The View from the Textbook Window

Still

2012-02-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Covering books. I got all the manga titles done on my cart and started working on the fiction titles today. Checked in and out books. Clicked the kids out of facebook and tumblr. Got through one whole roll of contact paper and started the next. Got back in some of the Life magazine books we had lent out so I put them away. Another three day weekend coming up, see you on Tuesday.

Round up the Angry Villagers

2012-02-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I am just a geek. Not a techie geek but something a little more bookish. I so love Chi's Sweet Home which is a manga series all about a kitten named Chi - he is soooo cute! Mrs. M had them to cover and I totally took them from her and did them myself today and put them on our manga shelves. Yes, I know. I even showed some of the kids them. *happy sigh* On the other hand, today I processed in two teacher magazines and four for us. Packed up books that belong to West HS that we are done borrowing, withdrew them and sent them back to their home. Checked out a set of books to Mrs. S. Processed in Frankenstein books that came in and sent an email to the two teachers that wanted them. Mr. S wrote back saying he'd round up the angry villagers - I think he meant his students, it made me laugh! Had some parents come in with books to clear their daughter's account and neither of the books were hers. Makes me sad when that happens. Had a lady who will be using the library over the weekend for a group come in and I gave her information on where things were and showed her around a bit just before I left. *sigh, Chi is home*

Voice Command

2012-02-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

So there was this kid in today who had his own little computer and was trying to get it to work on voice commands. I wanted to tell him to just go ahead and type! I don't think he got anything done on the paper at all since he was 'teaching' the computer to recognize his voice. Then he would give a command 'open document' and then wait. 'Control L' and wait again. 'Header' and wait again. Oh my! Checked out two class sets of Foundations of Algebra to Mr. O's class. Checked out a set of Understanding Movies to Mr. S. Processed our four magazines and put them out. Did individual checking out. Had a kid who was leaving and after he brought books in, I just had to go to the office to see if he was still there because his Biology book was in pretty poor shape. I wanted to show it to him and tell him I'd have to bill him, but he'd already left. Spent a good part of the day covering the new paperbacks. Still a lot to go!

Happy Birthday Mr. Dickens

2012-02-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

Today I shipped out four boxes of books for other schools to use since we aren't using them. Checked in and out books. Checked out a class set of David Copperfield. Checked in all the rest of the books from our order and started covering the paperbacks. Processed in three teacher magazines and never got around to doing our four!

Baker and Taylor

2012-02-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

So excited! Our Baker and Taylor order came in today, 13 big boxes and 2 little ones! These are ones I worked on while I was at LMSS one day. I unpacked for an hour! Three carts of hardbacks and one big three tier cart for the paperbacks! Then I checked in two of the hardbacks as well! I am so excited! I only took four home with me (insert blushing smilie here)! I also put away all the Foundations books, checked in and out a few kids, worked the front desk after Mrs. M left this afternoon since Mrs. H had gone to one of her mentor schools and wasn't back yet. Did a few repairs and did a book rep contact for some more information. It was a great day and can't wait to work on the new books tomorrow!

A Day Late

2012-02-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is actually Friday's report! Made up an order for Follett since we have a nice credit coming from them. We got 30+ reconditioned Prentice Hall Platinum books and then Mrs. H made a nice library book order from the rest. Processed in eight magazines for us and two for teachers. Worked on covering the last of the new paperbacks with Mrs. M. Still checking in and out books, mostly on individual basis at this point. Checked for some online resources for Mr. A with our rep, so we'll see what she comes up with.

Got Ya Covered

2012-02-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

Along with checking in and out lots today I worked on covering books from the five boxes I brought back last week. Helped a teacher with some Precalculus materials and another with a publisher rep to try and get some online access.

Shipwreck

2012-02-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

Ah matey! The theme of my bulletin board this month is shipwrecks since I just finished reading Shackleton's Stowaway. What a great book! Checked in and out books all day today for the most part and finished up the bulletin board. Processed in two magazines. Requested some Frankenstein books to come in from another school. Helped a teacher with some movies for her class. I love my days in the library :)

What???

2012-01-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

I know, I've gotten a zillion requests wondering what's happened to me...Ah, well, maybe not, but life has been busy! Alongside the regular stuff, I worked at LMSS for two days during our finals and had a great time there. I put tags on four carts of books (two of them were for Sprague!) and pack boxes with books heading out to other schools! That was much fun! The next day I got to open all our 18 boxes of books from our Baker and Taylor order and stamp them and put them on carts - too much fun! I also got to look up prices on the web site to gather in prices for the books that didn't have them on the covers somewhere. Friday I was supposed to go back over, but Mrs. M was ill and had left early Wednesday and wasn't there Friday, so when Mrs. H texted me and let me know she was gone on Friday too, I went back to Sprague. I helped check in books from the last of the semester and checked off the titles of the books that I had brought over on Wednesday. Yesterday was a full grading day so I was up at my daughter's for the weekend. Today we checked out books to kids for the new semester, I processed in three magazines and did some repairs. At 1:30 I had to leave for a meeting at technology with the crossover for billing for the library books. It was interesting and good to talk and provide some responses to the discussion. I also tore down the old January bulletin board and started working on the new one.

