SOLSC '18 Day Thirty-one: Fruition

I was already tucked in for the night when my husband entered the bedroom.  "Come look at the blue moon," he requested.  "I thought the full moon was set for tomorrow," I replied, but he insisted, based on the meteorologist's comments from the ten o'clock news.  So I got up, slipped into my scuffs, threw a jacket on over my pajamas, and grabbed the camera to follow him out the front door.

I think it's auspicious, ending this Slice of Life Story Challenge with a full moon.  It is a symbol of plans coming to fruition, a completion of a cycle.  The waning moon days to come are a time to reflect on our accomplishments and our struggles, eventually beginning a new project (with the next new moon, if you like to work by nature's cycles).

I began this year's challenge with a theme of looking up, flight, flying.  I am ending it by looking up to the beautiful full moon, in the Christian season of hope and renewal.  I will spend some time this weekend re-reading all of my posts to see what wisdom I can glean, what areas I need to improve.  I will also pencil in time to regularly check my WordPress and Blogger feeds, so I can keep up with all the fabulous writers I've encountered during this challenge.  And of course, I will continue Slicing on Tuesdays.

Thank you to all of my readers for walking--and writing--this journey with me!  Whoohoo-we made it!

SOLSC '18 Day Thirty: Looking down

I tried to set a theme of looking up for this blogging challenge, but yesterday, I realized that my students really need to start looking down in the library.

My hardworking assistant called me over to the fiction section in the middle of her inventory efforts.  She pulled some books from the bottom shelf forward, pointing out the visible dust resting on top of their pages.  She was worried about the dust; I was worried about the books not being read.

Later that day, I was replenishing our "Should I stay or should I go?" section.  I had asked our library systems coordinator to run reports on fiction and everybody (picture) books that hadn't been checked out in three or more years.  I expected maybe a hundred in each section; there were four hundred from each section!  Yes, some of the titles and pictures seemed dated, but some were great classics, had timely topics, and were written by well-known authors.  

Daunted by the numbers, I decided to pull a few dozen at a time to display.  As I collected the books yesterday, I realized that at least three-quarters of them came from bottom shelves; students just aren't looking down often.  The ones I pulled are now on top of shelves or off in a well-marked section, which we are advertising to our students. As one volunteer dad mentioned, "Product placement helps."  We've done a "check out from the bottom shelves only" week before; perhaps that needs to become an annual event.

I'll be weeding the library this summer, which will hopefully open up some shelving--perhaps enough to fit our entire collection on the top two shelves, and use the bottom for displaying books face forward.  That way, no great stories get overlooked. In the meantime, I'll be asking my students to look down when they are looking for a good book to read!

SOLSC '18 Day Twenty-nine: The breakup

My original plan:

• Leave work right at 330p.
• Head to the post office to mail a package to a fellow Slicer
• Get home by 430p to participate in an online committee meeting for our upcoming librarian conference
• Enjoy the rest of my evening, to include a healthy salad for dinner

Then I realized that I might get stuck at the post office, so my plan changed:

• Finish filling out the two hundred amusement park tickets (rewards for a reading program)
• Leave by 400p to rush home and log in to participate in an online committee meeting for our upcoming librarian conference
• Enjoy the rest of my evening, to include a healthy salad for dinner

Then patrons came in, and my plan changed to:

• Assist the patrons with finding and checking out books
• Finish filling out the two hundred amusement park tickets (rewards for a reading program) and delivering them to the teachers' mail cubbies
• Turning out the lights, shutting down the circulation desk computers
• Retreating to my cluttered office, where I closed the door and the blinds, logged on to the online meeting, and ate so many Reese's peanut butter cups in one hour that my trash can looked like Halloween aftermath.

By the time I got home at 600p, I was sick to my stomach.  I think I cured a candy addiction by the saturation method.  

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I'm breaking up with you.

SOLSC '18 Day Twenty-eight: Rude awakening

The phone rang three minutes before my alarm this morning.  My first alarm is set for 0415.  

Thank goodness for caller ID; my worry over a sick (or worse) child/relative/friend quickly dissipated when I saw CODERED on the tiny screen.  Hitting the talk button, I started listening to the flash flood warning and hung up before the message finished.  We live outside of a flood zone, and fifteen more minutes of sleep was not going to change our status.

After emptying the dishwasher and making my coffee, I checked for news of road closures and school delays.  Nothing is noted within my commute, and there's no news from my school district.

Thanks for the rude awakening, Mother Nature.

SOLSC '18 Day Twenty-seven: Past experience, present attitudes

An interesting topic was broached by a fellow librarian at our monthly meeting yesterday.  Having finished with our assigned committee topics, she asked about our memories of libraries from our formative years.  

I mentioned that I was in my high school library club--a quick, positive answer that elicited a few laughs.  Answers from others were not so favorable.  Stories of libraries as dark places, with librarians who were cross, nervous, overprotective of the collection (one librarian made her students wear gloves--in a school library, not archival!) were shared across the table.  A few positive stories were told as well--librarians who created safe spaces for us and encouraged our curiosity.

The librarian who initiated the discussion suggested that our teachers may have similar negative memories of their libraries, and that may make them hesitant to participate more fully in our library programs.  My own teachers must have great memories, because I am blessed to have a wonderfully supportive staff on my campus, but I can see how previous experience could impact a current teacher-librarian relationship.

Perhaps this is a discussion we could bring up at the beginning of the year, during our inservice time that we (hopefully) get with our staff.  We could reiterate that first and foremost, our libraries are welcoming, safe spaces for all members of our learning community.  When that comfort level is achieved, true collaboration and learning can occur.

A chocolate stash for teachers at the circulation desk helps with those relationships, too. 

SOLSC '18 Day Twenty-six: Adulting is not fun today

Adulting is not fun sometimes, especially when I am sick I know exactly what is wrong with me and I will call the doctor this morning but I woke up with a fever and now I'm trying to decide whether I should go to my all-day once-a-month meeting or not I know I'm not contagious by any stretch but I am achy and sweaty but I ordered a Jason's Deli lunch but someone else could eat it am I being a woose by even considering staying home or is it self-care and the right thing to do I have to make a decision by 545a in order to have time to get ready if I decide to go to the meeting but then I'll have to slip out this morning to make a phone call to the doctor to see if she can see me after the meeting.

Adulting is not fun today.

SOLSC '18 Day Twenty-five: Old neighborhood

We are a neighborhood of old cars
Obvious by the dings, the scratches
The dated angular lines and jutting hoods
Dulled paint in odd colors.
Many (like ours) are parked in driveways
Or on the streets
Silently testifying to garages full of stuff 
That will likely be offered at the next yard sale
Or taken to the Goodwill down the street.

We are a neighborhood of old trees
Some so big, you can't wrap your arms around them
Bare in the winter, now with buds bursting
Bright green leaves shoving the last of the brown ones off
Yellow pollen coating 
The old cars parked in our driveway.