The Ladies I Cannot Live Without

I have been very fortunate that in all of my library jobs thus far, there has always been a library clerk (secretary, assistant, or support staff). They all have different titles depending on the district but the job is the same, and that job is so important! I have had three amazing library workers in my six years and four schools as a librarian. They were not amazing just because they do their job well, it was the extra stuff they did, the stuff that cannot be put on a job description that made the difference.

They LOVE students

     It is the way they welcome everyone in the library space whether it is students or teachers, “Hi sweetie!” “Your book just came in”, “Are you done with that book already?” Students (and teachers) feel cared about, they feel welcome.  They developed positive relationships with everyone that came to the library. That does not mean they were afraid to call students out when they needed to change their behavior, or to follow up on students who had missing books. I have learned so much about how to interact with others from these ladies.

They are my mom’s age

      They have been working for a while and know how to deal with people. I find that even some of our toughest students would still be respectful to the library staff. In my current library, we have a student that calls the library secretary “Grandma”. They are fun yet calming, they are young at heart, yet wise. 

   They are my partners 

      In each setting, I was the new person coming in and I had a lot to learn. They were great teachers and they were supportive. When I had no one to sit with during meetings, they were there. When I had no idea how to answer the million questions we get at the desk, they were there. When I wanted to try some crazy idea, they would listen and let me try something new. They were my collaborators. The library can be a very isolating place but they were there and I could not have survived without them.  

   They all like to garden

    I have no idea how this translates into library work but all three of them like to garden. 

     

       And, yeah, they all like books too.  

Thank you Christine Hackney, Karen Parjani and Jackie Witt. I love you ladies! Thank you so much for supporting me, for being at the circulation desk when I was running around to classes. Most of all, thank you for making our libraries a welcoming place. I still have a lot to learn, but I definitely want to be like you three, when I grow up. 

Blind Date, Take Two

Last year I tried Blind Date with a Book. It was a huge success! Books were flying off the shelves and were gone within two days. I was in a different library last year and the set up was a bit different. I had display shelves that spanned the "entrance" into the library. This is a library that had half walls and no door so students walked by all the time during passing times and would usually glance at the library. When they saw shelves with brown bags, it made them notice, it made them stop and many of them just had to know what books were in the bag.

This year, I am in a different school. I do have heavy traffic flow into my library due to study halls every period and students that have a free period but there are numerous students that I never see. I am hoping there will be some interest and that I will see some new faces pop into the library and check it out.

Here are the final four winners in our book bracket! This was a fun program that I hope to repeat next year.

We are ready for round two in March Book Madness Event. We are in the Sweet Sixteen Round and there are some tough choices: The Hunger Games Trilogy or Divergent? I am Malala or Unbroken? Round three starts Monday, March 16th!

March Madness Book Bracket

Here are some of the books from Round One of our March Madness Book Bracket. There are four regions: Dystopia/Fantasy, Mystery/Thriller, Realistic Fiction and Nonfiction. Voting starts on Monday, March 2!

Fun, Frivolous & Serious: The Many Faces of February

When planning for book displays for this month to inspire students to read I found myself jumping back and forth between the fun, the frivolous and the serious. February is Black History Month and I am pleased that our library has many important books that cover multiple historical eras, tell the stories of important and prominent people throughout history and fiction books ranging from historical to realistic fiction. It was hard to decide what books to display for Black History Month this year. The national theme for Black History month for 2015 is "A Century of Black Life, History & Culture". Starting with the Harlem Renaissance and moving to present day there were numerous titles to display. A couple of the fiction titles that are receiving awards lately I cannot wait to read next. Jaqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming, a verse novel memoir about growing up in the 1960s and 70s and Kekela Magoon's How It Went Down, a fictional story that has startling similarities to events recently in the news.

Whether it is close to Valentine's Day or not, we get frequent requests for romance books. It is a popular genre among teens in our school. We created multiple genre lists recently to help students when requesting books and they have been very popular. Since Valentine's Day is approaching we created a mini display of romance books that are fun to read.

I, however, loathed Valentine's Day in high school. Part of it was because I never had a boyfriend in high school and the other part was because I am not a mushy, romantic person in general. Last year, I created an Anti-Valentine's Day display and saw that some other libraries have been doing this as well. I think it is awesome! One of my signs was so convincing, I had a teacher take the sign down and inform me that a student ruined my sign. When I I told him I created the sign he was in utter disbelief. "Love stinks?" "Yes, Mr. A, in high school, love does stink."
I could not resist, frivolous as it is, to create a similar display this year too. It will probably be an annual tradition. Let me know if you have some favorite non-romance books or sad books and I might add them next year!

My favorite reads of 2014

A lot of bloggers are posting their favorite books of the year and I am no exception. A few years back I decided to make a favorites list each year so I could and share it with colleagues and friends. My lists are a little different because they are a favorite lists of books that I actually, finally got around to reading, so some are old and some are new.

1. Rainbow Rowell 
I read all four of Rainbow Rowell's published books in 2014 and I discovered an author that I LOVE! It started with Elanor and Park, after which I ran to my local library to checkout Fangirl. After devouring Fangirl, I ran back to the library , only to be disappointed that Attachments had been checked out, so I bought the kindle version to read immediately and then had to wait until this summer to get my hands on her latest book Landline.
I have tried to understand why it is that I love her books so much and have come to the conclusion that I like her because she seems familiar to me. We were born in the same decade and claim the midwest (although in different states) as our home. When I think about this connection it reminds me of the campaign #WeNeedDiverseBooks. I am fortunate that I can find books with an author that seems to speak to me and I want that for all of my students and library patrons.  It drives my collection development and pushes me to find those unique books that may catch someone's eye. Everyone should be able to find "their book" or "their author". I was lucky to find another one this year.

2. Sarah Maas
Ok, so I found two new authors this year that I love. The other one is Sarah J. Maas. I read Throne of Glass at the beginning of last year and LOVED it! I love fantasy books and ToG made my heart sing. The second book had been recently published so I was able to get it right away but had to wait until this fall for book three. Unfortunately, I was also in the midst of a new job so, I was unable to read it. That is what winter breaks are for and hopefully, I can complete it before the New Year!

3. Greg Neri
My library hosted a few author visits this year and one of the books I read in preparation for Greg Neri's visit was Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. It is a graphic novel that portrays and gives some insight into a real person. Yummy was an 11 year old boy who had a very short and tragic life. I really like how Neri, in all of his books, takes real-life events and puts them in his stories. I loved this book. It will break your heart but it will open your eyes as well.

The rest of the books are in no particular order. 

Love stories, hopeful endings, holiday theme

You will cry

You will laugh

Science Fiction

Assassin, historical fantasy

More crying

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was really surprised by how much I liked this book. Short stories are hard for me. I have to read one and then put the book away for a day and then read another one. I am someone who delves into a book and is usually sad when it is over. I have trouble entering another world after leaving one I thoroughly enjoyed behind. These stories were great! They are all love stories and end on a hopeful note.
There were also plenty of different characters and different settings that made these stories enjoyable. If you want something fun to read for the holidays, this is a great choice!

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