Snow Quotes

2012-01-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

Snow day, snow day, 2 hour delay. Well, I'm on a 2 hour delay anyways, so I went in at 9 like I usually do. Processed in 4 magazines. One of our teachers asked us for while we were reading to send her quotes, so I typed up what I had from the last two books I read and sent them to her. Worked the kids the rest of the day. Mrs. H was sick and didn't come in so Mrs. M and I ran the library with a sub. It was really light and a lot of kids never made it into school today. Near the end of the day they said that students were dismissed at 2:20 (our regular end of the school day) and when they were gone, we were told to go home. So I packed up the library and was out by 2:45, so a little early for me.

Up Front

2012-01-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

It's not often I get to work the front desk but I did today after Mrs. M left for the day since Mrs. H was at a Professional Development and wasn't here. It really is fun to do from time to time! Worked mostly on the PoT books and had a couple of really great conversations with students. Helped out a few teachers. Got everything all locked up for the weekend, putting chairs under tables, turning off computers for the weekend.

Control Prompt

2012-01-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

Caught another student today doing something he shouldn't have - using a screen to take over another computer and shut them down. I quick clicked on him and did a screen print. I went and told him that I'd have to turn it into Mr. R and he was then very serious and asked why? I told him that it was a huge problem here and that's what I would do and leave it up to Mr. R to see what he needed to do about it. The student said he wanted to talk to Mr. R right then, so I sent an email with the screen shot and then we walked over to Mr. R's room and I explained what I had found and left the student with Mr. R. I spent most of the day working on the PoT books and found a few better ideas on how to manage the repairs. Boxed up 32 of Friday Night Lights to return to West Salem HS and put them up for pick up and emailed the person responsible for all that. Just a note here about let's call him C. He's one of our special needs kids and comes to my window every day, usually around lunch time. He doesn't speak, but I often will turn and tell him 'hello' and say a few things. For some reason, it really meant something to me today and I just wanted to put that down.

Invited

2012-01-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

I was invited today to be on the team that will help push our textbook program over to a Follett textbook program. I am very excited about that! Our program was created by a now retired Salem/Keizer employee and he is now retired, so not much support for that anymore, but it's a great little workhorse of a program, but we knew we needed to start looking around. I'm very excited! The rest of the day was spent mostly working on the PoT Unit 2's but they are getting a stack of ones that are done! Had some great interaction with kids today, always a highlight.

Unit 2

2012-01-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, back to the dreaded PoT books today and started glueing and taping them up. Processed in three magazines for the library and two for teachers. Changed some of the books on my display (pulled some from the stack and set those up and put the ones that were up in the stacks). Checked out a student who is leaving us. Went to the Site Council meeting. Looked up some info on the Shackleton expedition and I think my new calendar for next month will be on ships and things. We have this awesome wooden boat model that was donated a couple of years ago and it will be the centerpiece.

LittleThings

2012-01-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

Processed in three magazines for the library. Painted around the new thermostat in the wall since there was a white ring around it from when we painted around the old bigger thermostat. Finished clearing off the old deleted copies of magazines. Cleaned up some stuff in the back. Made a new screen saver for the Vision program. Showed Mr. N the new religion books we got in and got an approval to send them to LMSS and rush them back since they are for a class, so I packed them up and sent them off.

Bulletin

2012-01-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

Thursday - 1.5.12 - Finished up the bulletin board today and processed in three teacher magazines. Sent out an email to the classified staff on the rest of the magazines I withdrew for them to come and get some. Put away an entire cartload of books in the back. Checked a lot of books into repair today.

Early

2012-01-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Friday - 1.6.12 - Came in early because I needed to go to an appointment this afternoon and had a lot of fun opening up the library and being Mrs. M! We swapped hours for the day and that was very sweet of her to let me do that, especially on a Friday! Helped students in the morning. Took the religion books we had purchased over the break up at Powell's, and pulled them for Mr. N, then I wrote them all up for him to see and sent him an email. I then wrote up all the Arthurian books we had purchased and sent them to the Language Arts department for those teachers that do that segment. Processed in four magazines for the library. Spent the rest of the day cleaning up the old magazine files, destroying the old records from the magazines I withdrew until it was time to go!

Bildungsroman

2012-01-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

Started working on my bulletin board today for this month. I did a search for all the books in our library that have 'bildungsroman' for a subject! Very impressive list! So, I worked on the letters and the background, pulled books for it. Checked out books today to three new students, put money in print accounts. Helped a few others with various computer issues. Processed in three teacher magazines. Mr. N brought in a student that will come to me tomorrow for some book repair lessons! I'm so excited!

Magazine Give-Away

2012-01-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

Got in magazines for the last two weeks and processed in two teacher magazines and 14 for us. I then turned attention to our 2009 collection and withdrew them from the system then alerted the teachers that they were all up for grabs! Rather than just trash them, we let the teachers take them for classes or whatever, and then the leftovers we use for students to cut up for projects. That was a lot of magazines and took all day. Glad to be back! I love my job!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

Busy day at work! Got all the PoT Unit 3's done! Huzzah! Just Unit 1 & 2 to go! Took down our beautiful book tree and my bulletin board. Helped a lot of kids with computer issues. Checked out, put money in accounts, turned off monitors for the two weeks, unplugged microwave and fridge (and thawed the 'freezer' part of the fridge). Processed in 70 House on Mango Street books that came from West (I think they used reindeer - I couldn't believe how fast they got here!). Life has been good in the library and I will actually miss it, but we'll be back on the 3rd! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What to My Wondering Eyes...

