Spotlight On...The Loft

One of the coolest things that has happened here at the MSJH Library during my short tenure so far is the creation of the Loft.

View of the Loft from the bottom library space.

This reading space for the students used to be a small meeting room, that was enclosed by flimsy, particle board walls.  This space was used for some mentoring meetings, team meetings, and a lot of storage.  When I was first hired the principal told me she wanted to convert it to a reading loft.  She wondered if I'd be OK with that?  Um...OF COURSE I was!  When I first saw the space I thought it would be awesome to tear down the walls, but I didn't know if the administration would be cool that, but apparently we were all on the same page.

The Loft from its entrance.  This used to be a totally enclosed space.

Some teachers were worried and hesitant about this at first.  I can understand that: it's been converted into a comfy space, and when students get comfy, they can get lazy and not want to follow expectations.  It is true that the students do like to talk up there, but so far, with the appropriate and timely reminders of what they are to do in the READING loft, it has been quite manageable.  I think the students love it so much that they don't want to ever lose it.

Oh, the couch...THE.  COUCH.  Already a student favorite.

During the summer, I moved some popular reads up to the Loft.  The couch is flanked by the graphic novel collection and the short stories/nominees collections.

The Graphic Novel collection, with the comfy rocking chair next to it.

Students here are crazy about reading the Rebecca Caudill nominees, and there is also an in-school group called RAMS (Read Across Mahomet-Seymour) that reads nominated books and then picks one for the whole community to read.  

Students also love, love, LOVE short story collections...especially those of the horror ilk.   

There is also a Little Free Library within the library that is housed in the Loft.  Many of the returning 7th and 8th graders had no idea that there was a Little Free Library, so I've been trying to pump up the LFL, so students can enjoy and appreciate it.  So far a lot of books have been taken from the LFL!  (Now, we just need to have a few more given, but we can work on that as time goes by.)

The Library's Little Free Library!  I LOVE it!  After doing a research paper on LFL's last fall, it was a dream come true to find a LFL in a dusty corner of the library.  I dusted it off, of course, and put it in a highly visible place in the Loft.

I also put several lamps in the area, and all of the furniture is brand new from IKEA.  This is also thanks to the generosity from the administration team wanting to make the library a Destination Location for the MSJH student body.  Thanks to the Loft, the library is definitely quickly becoming a place where students want to be, and we are quite busy during study halls.  This, my friends, is WONDERFUL news!

The view of the library from the Loft.

Book Fair Came to Town

The Scholastic Book Fair was at the MSJH Library for just over one week.  Even though I loved walking into the library everyday and smelling the scent of fresh books, it was a lot of hard work.  I think it was worth it???  The reason I'm still debating the merits of the Book Fair is that even though it was fun pretending to be a book store cashier again (like those bygone days at Pages for All Ages), the students mostly bought cheap, little trinkets.  I mean, I know they're in middle school, and that's what they like, but I wanted to sell more books.

The library was turned into a bookstore for eight days!  It smelled REALLY good.

With a Scholastic Book Fair, the library could take 35% cash or 50% Scholastic Dollars after it was over.  With the Scholastic Dollars I can order books from their online store immediately.  With the cash, I would have to wait for a check, cash it, and then wait for it to be added to the library fund.  It made sense to me to go with the Scholastic Bucks to help with immediate collection development needs.  The selection definitely isn't as big as Amazon, but I think it was the right decision in the end.

 

You have to sell the Scholastic posters.  Who doesn't want a poster of a fast car, kitty cat in space, or sport team in their room???

 

With the display cases, table sets, poster boxes, and trinket store, it "only" took two people 3 1/2 hours to set up! 

The Scholastic cash wrap, where I spent most of my time selling cheap pens and pencils to students.  I need parent help next time, and I need to consider selling only books.  However, approximately $400 of our sales came from trinkets.

Have a look at some of my favorite finds at the Book Fair, and the next time one rolls into your town/library, go check it out.  The books you buy (although not discounted like online stores), helps your school library get funds to buy even more books!

 

The Scholastic Representative who came to help set up the fair said they'd be trying to sell the Twilight movie book until they ran out.  There are still hundreds in Scholastic warehouses across the country.  And, who wouldn't want a book of Superstar Crushes!?  (No one here.)

