National Library Week

Happy National Library Week from the Mahomet-Seymour Junior High Library!  We haven't been able to celebrate, though, because the school is going through its first week of standardized state testing.  Next week will be week two of that and then one week of make-up tests.  So, during this most important week, I haven't seen lots of library traffic, but I have been able to do a lot of cataloging and processing of new books, which is always fun.  Let's awkwardly transition now to how much I love my job.

On Monday evening, a friend of mine posted a question on Facebook: "If you could do any other work...what would it be?  We are talking DREAM JOB."  I thought about this for several minutes, going over and over in my head what else I could possibly be doing that would give me as much satisfaction, joy, pep in my step in the morning, and contentment.

The answer was...NOTHING.

This is it.  Being a school librarian/media specialist IS my Dream Job, and I thank my friend, Erin, for helping me realize this.  This job might not be a lofty or exciting goal for many, but for me, this.  is.  it.

Sure.  This job isn't perfect.  There are times when I'm stressed out, when I worry about how I'll be able to complete my yearly evaluations when being outside of a traditional classroom, and there are always students who try to challenge me and defy my authority as a teacher/adult.  The things I love about this job, however, heavily outweigh the bads.

For example, I get to...

• collaborate with teachers in all different subject areas.  And, when I'm really lucky, they let me come into their classroom to teach.
• talk to students about books they would like to have in the library and then see their faces light up when they find that book they requested on the new book shelves.  "What!?!  You ACTUALLY bought this??  I didn't think you would.  THANK YOU!"
• research new topics I don't know a lot about when helping finding print and web resources for teachers' major projects.
• provide a safe space for students when they just need to get out of the classroom and catch their breath for a minute or two.
• host monthly trivia tournaments during lunchtime.
• be an advocate for students' voices and needs, especially the kids in the super awesome special education classroom that is housed within the library.  
• spend money that isn't my own!  ;)
• come to work everyday with a smile on my face, ready to help serve, collaborate with, and laugh with colleagues, administration, and students.

So, if you're ever on my Facebook or Instagram feeds and you see that super corny, and sometimes used in jest hashtag, "living the dream," know that I REALLY AM.  I am living my dream*.

This is me SUPER HAPPY after the first Lunchtime Trivia the library hosted back in December.  It was epic and one of my favorite days...so far.

*Which is only possible because my awesome husband supported me while I quit a full-time job to get the Master's Degree in Library & Information Science that I needed.

A Month Later...

Here I am.  One month since I left the hallowed halls of Uni High School.  I miss the place everyday.  I miss the students.  I miss my co-workers.  I miss the quaint, comfortable, humble library.  I won't lie when I say my last day was rough.  It was cut short, too, which I wasn't prepared for, and I missed giving it a proper goodbye.  (My poor son had a bad day at pre-school, and I was needed at home stat.)  The ending was abrupt, not what I wanted it to be, and maybe that's part of the reason why I miss it so much.

 My bag, all packed up and ready to go.  :(  Such a true statement on it, too.

 The hallway outside the library.  All clean and ready for the summer.  I never saw it this clean and empty during the school year.

But...the good, no GREAT news is...I have been hired to be a school librarian!

That's right, faithful readers, I have been given the position of Library Media Specialist at Mahomet Seymour Junior High School.  So, not only will I be a school librarian, but I will be a MIDDLE SCHOOL librarian!  This was my DREAM!  I have already met with the principal several times, and she seems very supportive of me.  (However, she does want me to weed the collection down to maybe ten books, so I'll have to work with her on that.  OK, maybe a BIT of an overstatement, but the lady wants the old books GONE.)

Mahomet is a small, but growing town, about 15 minutes west from the Champaign area, where I have lived my whole life and where the greatest public university is housed (UIUC, duh). The school district is very different from where I previously worked in Champaign, and change is always good (although a bit scary at first).  The principal is already being supportive of changes I want to make, and she wants the library to be completely overhauled during the next couple of years.  She wants students to WANT to come into the library to read and research, she wants me circulating throughout the library, involved with students' reading choices and levels, collaborating with the teachers, and making the library a comfortable, safe space.  Hey, I want to do all of that stuff, too!  We have grand plans to tear down a wall this summer and make a reading loft, which if that happens before school starts, will be a dream come true!

Oh, and one more thing: The library has a registered Little Free Library.  AWESOME SAUCE!  I did some research on LFL's last fall, and I've always wanted to be involved in one.  Now, I get to do that, too!  The principal said she bets the students don't even know about it, so that'll be one thing I get to pump up, advertise, and get students to help with. 

It's gonna be a busy, whirlwind first year.  It's going to be scary at times, frustrating, stressful, but above all...IT WILL BE OUTRAGEOUS FUN!!!  Keep tuned, because you know I'll be writing about it all along the way.  :)

NEW BOOKS!!!!!

Oh, Mama Mia!  Look at all of those new books we got this week!  It's always exciting to get new books, but when we get this many at one time, my head reels.  Not because it's a lot of work to process them, wrap them, put them on our blog, etc.  Oh, no, not because of that.  Because I want to read them all!!!  (Mo' Librarian Problems, yo.)

Whenever we get new fiction in for our collection, I enter the title, author, call number, and publisher synopsis into Uni's What Should I Read Next? blog.  It's good fun, but it usually ends up in at least ten new books added to my Want to Read List.  Here are the top two on my list after this acquisition haul:

There's also a new book that shares a name with an awesome song from the 80s, and if you don't know the song, you shouldn't be my friend or be reading this.  The book, however, has NOTHING to do with high school, John Hughes, or breakfast.  It's about a town where every four years a child is released from jail and kills people.  So...yeah.

I also get to enter new graphic novels into our online collection that we keep on LibraryThing.  I am constantly trying to become more knowledgeable about GN's, and I still have no clue about Manga (what's good, what's isn't, etc).  I am making strides in the GN arena, though, and a lot of it is thanks to this task I have.  

We usually get a few good GN's with every new haul, and this time I wasn't disappointed.  I can't wait to check out the new DC offering, Black Canary and Zatanna (love it when the females are let out to play), and Mimi Pond's Over Easy, (about the 70s, greasy spoons, and drugs), looks right up my bleak alley preferences.  

When all of the books are entered, blogged, posted, etc (you know, all that work that makes me feel like I'm a real librarian already), they get to fill the New Book Rack.  This rack, which Amy longs to get rid of, looks pretty nice when it's all filled to the brim with new acquisitions!   

Banned Books Bulletin Board

Gosh almighty, I LOVED doing this bulletin board.  It took a lot of work cutting out all of those flames, but it was worth it.  I don't have much to say about the board, because I think its awesomeness speaks for itself.

This is another Pinterest idea.  I know, I know: no originality on my part.  Well, I'm gettin' into the groove of this library thing, and if the boards look this cool, why re-invent the wheel?  The board I looked at on Pinterest didn't have quotes, though.  I found the quotes about censorship on BuzzFeed of all places and thought they would fit perfectly with the week.  The book covers are from the authors quoted on the board.

I've loved creating a display and bulletin board for my first Banned Books Week as a librarian.  (OK, I know I'm still in grad school, and a semester and a half away from graduation, but I think I can use the title already.)  I have already started to collect ideas for future Banned Books Weeks...on Pinterest.  ;)