2011-12-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Should appear, but a new shelf for the back room for my PoT books! I had scrounged around and found some old shelves that fit, but I was one short so Mrs. H went out and her hubby cut one to size that they bought - Yeah! As well as a thoughtful gift from her. She really is an amazing person! Almost done with the PoT Unit 3's and hope to get them done tomorrow! Monitored students. Had one student eating the other computer lab today, so I told her that there was no food allowed and she was welcome to eat at a desk and then come to the lab. She said all right and threw her plate away, but her milk was still there, all closed. When I came back about 10 minutes later, she had nearly drunk all the milk, still there at one of our brand new computers. I told her how disrepectful it was for her to just ignore me from before, that these were new and probably wouldn't be replaced. I don't know if she listened or not, but it really made me angry. On the other hand, we went bowling last night and the other team had a Sprague kid on it! What a great student! We chatted from time to time on the lanes and she mentioned her teachers, so I sent them an email today letting them know I had seen and met her and how delighted I was with this amazing girl. One of the teachers wrote me back and told me she really appreciated it and wouldn't it be nice if we shared more good stories about kids like that so I passed that on to our Site Council leader. Otherwise a normal day at the library - one more before break!

Ah....

2011-12-14T21:51:00.000-08:00

Checked out a class set of The Periodic Table this morning. Worked on the Vision set up trying to see what we could get working. Collected some more books for Mrs. H's book list, both from the computer and from her BookList magazine. We also checked our Sherlock Holmes inventory since another movie is coming out and will probably pick up a few extra of the novels and maybe a set of the short stories. We have an annotated copy, but it's so big, I don't think anyone would ever check it out. Processed two teacher magazines and three for us. Helped a lot of students today. Spent some time in the back putting away books. I always have had students that were 'mine' so to speak and would do that, and now the books kind of pile up, so I put away a whole cart full today.

Meetings

2011-12-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

Today I had two meetings. One this morning from the Classified Staff meeting and one this afternoon for the Site Council. A lot of good information out there, good to know. Processed in two teacher magazines and two for the library. Checked in a whole backpack and armful of books from a student who had been billed for all of them. Worked on the Vision program with the new computers in the labs. Vision kept saying that it would only accept 32 computers, but then I could still see everyone and do my thing on them. Interesting! Finished up the book tree and it came out fabulous! Helped kids on the computers, put money into print accounts. I was very busy after Mrs. M left for the day because Mrs. H was gone as well, so I got to take care of a bunch of students with requests that I usually don't get, which was very fun! Closed up the library at 2:30 so I could head off to the last meeting of the day. Met the president of the Booster Club and heard his tale of how they operate. Very interesting.

Book Tree

2011-12-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

Processed in five magazines for the library this morning. Mr. B set up our new computers for the labs, so I got those all entered into the Vision program. Worked on the Book Tree. Took one of our small tables and using books from big to small, made a 'tree' out of them. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it'll work with an old tree star from my house, some ribbon and Mrs. M will also bring in some stuff tomorrow. I also picked out some books for over Christmas break to read, gave Mr. C a book I had at home for him to read (The Last Season). Made a little display for one of our display boxes with damaged books, including the water/clay soaked America Pathways to the Present. Made up an order for workbooks for Spanish and went down to talk to our office manager about that. Looked up some resources for Mrs. S so she knew she needed to look for a CD, not a book. Picked out a book for Mrs. H's book talks tomorrow and we added some new books to her order. Getting to end of the PoT Unit 3's (yeah! only Unit 1 & 2 to go!).

Ah, boys....

2011-12-09T17:38:00.001-08:00

Back later....ok. Much later. Caught two boys today definitely in a place they should not have been on their computers. I took screen shots and showed it to their teacher, and the teacher took them to the office. They tried to offer some excuses, but the screen shot showed that no, they weren't working on their paper. Why don't they use all that energy for good???

Cleverbot and Caterpillars

2011-12-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

Two kids in the labs today were doing those instead of their work, so I shut them down and let them know they needed to concentrate on the work at hand. Processed in three magazines today. Worked on a new Vision background for winter reads. Did more on the Unit 3 PoT books. Checked in and out a lot of books today. We had a student bring in a book that was found in the sink in the art room. One of our America Pathways books was all swollen to twice its size, soaked clean through, had clay imbedded in the pages - it was a mess. Had another student come and say he needed to pay for some books he drove over. So, we got that all straightened out, what he needed to do, either get a replacement copy or pay for it to the bookkeeper. I'm not sure how many books were affected by his actions, but two were on his list that he needed to take responsibility for that were deemed unusable. A busy Thursday!

Sent!

