on top with book ends.  This should increase the series' visibility and maybe up their circulation.  I didn't have to weed much in the E Books, just shelf reading and shifting.  I have seen signs that say "Easy Books" but they are more like the picture books that I would read to my kids, not necessarily easy.  Also, I don't want to discourage older kids from choosing from that section if they just want to read for the fun of it, so I'm thinking about making a sign in the future that says, "E for Excellent Books".

I finished my bulletin board last Friday.  I was inspired by this idea from Rachel Moani:

She didn't give a lot of details of how to make it, but I think I got it to work okay. I used a water heater box and used roll paper to cover the pieces.  After I attached the book pages to the end pieces I glued down 1 sheet of white paper.  Then I cut a second piece and only glued it at the spine.  Then I was able to add my letters (love the die-cut machine at the school!) and art.  As you can see, the book wouldn't actually go on my board.  It's too big and heavy.  My solution was to use book display stands to prop it up on the bookshelf directly below the bulletin board.  Then I put up the pictures I colored of different types of adventure.  To finish it off, I used the label making machine to create the story choices like the ones found in the Choose Your Own Adventure books.  The finishing touch was to display some of our Choose Your Own Adventure books beside the board - how many kids have never even tried this type of book?  I'm hoping to have a few try them and like them since I enjoyed them so much as a young reader.

I finally found Yoda!  I had turned the house upside down on multiple occasions looking for him, but for some reason never looked in one particular frame.  I thought there was no way he could be in it since it was bought specifically for a map of the cave system in Keystone, South Dakota.  My husband convinced me to look and I found him!!!  I went out today and bought him a new frame and he looks awesome!  You'd never guess he's 30 years old.  I would love to eventually find a copy of the ALA poster of the Muppets released around the same time.

This one is not cheap.  I found some on eBay.com but I think I'll have to wait for them to become a little cheaper.  I am hoping to purchase these two posters from the ALA Store with some of the money I make with this year's book fair:

And speaking of the Muppets (yeah, I know I'm a total nerd) I got super lucky yesterday.  I decided to log in to Disney Movie Rewards and check for new rewards.  I almost never have any luck.  I always find something I want and don't have enough points, so I save up my points and then the item I wanted is out of stock....grrrr.  But yesterday I logged in and found a 15" Kermit plush!

He's not the super high quality one I wanted, but he was free.  If you don't do the Disney Movie Rewards program you are missing out!  You don't even have to pay shipping.

With school starting so soon I had to go through the kids clothes and figure out what I needed to buy.  I found my daughter's Mo Willem's Pigeon t-shirt.  She doesn't wear it anymore and I could have put it into the box of t-shirts that will eventually become a t-shirt quilt, but then I decided to get some more use out of it.  I didn't want to sew it into a pillow and I didn't want to have to buy a frame.  So I came up with this:

I had the canvas on hand - I think I found it for a dollar at the thrift store and never found a use for it.  Then I just pinned it into place with straight pins.  I do wish it had been a smidge smaller canvas - in order to center the pigeon, I had to leave some of the neck line on the t-shirt visible.  But the stuffed pigeon who lives at my school can perch up there and it will look great.

I have a new board on Pinterest too!  It's a Library Wishlist.  I mostly have artwork I'd like to work in at the library, but you never know what I'll pin to it in the future!

Bulletin Boards

As we get closer and closer to school starting, I'm finishing up little details but having to really think about some big ones.  Like the bulletin board.  Duh duh duhhh!  What I'd love to do would be something like this fun mash up of all my favorite storybook cats:

You'll notice it includes The Cat in the Hat, Bad Kitty, Library Lion, the Cheshire Cat, Splat the Cat, Pete the Cat, Yoko (Rosemary Wells), Tiger (Read to Tiger by S.J. Fore), Huckle and My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World.

But, how to get this onto a bulletin board?  I don't really know.  I guess the basic plan would be to use the overhead projector, trace it all out and then go back in with crayons or markers.  Yeah.  That might work next summer when I'll have a lot more time, but this summer I just don't see it happening.  I still have cataloging, weeding and shifting to do plus creating my class schedule and my lesson plans.  If I'm being realistic, I'm going to have to put this one on the shelf for now.

Our school has a theme each year and the teachers decorate their area (either above their doors or above their class lockers) with that theme.  This year our theme is Adventure.  The reading teacher already has "Reading is an adventure!" above her doorway...so what to do?  I have a Pinterest board for bulletin board ideas, and I think I like the giant 3D book idea.

• Reading Makes Life an Adventure!
• Adventures in Reading
• My Adventure Book (from Up! from Disney Pixar)
• Choose Your Own Adventure! - with giant 3D book?

I think I like the Choose Your Own Adventure! phrase with the giant book.  I could put the different genres in the pages of the books or just print pictures of different types of adventure coloring pages - have my girls color them - and then put them in the book.  That design needs a large box and one of my best friend's husbands is a plumber.  I am sure he'll be able to get me a water heater box!  A little brainstorming always makes me feel better about big, scary projects!

