Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Library Day in the Life #1: Monday

I've never caught this before, but thanks to Holly Hibner's blog (that I got to through Awful Library Books!) I found Round 6 of the Library Day in the Life Project! This was started by Bobbi Newman of Librarian by Day. It's meant to show the public how hard working and useful librarians are, and the first day was yesterday! I will post one week (five days) just for fun.

I am at a suburban middle school library in Ohio, USA.

Monday, January 24
5:00 a.m. At desk, running overdue slips, attempting to blog weekend reading
5:30 a.m. Filling coffee pots for Bulldog Breakfast, helping with set up.
6:30: Bulldog Breakfast
7:30: Cleaning up from Bulldog Breakfast
7:45: Library open, flurry of renewals
8:00: Fix teacher's DVD player
8:05: Study hall students, check in books, file cards. There is only one scheduled class on Monday, but each period of the day sees about 30 visits from various classes.
8:54: Study hall students, a stray language arts class; check in, file, work on book order for five minutes. Instruct student helpers to shelve, dust.
9:48: Study hall, stray social studies class to use the computer; check in, file, spend ten minutes trying to do some purchasing paperwork.
10:38: 6th grade lunch. Hunt down students with overdues, call a few homes. Fix programming glitch with printer. Student helpers attend to study hall students.
11:36: 7th grade lunch. Repeat. Work out payment plan with two students and also contact their former schools to check on whether their textbooks were turned in. Try to finish blog.
12:30: 8th grade lunch. When I normally take lunch, but there is a Battle of the Books meeting and several students serving lunch detentions for books due in October. No student helper, so I pop up to check out books.
1:00: Run to office to retrieve mail, turn in paperwork, pick up books from Library Link. I have eight students assigned to me for Sustained Silent Reading.
1:12-1:25: SSR group (30 students); deliver lesson on WHY we bug them about overdue books; get books to students. Three library helpers at the desk.
1:25-1:40: SSR group(30 students) that missed Friday.
1:40-1:54: Study hall students that need books.
1:58: Dump coffee from breakfast, fling pots in back room. Check in 100 books, file cards (a really, really necessary part of my library, due to students and parents not quite believing the computer), work with student to push in chairs, straighten shelves, repair chaos of day.
3:10: Head home.

Also included in there somewhere: answering about ten e mails an hour from teachers and parents, helping students reserve books from public library, adding books to order lists.

At home: Only spend about an hour and a half reading.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:08 AM EST

    Wow. I am in a small town public library. There is much to do--however, it be nothing to your day, lol.

    I think I need a nap :0)

    Thanks for sharing this and Happy Tuesday!

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  2. It's always so much fun looking through other librarian's eyes!
    I have 2 questions.
    (1)Do you not have a full time aide/library assistant?
    (2)What cards are you filing??? Do parents know what year it is? seriously??

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  3. Yep! Sounds about right, especially not really getting your lunch break. I also notice that, like most librarians, you don't have a "planning period" the way teachers do.

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  4. Such an impressive day. I can't believe that you are at your desk by 5 am! Wow!

    I love your blog and your book reviews. They are to the point but tell me exactly what I need to know to decide whether to pass the book on to a student or not!

    Great stuff here! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That breakfast was a special event, right? You don't normally start at 5:00 AM?

    Don't ruin my dream of the perfect career!

    ReplyDelete