2011-12-07T22:56:00.000-08:00

Got the online books all on the website today with the help of a great webbie from our student tech pool. She did a great job and when we added stuff and moved things around, she cheerfully did each item and let me know when it was done ('and don't forget to refresh!'). She was fabulous! Processed in a magazine, helped out students. Got an email from Mr. M asking our principal if he could order some workbooks for his AP Spanish students, and got the approval, so I sent out an email to the company to see if we could get any kind of discount on an order. I'll check around a few other places tomorrow as well. Also had a student come in and show us an 1874 Family Bible - wow! Very nice! It needed some work, so I gave them the name of a restorer and book repair person here in town with a great reputation, Max Marbles in case they'd like to see it repaired. I'd be too scared to try with something that old! Off to work out, go bowling, frost Christmas cookies and start to hang ornaments on the tree tonight.

On Line

2011-12-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

Worked today with a fabulous student who put up our online textbook resources. She did an awesome job taking all my book images and links and putting them all together on their own library web page. We also had to take a mandatory STEPS training on the homeless issues here in our area. Processed in two magazines, checked in and out books, helped some students with computer issues.

Four at Once

2011-12-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

That's how I felt today! Seems like I was juggling about four different items at times today! Helping kids with books, helping with computers, talking with teachers and working on those PoT books! Processed in one magazine for us, checked mail, got the library ready for the staff meeting this afternoon. Put away some of the textbooks that were piling up in the back. Made a new spine and barcode for an old book that was repaired by one of our subs who decided to come and volunteer her amazing repair skills on our pile of books that need a good fix! She came in today with a couple she took home and went through her glue piles and pulled out a bunch that were ready to go back on the shelves so I put those away. Lots going on!

Knighted

2011-12-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

So the kids in Mr. G's class today were working on their 'knight' project and I introduced Mr. G to Jack Whyte's Camulod series and Kemper Crabbe's The Vigil CD. Worked on Unit 3 PoT books. Processed in one teacher magazine and five for us. Mrs. H was home with a sick son so I closed up the library this afternoon for the weekend.

Shelving

2011-12-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our sub for Mrs. M brought a book he couldn't fit on a shelf and said it needed to go on the oversize shelves. Well, there wasn't any room there. So, Mr. B walked by the shelf I was trying to redo to fit the book in and noticed the second shelf from the top had lots of room, so I moved all the shelves up and had to replace two brackets holding the side wall of the shelf from bulging out as well, but it all looks good now. Also worked on our online page for the web page that will have all our online textbook access all in one spot. Worked on more PoT Unit 3's and checked in and out students.

Plugging Away

2011-11-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

Did more Unit 3 PoT's today. Checked in and out books. Boxed up the last of our surplus books so they will hopefully get picked up around winter break sometime. Sorted out my repair box.

Pathways

2011-11-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

Mr. M decided today was the day to turn in his class set of America Pathways and have the kids check them out to themselves. So I checked out two class sets of books to his classes. Also checked out a class set to the other Mr. M. Processed in five magazines for the library and two for teachers. Worked on more PoT Unit 3 books. Checked in and out quite a few books for students today, even quite a few regular library books for me. I guess Mrs. H had a phone dialer go out to return overdue books and they were bringing them in! The cafeteria manager brought me in 5 boxes for surplus books so I packed them up. Helped out some kids on the computers. Got to pick some books for one of our prolific readers.

Periodic

2011-11-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

Very excited that 24 of our The Periodic Table books came in today. I got them processed in and on the shelf I made room for last week. Processed in one magazine for us and one for a teacher. Checked out a student who is leaving us. Finished up the bulletin board, cleaned up from last week, went to the cafeteria to see if they remembered to save me some boxes for packing, they didn't (I probably wouldn't have remember either!). They did have one to give me and will remember tomorrow! So I did get one box packed with our withdrawn books. Checked out 40 BSCS Biology books to Mr. W and had to number some on the outside for him - easier to make sure they're all there. Got in our new tape (our 2012 magazines will be in pretty limish green on the spine!) and started work on the PoT books again, down to Unit 3 from starting out at Unit 14. Nearly there!

3.5ish Hours

2011-11-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

November 22 - Worked mostly on my new bulletin board today for the rest of the hours I had left to work. Made a nice window scene with stars and my theme is 'Hope'. Checked in books for a student who is leaving, also helped out the in service people a bit. Screwed in the 'universal screws' and the striker plates on the rest of the new computer desks we got in since those parts arrived. Set a few of the other people who were in to reading shelves since they had nothing else to do. Off to the dentist for a cleaning! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

11 Hours

2011-11-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

Took last week off - just had too many things going on! Today was an 11 hour marathon since Thanksgiving is this week. We don't work Wednesday, so with the half grading day today, we actually have to work 2.5 days in 2! That comes to about 14.5 hours for me. So I packed in a ton today to just work tomorrow morning and then be off. Renamed shelves in the back. A lot of books were just numbered by masking tape and not very well, so I redid all the ones that needed attention. I also moved some books to make way for the new Periodic Table books that should be coming soon. I redid the PoT books in the back and also processed in 7 magazines for the library and 4 for teachers. Shipped out 3 sets of books and a single to their rightful owners. Checked out a class set of books to a teacher who will pick them up next Monday. Took down my November display and shelved books from there. Cleaned up books brought in for replacements and other odds and ends - processing them in and checking with the bookkeeper to make sure that the billing was correct. A long day, but that means a short one tomorrow!

