#arcadelib

[libraryjobblog]

Learning Objectives for Arcade

My L.O.s for ARC were:

learn circulation software (Sierra), through training with staff & using it

learn about collection development through the teen graphic novel/manga section & through shelf reading

learn basic shelving duties through staff training & experience

(bonus: gain customer service experience)

So obviously, tasks I did like learning delivery procedures & how to check-in items related to my l.o. of learning how to use SPL’s circulation software, Sierra. I didn’t get quite as much experience with Sierra as I would’ve liked, but I definitely was able to get a feel for it. It wasn’t too hard to get the hang of after awhile, but there are certainly small details that, if I’m not working with it often, I’ll probably forget.

As for all the shelf reading I did, that relates to my 2nd l.o., which has to do with collection development. The point of me doing all the shelf reading was to sort of go through and assess parts of the library’s collection, based upon certain criteria. (As M put it, not verbatim, the library’s goal is not to just provide windows for people to see how others may live, but for people to be able to look into mirrors & see themselves reflected.) & based upon the assessments, the library could see where they would need to improve or change things, & various other tidbits that are probably important but my brain is too fried to try to parse right now.

& with l.o. 3, things I did like pulling dead items or missing/claimed items, and straightening shelves, etc., were tasks that were related to that!

[libraryjobblog]

Week 7―Last week! 5/05 - 5/11

This is being posted on 5/8, so currently I’ve only worked 2 days, but I should be working another 2, & while I’ll be at CAR on 5/11, it’s mostly unrelated!

Tasks worked on on 5/05 (CAR):

write-up/summary of programs I’ve helped with

finished the annotated book list

made a list of possible (teen) book club activities

started writing a reflection of my years in TAB and researching what goes into a TAB

made brief edits to some previous projects

Tasks worked on on 5/06 (ARC):

M wasn’t here today, and as far as I could tell, she didn’t leave me any new tasks to work on, so I mainly assisted other librarians/staff members on Monday! (”I have free hands if anybody needs an extra pair”)

did my daily straightening up/cleaning of the teen area

alphabetized the holds shelf

organized the carts of things to be reshelved

helped D check in returned items/sort them

helped D with delivery

pulled items from the children’s area on a grubby list for T

went through the new/lucky day shelves in the teen & children’s areas & pulled items that were past the “expiry” date

[libraryjobblog]

Week 6―4/29 - 5/03

Days worked: 3

Tasks worked on: 

shelf reading

children’s picture books (started and finished the last of the sections that needed to be shelf read, yee(haw)t !)

organized M’s outreach suitcase (lol)

& supposedly I’m going to get told the reason I’ve been doing all this shelf reading next week―though honestly, I had just figured it was because 1. it needed to be done, & 2. it related to one of my learning objectives about learning shelving practices & stuff. but who knows? maybe there’s more to it―we’ll just have to wait and see 

I also did my info interview at the NNT library on Friday!!

[libraryjobblog]

Week 5―4/22 - 4/26

Days worked: 3

Tasks worked on:

shelf reading of

children’s nonfiction (0-600)

children’s nonfiction (601-999)

children’s board books

various tasks L or anybody needed me to do, like locating dead or missing/claimed books

Okay SO. Story time―buckle up folks, it’s a lil wild and definitely a bit bumpy.