Fairy Tale Display Idea!

I went shopping the other day and bought myself a new pair of dress boots to replace a pair that I wore out last winter.  What does this have to do with the library??  Well, I was lazing in bed this morning and thought of Puss in Boots - maybe I could put a toy cat into my old boots and display him?  Then I thought, no, it would be funnier to have the boots on display with a little card that says, "Donated by Puss in Boots".  And my next thought was of somehow displaying a pea with a "On Loan from the Royal Collection".  Cheesy, but think of the fun I could have with it!  A picnic basket could be on loan from Red Riding Hood.  An old bucket and scrub brush from Cinderella.  The possibilities are endless!

On one wall of my library is the "Special Collections" shelves.  The top of them is where I am keeping the 5th & 6th grade level books right now.  I think because the shelves are about chin height on me (I'm 5'3") they would be good for displays that I don't want handled.  So where to go with the 5th & 6th grade books?  There is a single book shelf on the far side of the library that right now contains a collection of South Dakota related titles.  I think from the precise way it is arranged, they aren't circulating.  So, I'm thinking I'll pull them from that shelf - but will scan them into my circulation program's list builder to make them easier to find next time I need SD titles - and use that shelf for the higher level books.  I know younger kids read that high of levels, my own daughter is starting 4th grade next year and her reading level is 4.8-6.6 (fourth year, eighth month to sixth year, sixth month), so I want the books accessible but not necessarily in my main collection.  As I've mentioned before, these books will eventually be moving to the new intermediate school.

I've been doing a lot of Internet searches and Pinterest searches to come up with display ideas.  Here are some of my favorites.

I found the idea of color based displays at riskingfailure.blogspot.com .  This post includes cute sayings for each color like, "It's Not Easy Being Green" and "Orange You Glad You Read Good Books?"

 I love this FOUND flyer!  I think hanging these flyers in a few places around the school would be a great tie-in with a dinosaur themed display.  The display could include models, toys, stuffed animals, fossil collections and of course books.

These doors are designed for your garden, but how cute would these be tucked into corners or on the ends of shelves?  Simple signs could have the names of your Shelf Elves who help you with keeping the library neat.  I wonder what would be the best way to make these?  I think my husband's wood working skills may be required.

I found this simple idea for Magnetic Poetry at riskingfailure.blogspot.com.  I have a poetry set that we enjoyed for a few months at the public library (you'd be surprised what silly things "grown up" librarians can come up with).  I would love to have a place in the school library where the kids could build little poems or funny sentences.  I wonder if a small whiteboard would work.  Then I could keep it at my desk and monitor it. 

I have all of these ideas and more pinned on my Library Ideas board on Pinterest.

Finally, my own library!

You know, as a teenager, I don't think I would have ever told you that my dream job would be librarian, but here I am, 34 years old and it is truly the greatest job ever. I've worked at our town's regional library for 5 years as a part-time library aid. I started out with the job of just checking books in and out, helping patrons and other basics. Over the years, I have added all kinds of little things here and there to make my job more interesting (yes, even the library can be boring on slow days.) I started a monthly display, complete with designing posters to match it, a book club for elementary kids and then I was asked to create and maintain the public information slides we show on our public channel. I have been teaching eReaders/eBooks for about 2 years and I've even taught digital scrapbooking classes for the adult programs. It seems like I've always got something to do and plenty of ideas to fill my free time.

But as I said, I was part-time. That means less than 20 hours a week during the school year and around 30 a week during the summer. That has worked okay since my kids were young, but starting next year they'll both be in school all day long. Even with Girl Scouts, my graphic design and sewing for extra money, I don't know that I could have stayed as busy as I needed to. I've waited for a full-time position to open up, and I think the one I had my eye on will open up in the next year, but I'm not sure.

In mid-April, my friend texted me to tell me that the school librarian position at my girls' school was open. She encouraged me to apply and I thought, why not? I didn't know that I'd even get a call back. I don't have a college degree. I've never worked in a school before, and I don't even work in the children's area of the public library. I applied on a Tuesday and by the next Thursday, I had interviewed and been offered the job! I do want to share that when asked to describe myself, I said, "Intelligent, Creative & Unconventional." I accepted and now I feel like my head won't stop whirling! So many ideas, and so many questions!

The librarian I will be replacing left before the end of the school year, so I was able to do a little bit of subbing before school got out. I won't be needed at the school this summer, so I'll finish my summer at the big library. I've used some of my time at the school to get some things done, like shifting (which ended up including dusting a lot!) but that led to more questions. I think that I will have a lot to do this summer before the kids come back before I'll feel ready to call the library my own. I decided to start a blog because I had a hard time tracking the answers to some of my questions down online. I am lucky to have the other elementary librarians in town to act as mentors and the friend who suggested I apply worked at the same school as the librarian 8 years ago, but there are other ideas out there I want to see. I started a few Pinterest boards, which you can follow at these links:

Library Resources
Library Ideas
Library Bulletin Board Ideas

I'll post things that work for me, and things that don't work for me. There is so much to learn and so much to create!