PoT

2011-11-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

November 10th - Today I finished up the Unit 5 PoT books and headed into the Unit 4. We have a lot already on the books but they need some maintenance, so if I do it now, we'll be ahead of the game when they're needed next year. Pulled a cart of books for Mr. G for Monday, The Hobbit - one of my favorite books!

Sometimes

2011-11-12T20:43:00.001-08:00

November 9 - Worked a lot on PoT books today. Lots of student monitoring as well.

Wordling

2011-11-08T18:20:00.000-08:00

Processed in two magazines today and one for a teacher. Worked on the new unit 5 set of PoT books. Checked in and out books, put money in print accounts, helped Mrs. H with our print money tallying to turn into the bookkeeper. Went to the Site Council meeting and we had names all over the white board with boxes around them and stars for where they fit into out vision. Reminded me of wordles.

Staff Meeting

2011-11-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

Today I came in to find a bunch of magazines on my desk, so I processed in two teacher mags and six for us. Had a mother call and ask if they could get a second set of books for at home since her daughter had injured her back, so I got those all ready for them to come and get in the morning. Finished off the PoT unit 6 books and started in on the unit 5 books. Worked with them in the back for the last 45 minutes since there was a staff meeting going on and usually everyone is pointed in my desk direction! I don't feel quite so looked at.

Accounting

2011-11-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. H brought up the list she gets that shows what the library has spent and she asked me to go over the magazine subscriptions. I pulled the prices apart and the two venues we use and coordinated the two. I found that they had over priced us for some things, but underpriced on others. Perhaps we got a deal on last year's prices because we consistantly order some things? So, she will check that out with our office manager. We had one place charge us an extra $50 that we don't know why. Worked more of the PoT books, monitored the computer lab today, did a lot of checks on students using the library. Checked in a class set of Hunger Games and got them ready to go out to another teacher. Sent in a screen shot to Mr. C in Library Media Services on Insignia. Processed in two magazines for the library.

Hunting for Books

2011-11-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. H asked me to work on a list of books that we need for the library. Since I am her 'fantasy' person, I took on the job of culling through the books we have and seeing what we're missing in the way of series (like we have #1,2,4,5 so we need to order #3) and what the authors have written lately. What books we need to have that have gone missing or lost that we may never see again and culling through booklists to see what's been recommended for students to read. All in all, a great way to spend the day! Finished up my display as well!

November is here!

2011-11-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on more of the PoT books, processed in six magazines for us and two for teachers. Had a fascinating debate with one of the speech students and he actually shook my hand when I said I really had to go back to work! Did a lot of student work today.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Worked on the bulletin board today and got it mostly up. My theme was to be warm, heartfelt and family, and I really combed through the books trying to get a good stack of books together for that. Checked in books from students that were leaving us, did some work with students on the computers as they were shutting off remotely again. Worked with Mr. D on the PoT books and had him go over them for the two different editions and he didn't see a problem with them. He also brought me in some extra teacher materials for his Physics class that I will be more than happy to catalogue tomorrow!

Homecoming

2011-10-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's homecoming and I came to work during the assembly this morning. Worked most of the day on the PoT books and got almost all the Unit 7 books done. Processed in two magazines and worked with students. Confirmed Mrs. M's writing up a student who was viewing a very inappropriate and violent website. Lots of kids wearing the Oly toga style today which was very funny!

Front and Center

2011-10-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Mrs. H left at one o'clock today and Mrs. M ends her shift at one, so I shut down my back computer and came up front for most of the rest of the afternoon. Worked on more PoT books, processed in two magazines for the library, did a LOT of student assists with a myriad of requests. Suggested a book to a student, checked in a ton of release kids for 7th period, can't believe how long that took to see their cards and have them sign in.

Of Sound Mind

2011-10-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well, some would say that would not be me, but I did check out a class set of these, and two other class sets back out to Ms. H for her sign language class. Worked on PoT, processed one teacher magazine, did some shelving in the back to hold more PoT books and discovered we have even more books I've processed in that say they belong to South, not to Sprague - what is up with that???

New Grandbaby!

2011-10-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a grandma again! I'm so excited! Even with printing a pic and getting it ready for my desk I still made it into work on time! I only talked about Constanza to the people who came near me! Moved boxes from where the Follett rep had left some. Processed in three teacher magazines and five for us. Did a lot of student monitoring and of course, the inevitable PoT books :) After school was out we closed up the library and Mrs. H and I went to the Site Council meeting. Interesting to start this process again. I guess we used to have Site Council and it got relocated for a couple of years, so we will try to revive it.

Follett

2011-10-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

Our Follett rep came in today and trolled through all the boxes of books I had in the back and bought 5 boxes of books for around $450! We will be able to buy some new books with that money, so Mrs. H was very happy about that! Worked again on the P of T books and did some research on their website and what is available to teachers and then sent that all in to Mr. D and he sent me a big thank you! Checked out a lot of books today and helped kids with various getting on, printing and looking for books. Processed in two magazines.

