8:45am - Arrive at work, greet staff member and let her know about other staff member who is sick today. Arrange desk coverage.
8:50am - Put belongings away, turn on computer, get my bag of storytime stuff for outreach storytime.
8:55am - Realize that my outreach storytime is not at the school I thought it was. Look up directions to the school. (Good thing I realized this before I left!)
9:00am - Check email. A bunch of listserv emails came in today because our spam filters had been blocking them.
9:15am - Log on to library Facebook account to read email from a teen requesting that we buy the sequel to Mercy by Rebecca Lim, which she loooved. The book’s out in Australia, but not in the US yet. I email our teen librarian about ordering the book when it’s available.
9:25am - Get agendas ready for Summer Reading Club meeting that’s happening this afternoon.
9:35am - Leave library and drive to Head Start for this morning's outreach storytimes.
9:45am - 10:45am - Visit two classrooms with stories about winter. Here's what I did:
In the Snow by Sharon Denslow - A great, simple book about animals eating seeds in the snow. Kids love to name the animals and I teach them "chickadee", "sparrow", "cardinal", and "possum". Great for vocabulary.
On My Own by Miela Ford - I love the photo illustrations and I have the kids do the actions as I read.
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson - A perennial favorite. I read this one with the first class, but not with the second class who seem younger and are a bit more squirrelly.
We made pretend snowmen and sang “Once I Built a Snowman”
We did the rhyme 5 Little Snowmen with our felt snowmen
We sang “Sleepy Bear” with my bear puppet
11:00am - Back at the library, debrief about visit with my staff member who coordinates our outreach visits.
11:30am - Put away books and props from storytime and write up the storytime plan so that we can keep track of which stories we’ve read. We visit this group once a month, so I don't want to repeat the same things.
11:45am - Add a book that a patron requested to our Baker & Taylor cart. Whenever possible, I order books that our patrons request. We have a healthy book budget and I want our shelves to reflect the interests of our community.
11:50am - Run off materials for SRC meeting this afternoon.
12:00pm - Lunch time! Check the mail and mail a letter on the way to lunch. While I eat, I'm reading The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George.
1:00pm - Back from lunch, get some things ready for the Afterschool visits this week: pull books, get crafts sorted, put away leftover craft stuff from last time, etc.
1:30pm - Run upstairs to drop off staff schedule with administration. Talk to Reference Manager about Anime Club, teen programming, and other stuff.
2:00pm - Staff meeting. We talk about Summer Reading Club logistics and programs, our upcoming Spring Storytimes, and teen programs.
4:00pm - Finish penciling in summer programs on the office calendar. I start an email to department staff with notes from the meeting so we're all on the same page and everyone knows what they ought to be working on.
4:15pm - One staff member stops by to chat about summer ideas. We love to brainstorm! In my department, two (or three or four) heads are most definitely better than one. Everyone has great ideas!
4:40pm - Another staff member stops by to chat about summer ideas.
5:15pm - Back to working on my email to staff.
5:40pm - Email sent, now it's time to go home!
11:00am - Back at the library, debrief about visit with my staff member who coordinates our outreach visits.
11:30am - Put away books and props from storytime and write up the storytime plan so that we can keep track of which stories we’ve read. We visit this group once a month, so I don't want to repeat the same things.
11:45am - Add a book that a patron requested to our Baker & Taylor cart. Whenever possible, I order books that our patrons request. We have a healthy book budget and I want our shelves to reflect the interests of our community.
11:50am - Run off materials for SRC meeting this afternoon.
12:00pm - Lunch time! Check the mail and mail a letter on the way to lunch. While I eat, I'm reading The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George.
1:00pm - Back from lunch, get some things ready for the Afterschool visits this week: pull books, get crafts sorted, put away leftover craft stuff from last time, etc.
1:30pm - Run upstairs to drop off staff schedule with administration. Talk to Reference Manager about Anime Club, teen programming, and other stuff.
2:00pm - Staff meeting. We talk about Summer Reading Club logistics and programs, our upcoming Spring Storytimes, and teen programs.
4:00pm - Finish penciling in summer programs on the office calendar. I start an email to department staff with notes from the meeting so we're all on the same page and everyone knows what they ought to be working on.
4:15pm - One staff member stops by to chat about summer ideas. We love to brainstorm! In my department, two (or three or four) heads are most definitely better than one. Everyone has great ideas!
4:40pm - Another staff member stops by to chat about summer ideas.
5:15pm - Back to working on my email to staff.
5:40pm - Email sent, now it's time to go home!