It’s Monday right? Early Monday morning―how anyone is functional before 11am is beyond me, especially on a Monday, but I digress. I’m doing my shelf reading, just minding my own business, working quietly while listening to music, as you do. This family comes in―a mom & her two kids I believe, though I didn’t realize it was two at the time. Child 1 is Very Loud when they first enter, she’s yelling (in excitement?) and slamming things (keep in mind, I’m by the nonfiction section, so my backs are towards them & I’m hidden by other shelves, so I can’t see what’s going on even if I had turned around) also Very Loudly. Mom & another staff member ask her to be quiet, mostly unsuccessfully. A little bit later, the kid starts WAILING at the top of her lungs (& I think this made the other kid start crying too).For probably a good 15-20 minutes. Which, fine, okay. These are Very Tiny Children, they don’t really have any self-control over emotional outbursts or anything like that, so I can’t hold it against ‘em. I’m not mad, just wish it was a little quieter, but I can deal, it’s no biggie, yanno? It gets quiet after a while, and now I’m sitting on the floor, going through some of the bottom nonfiction shelves. Still just minding my own business. I pull a book off of the shelf & plan to start flipping through it when it’s SNATCHED out of my hands. By none other than one of the kids that was making noise earlier. Kid1 takes the book and runs away with it―I’m so shocked that all I can do is blink and go “uhh.....”. Meanwhile, kid2 comes over, and starts pulling books off the shelf from in front of me and dumping them into my lap. Kid1 comes back over & tosses the book she had stolen from me into my lap as well. So I reshelve all of these, but kid2 starts to pull off even MORE books to dump on me. I stop her, but obviously she & her sister are displeased with my actions because the next thing I know, they’re running over to the fiction shelf behind me/to my left, pulling books off, and THROWING them at me. Like. Uh. What??? Small children what are you doing. Why are you doing this. Please stop. I beseech you. I try and ask them to stop, but my voice decides, ‘hey, wouldn’t this be a great time for me to disappear? you think so too? Fantastic! See ya later!’ so I’m stuck kind of just staring apprehensively and making half-aborted movements to try to stop them. It ain’t working. So I just take a deep breath and decide ‘yanno what, this is a perfect time for me to take my break. I’ll just... go make a tactical retreat into the staff room and regroup there’, which is what I did. And it turns out they ended up getting kicked out later.

So that was my Monday morning.

But I also helped someone find a couple of books for their nephew! He wasn’t really sure what he was looking for, just had a few vague subjects, so I pulled up the catalog & did a few quick searches to find the corresponding sections, and we managed to find a few books he thought would work! So that was =^D !!

[libraryjobblog]

Week 4―4/15 - 4/19

Days worked: 3

Tasks worked on:

got trained by D on Sierra how to do check-ins, deal with holds, etc., and how/where to put the books to be shelved

Surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it; I liked learning how to do this, but I probably shouldn’t have stood the whole time haha.... my legs Hurt afterwards.

shelf reading:

children’s fiction

children’s foreign languages (Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Persian, +more)

children’s moving up

children’s easy readers

children’s nonfiction (0-600)

Flipping through some of these books was fun! Like the ones about space, animals, etc. But the books dealing with spiders or scorpions.......... No Thank You

[libraryjobblog]

Week 3―4/08 - 4/12

Total days worked: 3

Tasks worked on:

find and pull items on the pick-list

get trained on delivery of books (Sierra/ILS)

shelf reading of:

teen fiction A-L

teen fiction M-Z

helped M with outreach:

setting up of tables & displays

handing out tickets

tracking number of people

cleaning up tables & displays

[libraryjobblog]

Week 2―4/01 - 4/05

Total days worked: 3

Tasks worked on:

missing/claimed list

shelf reading of:

teen manga section

teen nonfiction section

teen read & return section

Shelf reading task includes:

counting number of materials in that section

assessing how many are grubby (stained, dirty, torn pages or covers)

going through the books and seeing which, if any, feature main characters that represent a marginalized group (& marking which group it is)

making notation if there's any genres or series that need replacements/increases

[libraryjobblog]

3/29/2019—First Day

Today was the first day of either at my internships, this time at Arcade!

Not much happened today, other than getting oriented with the layout of the library and where certain sections are, and meeting some of the other people who work there.

Tasks worked on today include:

Straightening up the teen area (cleaning the surfaces of tables/shelves, book ‘edging’, etc.)

Locating items on the shelves from a ‘missing/claims’ list

Seeing what other tasks I might be working on in the future