Construction

2011-10-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Spent most of the day working on the new computer lab desks since there was no one else available to put them together so Mrs. H and I got them all done! Yeah! She was afraid she'd worry about them all weekend, so that was good! I took all the parts and laid them out with their designations (something the boys that came in yesterday didn't do...) and we just cranked them out. Then I got out the Principles of Technology and as I looked at the Unit 7's I found we had some second editions but also a ton of the first editions, hummmm. So, I sent an email to the teacher to see if he wanted me to use all the second and some of the first to fill in the 110 copies he wanted. Then it was time to go home for the weekend! Huzzah!

Units

2011-10-20T22:25:00.001-07:00

I decided to work on the Principles of Technology the upper books since they are hardly used and cranked out a bunch of the Unit 14 - Unit 8 books and got them all done. Helped a student pick out a book (yeah!), processed in three magazines for us and one for a teacher.

New Post

2011-10-19T17:41:00.001-07:00

Today I finished up all the changes on the shared novel list and got that sent into our tech team for posting. Checked out quite a few books. Made a recommendation to a student for some historical steampunk. Worked with Mrs. H and Mrs. M to handle our audio books so that students will hopefully not steal the CDs from them. Did some book repair, cleaned off the pile of paperwork on my desk. Processed in some donated Watership Down and The Old Man and the Sea books.

Edited as a Child

2011-10-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ha! I was processing in magazines today and saw this funny cartoon in The New Yorker - two women looking in a room where a man sits straight, staring ahead and the one woman tells the other "Ted was severely edited as a child." Made me laugh! Processed in ten magazines for the library and four for teachers. Cleaned up the magazine spinner rack, pulled First Aid books for two more classes coming in today. Decided I really needed to reorganize my textbook paperwork so I redid the files in my drawer and filed them all away better than they were! Checked out a class set of Sentence Combining to Mrs. J. Worked on Principles of Technology books and cut more crackle paper for the edges of them. Answered a couple of phone calls and worked the front desk for a little bit for Mrs. M and got to put the laminated covers on books for a bit - one of my favorite jobs!

Fundamentals

2011-10-17T22:23:00.000-07:00

One of our teachers today wanted his students to get a Fundamentals of College Physics book, and so I pulled those and checked them out today at various times as students wandered into the library. He had come earlier for a set and let us know he'd be back, so that helped! Processed in 3 teacher magazines and 6 for the library. Dug through my emails since I was gone Wednesday and our half day Thursday (my father-in-law had passed away and I went down to California for the memorial service - miss you dad). Helped students with various requests all day and worked on my ongoing project, the Principles of Technology books.

Tuesday

2011-10-11T22:33:00.001-07:00

back later...

Crackle

2011-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

So today I spent most of the day working on restoring those old Principle of Technology books and using our crackle paper to bind the edges. I did a lot of gluing and taping as well. When there was a meeting this afternoon, I took some old movies (cleaned out of a teacher's room) and put them in the DVD player to see if they played and what language - mostly German!

Mrs. G Comes

2011-10-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

Mrs. G came in for Mrs. H today, they are good friends outside of work and Mrs. G was one of the K-8 Librarian teachers that got laid off so it was good to see her and that she got some work today! Most of the day was spent on those Principles of Technology books deciding the best way to get them revamped for use next year. Helped a lot of kids and checked out books. I gave Mrs. G some of the really nice Principles of Technology books to restamp and she got all of them restamped and a lot of them spine covered. We had a good time today.

Tech Principles

2011-10-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

Spent a lot of time today on the Principles of Technology books weeding out the bad, keeping the good. Got an approval to write up an order for Periodic Table by Primo Levi which is very exciting, hopefully it will get ordered. I called our rep and they got us even a bit better deal than their online price, so that was very awesome! Checked out books to individuals today, got two of our American Pageant books somewhat repaired - they are missing the first 100 pages or so, and since that class is beyond those sections now, I have a couple of girls that would still like their own book.

Groundhog Day

2011-10-05T17:41:00.001-07:00

We had some confidential type meetings today, so I went into the back and rearranged shelving to make room for four sets of books. Had to move some other books to make way, but found spaces for everything without too much trouble! Then I went through our deleted textbooks to see why they wouldn't delete, and it was because of the comment section. You need to delete the comment record before they go, so I went and deleted the comments. They still wouldn't delete. You know when you haven't done something for a long time and it takes awhile to remember? That was me today, I had to go back through them all and then delete the records. That did the trick! Did the usuals for the rest of the day, checking out books, helping students.

I Read Banned Books Stormtrooper

2011-10-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

Yep. I took a 'I read banned books' button and taped it onto my Stormtrooper that sits on my printer. Now if he reads banned books, everyone should! Came in to find one brand new Realidades 1 book on my desk, and we had ordered 25! So I raced up to the office and yeah! There they all were - two more boxes full! So I sent an email to the teacher and processed them all in. Finished processing in and covering the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books we got in earlier and there's even a spot for them on the shelf! Got in a shared novel list from North HS and so I updated their portion of the list to go along with mine. Made a new Vision background for Mrs. H on the ORCA (Oregon Readers Choice Awards) with all the titles for the 2012 list. Did some research for a teacher who requested our Deutsch Aktuell 3 books on a DVD program we sent him, so I did some research and got an answer and suggested another resource. Did a lot of individual check outs as well.

