Library Fail #1

I was weeding some fiction books last week.  (FYI...Weeding=getting rid of books that haven't been checked out of the library in a certain amount of years.  For the library where I'm working, the limit is five years for fiction, since the collection [and library itself] are so small.)  I came across this gem:

So, here's my fail.  I should've kept this.  I should've pocketed it. 

#1: LOOK.  AT.  IT!  It's a novelization of Rain Man.  Because, if there was ever a movie CRYING OUT for a novelization, it was Rain Man.  Def...Def...Definitely Rain Man.

#2: I could have read that novelization and created (yet another blog) that would become the next B to the F: The Novelization of the Feature Film.  Oh, I could have made Rain Man funny: quips about too many cheese balls on toothpicks or real maple syrup on tables or creating a 97X--BAM THE FUTURE OF ROCK N ROLL .gif.  The possibilities with this blog would have been endless. This was my calling, to create a fanfiction/novelization blog about an 80s film, and I let the chance just slip through my fingers, and onto the shelving cart to be processed and shipped into deep storage.  (Yeah, cause one day, someone is definitely gonna request this gem.)  I was too into my job, too focused on getting the weeding done right.  (But, apparently not too focused to not stop and take a picture of the book.)

I can only hope and pray that another chance presents itself before I'm done weeding.  Maybe a novelization of 16 Candles or Teen Wolf or The Goonies.  A novelization blog of any of those would be truly epic.

Judging a Book by Its Cover

I just want to say that I love old book covers.  I love looking at them to see the trends of times when they were printed or the trends of early re-prints.   I love thinking about the choices behind the design, how they affect the reader, and how powerful they are at relaying a message before one even opens the cover.

When I was weeding books out of Uni High Library's fiction collection, I came across these gems.  I love them.  I want to take them home and put them on my shelf and cradle them and love them forever...I don't want to send them into storage.

Keep your old books, pass them on, love the artwork, discuss it with your kids or nieces and nephews or students, because it is an integral part of the book's identity.

 

Drumroll, Please....

Presenting...

After many days of hoping and dreaming and thinking...

My VERY FIRST Library Land Bulletin Board!

Sure, it's simple, basic, and not much to look at, BUT, it's the first one! 

I'm trying to figure out how to balance bulletin board fun with super too-cool-for-school high school students.  That's why I started so simple.  I didn't want something super childish in their faces.  Our (my supervisor and myself) goal was to get the kids thinking about the new books that have been acquired over the summer, and I think it definitely does that.  I tried to balance non-fiction, fiction, and graphic novels (which we have a lot of)  I think bulletin boards always need to be eye-catching, and I hope the extra easy and simple, yet colorful, construction paper borders make the new books pop.

I do want to add more covers, but just as I was finishing up, the circ desk computer crashed, and it has yet to be replaced.  (Hopefully tomorrow!)  I was just too excited to get this first gem up on the blog. 

Hello! I Want to be Your Librarian!

Today, August 25, 2014, marks the beginning of my second year in the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library & Information Science.  Now.  Before you read any further, I want you to say that three times super fast.  It's kind of hard, huh?  Yeah, that's why we have annoying acronyms: It's a lot quicker to say GSLIS (Giss-Liss).

I know that librarian blogs are a dime a dozen, but I do this more for my own sake.  Kind of a journal, you'd say.  I don't think anyone will really read this.  (Except for my Mom.  She's the BEST, MOST SUPPORTIVE Mom the world's ever seen.  I hope I can be half as awesome as she is at parenting.)  I'm fine with that.  That means I'm just kind of talking to myself (and my mom) at this point.  Let me remind my old self, who is reading this after a long and hopefully fruitful career as a school librarian, what it's been like so far.

I don't really know when I set my heart on being a school librarian: I think the idea was always kind of stuck there in the back of my head.  I had ten wonderful years teaching sixth graders at a public middle school in Champaign, IL, but things started to get a little rough.  I loved my co-workers, the kids, the subject (reading and writing), but I got frustrated with the emphasis placed on testing, making every student--even those with special needs--succumb to the stress of standardized testing, and I felt that it wasn't about student-teacher relationships and respect anymore but how many kids can you make meet this number that others think is an acceptable measure of intelligence.  I am not ignorant: I know that school librarians will also have to be involved with Common Core, and I look forward to my participation in instruction, but I like to think in the library kids can experience a freedom to explore what they want to explore.  I will encourage them to do this and to think outside the box.

The center, or CENTERS, of my life are my husband and our three kids.  They are supporting me on this journey and staying strong through my late night writing/study hours, my spats of irrational mumbling during stressful times when projects and papers are due, and by enduring one too many pizza nights during the week.  (My son and daughter actually don't mind that third pitfall too much.)

I am a wife, mom, teacher, and in-progress librarian.  I love this crazy, busy life God has blessed me with, and I hope you enjoy my crazy adventures in Library Land.  I know I'm going to love sharing them with you (Mom, cause you're the only one reading).