Week Ten

   This was a personally changing week as I have not been feeling well. Friday I was scheduled all day at the library and had to go in late because of a doctor's appointment. I had notified the library on Wednesday that I would be in at 1pm. I did make it but had to leave as some new medication made me left me not feeeling the best. I recovered overnight and was able  to make it on Saturday. Thank goodness I did have some extra time built in so that works out.

Saturday was the monthly Tail-Wagging Tutors and our turn out was fair. We had some competition from an Excel by 5 program that had been moved to the Civic Center that is across the courtyard from us. So we worked the competition by bringing flyers across to them about the library program and sent someone out with their dog, to peak their interest. We drew in a couple of new people who then signed up to receive notices about future library events, including the TWT program. Below are a couple of pictures of our TWT participants-

Coco, Brennan and I

Week Nine

    This week we had The Magic School Bus come to the Library. The reason they were at the Library and and the Civic Center was to celebrate the release of the Spanish version of the book, The Magic School Bus Gets Cleaned Up  or shall we say, El Autobus Magico Necesita Una Limpieza. This is a link to the news coverage of the event http://www.wlox.com/story/17161142/mississippi-gets-national-attention-for-cleaning-the-air.  The release of the book in Spanish coincided with the EPA's award to the State of Mississippi for cleaning the air by retrofitting about 2000 school buses to control the emissions from their diesel engines. We also saw a presentation by a local school that was working to educate their student body and the parents about the harm of hazardous fumes and what can be done to control them. 

Below are some pictures of the reading of the Spanish version of the book to some students that attended the event.

Spanish reader, Becky,  and students

Photo above is the regional administrator for EPA( on left), Gwen Keyes Fleming with one of the Spanish readers.. 

Photo at left is the regional administrator for EPA(on left), Gwen Keyes Fleming with one of the Spanish readers for the program. 

The reader, Becky, is also pictured above.

That was on Wednesday and then on Thursday, I was there for pre-school and after school  Story times.

The theme this week was BUGS and the children were all into it. We read Caterpillar Wish and Old Black Fly, played and marched to The Ants go Marching In, played a  Bug Toss game and then made a sun visor with the children . Very busy morning and afternoon. The preschool had seven children and the after school program had five attend. In between the sessions I helped Liz work on the bulletin board for Easter. We didn't have quite enough time to complete it but here is a picture of it in progress-

I have all the letters cut out, first time ever using an AccuCut-very helpful device, made it so much easier than cutting out by hand. 

  On Saturday it was a slow day and I spent it assisting patrons locating books, helping some with the computers and I was able to address reminders to patrons about the Tail Wagging Tutors next week. Liz had left the list and a flyer for me in case it wasn't very busy and it wasn't. We were surrounded by St. Patrick's Day activities- a race, a festival and an afternoon parade. 

That's it for this week. 

Week Eight

     Friday I was able to work in the Local History and Genealogy Department located in the Biloxi Library. The department head is Jane Shambra. Jane showed me around the department and talked about the recovery from Katrina. Many items were lost permanently and new items are always being added to the collection. The library provides assistance with research and instruction for patrons that need help searching on www.ancestry.com, www.genealgybank.com and www.familysearch.com The library has access to these sites and will let you search for your ancestors. They are presently gearing up for the release of the 1940 census as they are expecting huge interest in this census. The Historical Society has asked if they would allow volunteers to use the library to help with indexing the census once it is released.

     Part of my day there was spent searching for a birth announcement in January and February of 1940 for a patron trying to prove what year she was born. I was unable to locate the announcement for this particular patron but ran across many interesting items, like a J.C. Penney's ad for "Frocks for $7.95." Some others were quite interesting for grocery stores- .07 cents/lb. for pork. Very interesting.

     Since Fridays are short days, I am going back another Friday in April to spend some more time in the department. I do love doing research. In my past jobs I was always the one to do the "digging" when something needed to be found.

    Saturday I spent the afternoon going through the Children's collection checking for Newberry  Award winners and Coretta Scott King winners. I located what we had in the collection, even found one that wasn't labeled and then gave Liz the list for what we needed to complete the collections, when they are able to order books again.