Chair Abuse

2011-10-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Pulled Tesoro Literario for Mr. M's class and checked them out. Withdrew all our old First Aid books and boxed them up to go away. Put the new ones on the shelf in their place. Mr. C brought me a track baton for my bulletin board! Cleaned up all the books Ms. S brought in at the last minute on Friday, found an old (1979!) yearbook that belonged to Ms. A, she also took some short story books we had and Mrs. P took the rest of her Tech Writing books, she thought she had them all. Worked on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books Mrs. H brought in before school started. Also helped kids get their computer numbers, ran the front desk so Mrs. M could take her lunch, made a new desktop for my computer with Sprague team pics on it. Got paper for the copier for a teacher. Chair abuse is what I tell the kids when they are leaving from lunch, to pick up their trash and throw it away and to push in their chairs. Since the chairs can't move, it's chair abuse to leave them hanging out while they are trying to get back to the table. I have so much fun at work!

Sharing

2011-09-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on our shared list of novels and sent out the last list I had so everyone could update what they had. At the moment we only share with two other high schools, I'm hoping the others will join in. Checked out a class set of books to Mr. M, checked in some Journal of Finn Reardon's which meant I could ship 20 of them out to another school, so I boxed them up and sent them out. It's F.A.N. night - Faculty Appreciation Night and we all got new t-shirts to wear for work today. I love a new t-shirt!

Bulletin Board

2011-09-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

I know I did more than work on my bulletin board, but that was a big part of my day. I wanted to do a big sports theme, and we have a lot of good books on sports and highlight the Sprague teams. So I worked on that. I also took my honoring of the armed forces books and put them out for kids to read and check out on the new rack over behind the couch. I put Sports Illustrated magazines on the rack by my desk as well. Now I just have to find some sports stuff! So at home I found a baseball bat and ball, a basketball net (I think I will 'dunk' a basquetball book into it!) and some golf stuff. I also monitored labs, put in a request by Mr. N that our computers can launch RealPlayer because he wants his kids to have a great experience on the Holocaust Museum site. I also ran the front desk today after Mrs. M left because Mrs. H was out helping the schools that no longer have teacher librarians that are in our area. It was very busy! Checked out books today for various students and staff, put money in print accounts, helped students access the computer by getting them their login numbers or resetting their accounts. We also got new Oly t-shirts today and when I was ready to go home, I still hadn't gotten mine so I went up to the office and I had been checked off! So, now I finally have a t-shirt for tomorrow!

Playtime

2011-09-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Got done with processing in the rest of the First Aid books and all the rest of the Realidades 2 teacher materials. Made a new screen for Vision, just replaced some book cover images on it. Checked out books to students, monitored the labs and students in the library. Got the back room pretty cleaned out. Mrs. H's great niece came in to visit with her mom and I had the best time playing with her for a little bit. She is just at that adorable age and the students all fell in love with her. I miss my own little grandchild - far, far away in Italy :(

$230.00

2011-09-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Finally we find the box of missing First Aid materials - huzzah! A couple of the instructor manuals came just as hole punched papers with a front, back and end for a sleeved notebook. I remembered I'd seen some notebooks out in the portables so I went back out and scrounged around and also found a very nice Oly vest. I believe it was from a teacher that moved to another school, so we asked her if she wanted it and she said she had gotten out everything that was hers, so I decided to keep it rather than leave it hanging in an unused space. Processed in the First Aid missing materials and one teacher magazine and two for the library. Checked out a class set of books to Mr. D. Got Mr. M the rest of the Grammar Dimensions for him to take. Picked out some books for the new bulletin board. Worked on Biology books, who had billed books that we may be able to get back in. Out of 18 kids we have billed, only 5 are still in school. The other 13 totalled almost $3,000 in book charges, that comes to $230 dollars that walked out of the school per student that left. That's a lot. Talked with our Pearson rep today and found there isn't an online version of the American Pageant book, so if we do get books, they will be hard cover ones. There is a new version coming out in the spring and that will have an online package you can purchase with the actual texts at a discount. I sent all the information to our principal and he will let me know what we will do.

SuccessNet

2011-09-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

Processed in our new Bien dit! 2 books that arrived today - Huzzah!! Students checked them out like crazy all afternoon. Processed in some Biology books for Mr. W that came from another school. We also have a student that had been on Pearson's SuccessNet online account and couldn't get changed over from his middle school to Sprague, so I had contacted our tech department and they weren't able to do anything and let me know that today, so I tried to call Pearson and get some tech support and couldn't get through. So I finally got out an access code and created a teacher account so I could go in and see what options there might be and it looks like teachers can edit student accounts, so I contacted his teacher and asked if he'd try to do that, and the teacher said he'd try, so we'll see what happens. I called the father and let him know we were still working on it. I also got a response from Holt MacDougall on the AP history book and yes, there is an online version, but it would need to be purchased, so I asked what they cost would be. After they send that, I will let our principal know and he can make the decision on which way we need to go for students - either more books, or online access. Monitored students heavily on the computer lab and checked out a lot of books today.

