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. 

Treasures from the Uni High Library

Well, you just never know what you're going to find in the Uni High library.  So far this year I've found some treasures: a vintage copy of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, cool old covers of class literature by Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and the awesome Uni in-house archives are just a few of the cool things I've found.  A few weeks ago, I found two other treasures. 

The first one was this:

I think what I like best about this find is the fact that it was a face out.  Magic Johnson's seminal account about AIDS avoidance, acquired in 1993 and last checked out from the Uni library in 1996 (see below) is a FACE OUT.  I don't know who made this a face out; probably a student who thought it would be funny.  I don't mind a time machine book, so I haven't changed its face out status since I found it.  If any student checks it out, I WILL take their picture holding the tome, and I WILL ask if I can post the photo. (I would also want to know why/how they plan on using the text.)

Acquisition date in red; mail-away form to order the audioCASSETTE

The last due date for this seminal text?  November 25, 1996--I was a junior in high school at the time.

I probably should read this book to find out exactly how I can avoid AIDS.  I would love to read the 1993 ways in which I can avoid it. 

Another find is this miraculous art tome:

 

I'll make a confession: on Saturday and Sunday afternoons I used to tune in to PBS programming toward the end of the half hour (like 1:25 or 1:55) to see if they'd squish in a Sister Wendy art informational before the next program started.  My dad got me hip to her.  I'm still sad she isn't on PBS anymore (just like I still grieve the lack of Bob Ross).  But, when would these students have ever heard of or seen her?  I mean, I'm glad the book hasn't been weeded, but I don't know how much authority it would hold with the student population of Uni.  I actually made this a face out when a student came in asking me for an art book with brief blurbs about different types of art.  I didn't get her to check this one out, but I encouraged her to search for Sister Wendy shorts on YouTube.  Here's a link to one Sister Wendy program.

Those are the treasures for now.  I hope I can find some more soon!

Book Trees

My new obsession is Christmas trees made out of books. We all have our things, and this is just one of mine.  I started looking at them on Pinterest  a couple of weeks ago, and all I can do is think about the book trees I'll make in my future library.  I can see it in my head: maybe three or four, spread out around the library.  *sigh*  They would be beautiful.

Book trees look spectacular, and they're the perfect use for weeded books.  If you are bored with weeding, and don't want to do it, just motivate yourself by looking at some of these amazing book trees:

See???  Don't you want to go and weed the heck out of your library's collection, so you can make one?  You'll also be keeping your collection up to date in the process.  It's okay: you can thank me later.

The day after I started obsessing about book trees, my brother-in-law sent me this photo:

He had made his own book tree!  It's like great minds think alike or something.  I love the jaunty Santa hat on top and the NOEL blocks, too.  Great touches.  My kids were super impressed with this and want to do one at our house.  If we get one done over holiday break, you can bet I'll post a picture.  (That is, if I can take quick enough.  Our lil one year old is the fastest crawler in the midwest, and she'd LOVE to destroy a book tree.)

Now, go get creative and create a tree out of the most unlikely of objects.  If you do, share them with me! 

HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK.  It's really just old magazines we need to get rid of, but still...we made a pretty sign and a pretty fan out of them.  The holiday season means weeding out old magazines here at the Uni Library.  A few of them will go to the Undergrad Library Collection, but most will stay here for giveaway.

 If I was a student here, I'd be so excited!  You see, back in the day, I LOVED making collages of all my favorite heartthrobs.  I used to troll the teen magazine selection--Seventeen, Sassy, YM--at my middle school library for hotties of those magic years, 1991-1994. Here are just a few of the covers that I VIVIDLY remember swiping photos from:

If my middle school library had done this annual giveaway, I wouldn't have had to my besties, Sandi and Cori, surround me in the Edison Middle School library and cough really loud when I ripped out pictures of the likes of Antonio Sabato, Jr., Sean Astin, Eddie Furlong, Christian Slater, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonhard, and Leonardo DiCaprio.  Too bad the librarian didn't make it easier, and less guilt inducing, to get these pictures.  I still feel kind of guilty...but it was also kind of fun livin' on the edge!

Bye Bye Bye

(Oh, look!  I did another boyband reference!)

...to VHS.  That's right, folks.  They're leaving the Uni High Library.

After supervisor Amy emailed staff a couple of times asking them to come save their favorite VHS's, no one replied...no one responded...no one acted.  So, they're going, weeded out of the collection.  We might have typewriters, we might be able to get you a LaserDisc, but we won't have any VHS readily available for the Uni masses anymore.

I do love a good VHS.  To be honest, though, the collection wasn't great.

If there had been some unrequited gems on the shelves, like Hackers to teach computer literacy history or Toy Soldiers to help students learn how to survive a hostile high school takeover by Colombian drug lords, then I would be a bit more disappointed that the teachers didn't act.  This VHS "technology" is just too old school to be cool at this school.  Off to the archives they go.  Alas, I guess it's just another sign o' the times.

(Oh!  And ending with a Prince reference.  Nice one, McFarlane.  Nice one.)

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.