     I will going back Wednesday and Thursday of the coming week as the Magic School Bus is making a visit to the library this week. Let you know how that goes.

Week Seven

      Wednesday I was able to arrange a couple of hours off to attend a meeting of the Children's Librarians for Harrison County. Liz had invited me to the meeting when we were sorting the items for the Summer Reading program and since my office is only about 10 minutes from the library I was able to make it work. It was interesting to watch the dynamics in the room as I know some of the other librarians in the system through USM and my volunteering with the Pet Therapy program. They discussed how they would be rolling out the program, acquiring giveaways through donations and what type of activities to use in the program on a very limited budget. They have to be quite creative in what they do with the limited funding they have. From listening to them the budget does not leave too much discretionary money right now. 

   

      One topic that came up was the use of Facebook for the individual branches. Several already have a page but Biloxi is not one of them. Liz is trying to convince Charlie that it would be beneficial to the library.  When I was asked how I felt I was able to answer as a patron since I have liked several of the locations on FB. I also was able to add how we used it in classes at USM for the LIS  classes. Liz was told to bring me in with her when she talks to Charlie about it again. So, I plan to line up my facts to be prepared to help Liz. 

     Saturday was my only full day at the library and not really much to say, it was the usual day. They did do upgrades to their software, Iluminar, during the week and I had to adjust to some of the new little quirks, like when you check-in an item, the cursor no longer goes back in the box slowing you down with the check-in process. Like all system "upgrades" it seems to have a few minor adjustments to be made. One good benefit is the print on the receipts is much larger, actually readable now. I even had patrons comment yesterday about the now readable print when I handed them their receipt with the items they have checked out.

     I forgot to mention that last week I did spend a couple of hours with the librarian that does Cataloging for the branch. Her name is Amy, a very quiet person who seems to quite happy with her computer and stacks of books surrounding her to be cataloged. Amy does not process all the books, most are done at Headquarters and sent out to the branch. She does the DVD's and some books. She took me through the process and showed me the template she uses to fill in the information for the selection and where she looks up the information. The template was constructed by someone at the headquarters for the county library system for use at the branches for items they process. 


That's it for now. 

Week Six

This week I put in hours on Friday and Saturday at the Biloxi Library. Friday was spent just shelving material in the morning. After lunch Liz and I unpacked and sorted the material ordered for the Summer Reading program.  The teen program is titled “Own the Night” and for the younger children it is “Dream Big, Read.” Biloxi received the order for all the libraries participating and Liz will distribute the material this week at a special Children’s Librarian meeting. If I am able to take off I was invited to attend, partly because she wants me to help with the carnival at the end of the summer. She would like me to set up a petting zoo of dogs  for the conclusion of the summer program. The meeting would also be interesting to see what the other locations have planned for running their own summer programs.

Saturday’s TWT session went rather well with 17 children attending and 3 dogs to read to. I had some children that responded well reading aloud and one I even saw some improvement since I had seen him in January. I enjoy this activity with the children and hope that my group can expand to some of the other libraries in the system, another reason to attend the meeting this week.

Working in the library has given me the opportunity to look for easy readers that I can put out for the TWT program as I am shelving. I try to locate books about animals, mostly dogs and other pets, that are rather easy for the children. Some of the children choose books way above their reading level and they get frustrated, which does not make for a good reading session,and some parents let their frustration show by rushing the child through the book.

 That’s it for this week. Mid-term is fast approaching and I know that Charlie and Liz have looked over the assessment as Liz checked the information of where it was to be sent with me on Friday.   

Week Five

            When  I arrived at the library today, Liz informed me that our plans had changed and we were now going to the Dr. Gilbert Mason, Sr. Head Start Center in D’Iberville instead of the Moore Community House. Liz visits the center once a month to do story time for the classes there.  We loaded up the books that Liz delivers to the Center each month for them to use and all our supplies for story time and headed there. We read to four classses of 3 and 4 year-olds and played a game with Mardi Gras beads since that was the theme for the books we read to them.  Then back to the library to relieve others for lunch and prepare for the afternoon program.

            The afternoon program was at North Bay Elementary in Biloxi. We read to 4 Kindergarten classes with a total of 88 children. We picked up another librarian that works with Liz doing puppet shows and other activities. The changes for the day came about because of Mardi Gras next week and the schools would be closed.

