More processing...

I spent most of today processing more books and a couple boxes of video tapes. They were $35 a piece when she bought them and were still in the shrink wrap.

This is most of them.  And yes, that one in the front is a video about his to use a card catalog. Needless to say, I didn't add it to my collection.

Here's another find:

It's an old Webster's dictionary from the 40s. Check it out!  $23.75 for a book that's 3,208 pages long!!  It's falling apart and yucky, but it's so cool!  My principal wants to find a glass case so we can protect and preserve it.  Obviously I didn't barcode that either, but it would be a cool display.

Other than that, today was slow. I only had 2 classes scheduled, and only one of them showed. We had a constant stream of kids checking out though. Operations still haven't come for the crap taking up 1/4 of my library and the book fair should be here Wednesday. It's crunch time and I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna have to set up in a hallway instead. :(   My sister-school does it that way, but how do you secure anything?  There are after school programs.  Maybe I'll call her tomorrow to ask about it.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

I have been busy, busy, busy... To say the least!!  The teachers are bringing their classes, and there are always random kids in (swarms!) checking out books. My assistant and I are struggling to keep up with all the books!!

We had a media meeting last week and out Follett representative, Karei Swift, was there. He was talking about how important it is that we focus on our Nonfiction collections because that's what the Common Core calls for. I do definitely see the need, but it's not what they're choosing to read.  Other than football and animal books, they mostly gravitate to the fiction. 

This is my return cart from the last class of the day. The top shelf is fiction -- chapter books and picture books.  The bottom shelf is nonfiction -- easy and regular.  So...  More of the fiction they love, and I'll keep plugging away on the nonfiction, but I don't want to focus too heavily on it. 

And!!!  My book fair, which was scheduled for the 7th -15th of October, is coming on the 2nd so I'll be selling longer than usual. Scholastic must be looking to make more money, too.  Still don't have the mess cleared out of the library to be able to fit this stuff in there though. My principal called Operations herself to see if she could hurry them along and found out our person never submitted the request. Grrrrrrrrrr!!

Oh!  And iOs7 just came out last week.  I had to push an update to the iPads, but it triggered that to install. I didn't have it on the MacBook to push, it did it on its own. That crashed an entire cart of 30 iPads. I haven't touched the other two carts for fear they'll face the same tragic demise...  And we wait for Diagnostic to come reimage the ones I messed up. It kinda sucks that we spend so much time waiting on outside entities to make their way in. It would be nice if the schools could be a little more self-sufficient. 

I've been busy with tracking who has/has not signed their responsible use policies, lining up book fair volunteers, cleaning out the back workroom which will be open as a mini computer lab by Monday, and reshelving books like there's no tomorrow.  I feel a little swamped. But I'm also scouring the net looking for lesson ideas and things to try with the kids.  

The layout of the library is just so frustrating.  There isn't a good way to keep the kids who have found their books.  If I sit them in a line by the doors, they're in the way.  If I sit them back on the carpet, they read magazines or friends' books and aren't getting handed shelf markers to get their turn. There are so many people coming in to use the library I can't use it myself.  I can't seat the kids who found books at tables to read silently. And I couldn't even teach my Dewey lesson yesterday because the ESL teacher was using that side of the library for her groups. And they all love to look in the catalog for books instead of browsing the stacks so it takes them an eternity to choose books. 

I'll get it all figured out eventually, but for now it's kinda irritating. 

Check this out!

We are off and running in the Media Center.  We hosted a school-wide hearing screening Tuesday, then I had pretty much back-to-back orientation classes the rest of the week.  THIS is how I'm used to doing things:

My plans did end up varying somewhat.  Kinders heard Book!  Book!  Book! and Manners in the Library.  First graders heard a the additional story The Library Doors by Toni Buzzeo and had a lot of fun.  I was able to show both grades the Can you teach my alligator manners at the library? video as well.  2nd and 3rd went as planned...  4th and 5th only got the scavenger hunt -- there wasn't time (or need) for a story, as well.  But everything went really well.  The kids are great and eager to get books, and did a great job in class.

Today is the first day of all-day open checkout, and my assistant's not here.  They all come from their classes as the same times that I have classes signed up.  It's been a little noisier than I'd like, and the kids have had to be patient, but it's going fairly well.  I'm not as solidly booked so far this week, as you can see:

And I have to find out where the grade levels are going to be meeting so I can attend their PLCs and find out what they want/need from me.  Other than that...  I'm still processing new books, cleaning up, and trying to get things straight in the media center in the downtimes.  

Wish me luck!  I'll have another class of kids swoop in soon!