My favorite book on offer by far.  I wanted to get it for my brother--who HATES mayonnaise and thinks it should be outlawed everywhere--as a joke, but at $5.00 it was still too expensive.

Meet Your New Librarian!

I have been trying to figure out a way to introduce myself to the students.  I wanted to make it part of their orientation powerpoint during their first visit to the library, but I was adding too many slides (and the cable we have for the screen is incompatible with my laptop anyway, so I couldn't do the powerpoint).  Then I thought well, I could put some trinkets up, but the library doesn't have a lot of space for my things yet, since I'm STILL cleaning things out.  Finally...like a bolt of lightening it hit me: DO A DISPLAY [you idiot]!!!  Why I didn't think of that at first, I have no idea.  Even if the students don't get an idea for my pop culture obsessions yet, at least they'll know what books I love.  I hope they can start to get to know more about me through the ones displayed.

Both the fiction and non-fiction collections here are rather dated, but I still did pretty well with what I have to work with.  I have six sections to my display, and they all contain some of my favorites from our humble collection.  The six sections include: picture books, junior novels, classics, young adult novels, graphic novels, and informational texts.  Next to each section I also put a sign, with a picture of some of my other favorites.  Finally, I put a quick blurb about how the students can follow me on Goodreads or Shelfari.

Students have already started taking books from the display, and I've been filling in holes with others I love as they are checked out (to keep it looking pretty).  My choice of Raina Telgemeier graphic novels get checked out quite quickly.  (I've already loved seeing both girls and boys checking out Raina's work.  Before getting a job in a library, I wondered if boys would be checking out her mostly female-centered works.)

So. FAST!

Everything's going so quickly here!  I barely have time to stop and breathe!  Now I really know why librarians never eat lunch: NO TIME!!!

But.  As hectic as they've been, these have been the four best weeks of my professional life ever.  I go home happy every night: I get to talk with students about books, help them find research tools, help teachers learn how to use Google Classroom and Chrome Books, and work with administrators that support me.  I know it might not always be this good, but man oh man, I'm takin' it while I can get it now! 

Here's a super quick rundown of the haps in the MSJH Library the first few weeks of school:

WEEK 1 started with LOTS of non-fiction shifting.  LOTS OF IT.  That's ok, cause I found out that the collection has the very first non-fiction book I ever owned:

And, I found out there's gonna be lots and lots and TONS of weeding going on this year.

 Um..."up to date" books on America's hottest, most popular teen idols???

I also found out that some people don't know how to take care of their books. 

 Just COPY THE PAGES, people!  Don't let the sticky notes get caught in there!

WEEK 2 began with some staff training and meet and greets.  I'm super nervous about being evaluated, since that hasn't happened in over three years, and they're using a evaluation tool.  How does a librarian show student growth for 600+ students?  I don't know, either.  We'll find out TOGETHER!

During WEEK 3 I found out that students really, truly check out books here!  Our (already weeded down) fiction collection is now looking a lot less than healthy, and since I forgot to take a picture of my first display.  I thought I'd have lots of time (since books were hardly every checked out last year) to take a photo, but I only got this one, which has lots of holes in it.  Oh, well!

 It was COMPLETELY FULL...I swear!  I should've written all the titles down, like I did last year at Uni, but as a lonely librarian with no aid, there's not time for stuff like that.

This WEEK 4 has started off well, too.  I've already completed another display (more on that later), and I found out I get to have the privilege of getting a Chrome Cart up and running by testing on Wednesday.  That means...I BETTER JET!  (Like I said, things are moving so quickly!)

One side note...Remember how I said I've gone home happy every night?  I felt a lot of guilt about that last week.  I don't feel like I should be so happy when I go home.  Almost like, if I'm not struggling then how can I be making a difference?  Well, I got so guilt-ridden last week that I started to cry on my husband's shoulder.  (OK, OK, you got me: it was UGLY crying.)  He said if I'm happy every night when I come home I can be a better mother AND better educator.  He's right (AGAIN), but I do feel like I should have to suffer for my art. 

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.  :)