 

            Before returning to the library we stopped at the library in West Biloxi to drop off DeeDee and help her set up a projector for her program Friday about the Tuskegee Airmen. She was the librarian who we were doing the pictures for last week.

            Upon returning to the library we became involved with the rearranging of stacks that are taking place this week. Liz and I moved the Reference section and then we moved on to the 300’s through the 600’s. The library just opened last June and they have not been happy with the layout. So, for several weeks now they have been planning the move and right now are trying to finish by Friday as some of the books are on tables in the conference room, the one reserved for Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I won’t be around to help them. I hope they make it.  Now I will have to learn all over again where things are.

            That’s it for this week. Always knew of the Outreach programs offered to the schools here in the area, just never experienced it before. It really helps as several of the children, especially in the Kindregarten classes they recognize Ms. Liz from the yellow library and associate her with good experiences and the library. Hopefully, that sticks with them and makes them good patrons.

           

Week Four

                 Well, Saturday at the Biloxi Library was not very eventful. The usual of checking in books, DVD’s and sound recordings started off the morning. While it was slow this morning Liz asked if I would shelve the in the Fiction section and the Children’s area, then she would have the DVD’s ready and I could get those done early. The library is rather short-staffed with only 2 regular employees on most Saturdays. A part-time employee comes in for a few hours around 12 or 1 to help out and today when he came in Liz and I had a project to work on.

            I helped with calling patrons about picking up books and other items that they had requested and we were holding them behind the desk. I also tried to contact a patron who neglected to return a disc in one of the DVD folders. I also learned how to place blocks on patron’s account when we need their information updated for a phone number. I also have begun assisting patrons on making reservations to use the computers. I also was able to instruct some children about using the library’s computers in the Teen Area as long as their parents have signed the consent form.

            The project was for another library that is hosting a program for Black History Month next Friday evening. They will have a speaker from the Col. Lawrence Roberts Chapter for the Tuskegee Airmen. Col. Roberts and his family were local residents in the Pass Christian area. He passed away in 2004; his wife and one daughter still live here and are very active here in the Gulf Coast community. He has two other daughters that are Television Journalist, one in New Orleans, Sally Ann Roberts and nationally, Robin Roberts. Dee from the West Biloxi Library, where the program will be asked if we could find some pictures of the Tuskegee Airmen for her to display and so that is what we did. We copied them and got them ready for her. We ran out of time and were unable to work on a banner for her. The libraries help each other out for their programs like this one.

            Last week I had to leave before we could finish the bulletin board in the Children’s area and so here is a picture of the finished product. Liz put it up during the week. The “feathers” at the top give dates and times for some of the local parades. It brightens up the area and is intended to spark interest in story time for the coming week when the theme will be Mardi Gras and parades.

 

 A couple of weeks ago I had pulled some books from the shelves to review with Liz for her story times in the month of February. Reading the stories before hand helps in preparing to read to the children so that you can practice your tone of voice and put some emotions in the proper places. They can be a tough little audience I have found. It has been a long time for me to read to preschoolers as my own children are all adults now.

            Coming up for this week I will be visiting with Liz in the morning the Moore Community House in Biloxi and in the afternoon we will be visiting North Bay Elementary School. That will be on Wednesday and that will be my only day this week as I will be out of town for the weekend.

            The Geneology Department is participating in a History Week celebration on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The displays will be set up in the Biloxi Community center located adjacent to the library, just a short walk across the courtyard. I hope to be able to see the results of the displays they were working on when they gave me a tour last week.  Since they are not opened on weekends I am hoping in March I will be able to schedule a day or two to work with one of the librarians there to see what goes on in that area on a daily basis. They are in the process of rebuilding their collections since many items were lost in Katrina.

            I am enjoying my experiences at the library and look forward every week to new learning opportunities. I know some weeks it is just very difficult for the library staff to fit me in to their work routine, although they do appreciate the help. In some ways I think my being there has helped them to see the benefit of having a student worker, no salary for one thing, which in these times with all the budget cuts they are grateful for extra hands. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ask to supervise students for future Practicums since they are seeing some benefits from this experience, well, I hope they are seeing the benefits anyway.