Friday!

2011-09-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Sent out another box of Grammar Dimensions to Parrish MS today that I found, emailed the English department of the ones we still had available. Had a staff member bring in two boxes of magazines for cutting out so I purged through our boxes getting rid of junk and waste. Found some more National Geographics and sent them over to the art department since they wanted any we had. Processed in four magazines, checked out a class set of Writer's Inc to Mr. S. Found a missing magazine on our SSA order so I got that taken care of today. Played a bit more with Vision and it's coming a lot easier now. Closed up shop for the weekend and I am off! See you Monday.

Library Nazi's

2011-09-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today we were told that we were doing a horrible job. That we were the reason so many kids were skipping class, to hang out in the library and we had to monitor every kid for passes all day. So, we decided to become Library Nazi's. So that took up a lot of time today constantly checking up on kids, making sure they signed in, had a pass or release card, not our cup of tea, but that's the way it goes. I finished up processing in the Personal Fitness books today that came in before school started. Processed in Friday Night Lights that came in from West HS for a couple of classes. I worked with my Vision program, redesigned the blank screen copy and worked with it a bit to get it up and running again. Boxed up 30 Physical Science with Earth Science to send out to North HS. Sent an email to Mr. S our principal about the American Pageant books we have and that we need a few more. Follett had some new ones on the way for $121 a piece, but they were getting in some used for only $97 and I wanted to put a hold on five for us since we still have 3-5 students that need a copy. Mr. S asked us to look into online access instead of books, so I sent an email asking our rep if that text did indeed have an online version. Hopefully I'll get an answer tomorrow.

Another day

2011-09-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

Got the National Geographics to the Art Department today and helped students get their log in numbers. Had to help a student get onto the computer. Pulled Developing Child books for Mrs. S and checked out ten books to her and then the rest to the class. Shipped out a box to South HS and one to Parrish MS. Took another trip out to the portables, helped a student print. Covered D-Day books and prepped the Personal Fitness books and boxed up more surplus.

Portable

2011-09-20T23:08:00.001-07:00

Processed in a teacher magazine and four for the library. Checked out three class sets of Geometry. I had a parent call with some online issues and sent the request on to our tech department. Finished covering the D-Day books, yeah! There used to be a TV out in the Commons so I wanted to see if it was still there for showing Channel One during lunch and it is gone. I helped Mrs. G with her online access for setting up classes and gave her some old Buen Viaje workbooks we had in the back. The best part of the day was getting keys for the old portables. We no longer have teachers in there, and they cleaned out most of their stuff, so I got to comb through 10 old classrooms looking for left behind books. I found a couple of boxes worth and brought all those in and checked them in, several had been billed to students and one had been paid for - I even remember that book, the student insisted that she had turned it in and we looked for it at least 3 times in our books stacks, and there it was completely somewhere else! Her parents will be happy to get their money back! I found a ream of 11x17 paper we can use later this year for the book making project. That'll help and a few books for the library as well. A good haul!

Repair Help

2011-09-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Mrs. M wasn't in today and her sub used to work at the Oregon State Library doing repairs so I opened up our cupboards and showed her all our repair implements, gave her a stack of books and she got a whole set of science books all glued and taped that I had on my repair 'to-do' list. I was so impressed and glad they got done! She did fabulous! I checked out a lot of individual books today, wrote up the request for 25 more Realidades 1 books for purchasing. Sent out emails on Bienvenidos and Grammar Dimensions. Boxed up some more surplus. Mailed out some items to Claggett and Stephens Middle Schools. Cleaned out my emails, got a cart of Geometry books ready for 1st period tomorrow. Processed in three magazines for the library, processed in a teacher edition for Ms. G. Covered some more of the D-Day stories books, did a check on supplies for Mrs. H to order in for us. Sent out emails on the leadership books we have (the teacher from last year moved over the summer) so the new leadership and AVID teachers know they are available. Checked out a class set of Biology books. Helped students with their computer log-ins. Sent in a life ring on a student who keeps getting booted off websites - even the ones she's supposed to be on! I'm sure there's more I did, but I didn't keep a list today.

Almost Got Something Done

2011-09-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Had all my plans in place to finish up the D-Day books today and hardly got around to them! Checked out a lot of books, worked with Mrs. H on what books we could get online access to again. We found we have about seven texts that can all be accessed online - which is a great thing! Got in the extra Chemistry books, so that is very cool. I was working to try and find the online access to the America: Pathways to the Present and thought - 'I'll look in the teacher resources' and voilà, there it was - the online access pack. I'm thinking I need to get an iPad 2 so I can get into technology for the oncoming bookless revolution. There will probably always be some textbooks, but more and more the students will be getting their information online in some form. We also found that we are missing a box from our First Aid order and set about trying to find it since we are also missing the invoice from that - which is probably in the missing box. It's Friday and I'm off to Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel tonight! Guten tag!

5 More

2011-09-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Today I shipped off five boxes of German materials. Had to check them all out to the school that's going to use them as well. Made sure I didn't go over the 50 pound weight limit on the boxes! Checked out 5 class sets of books to Mr. L. We have a great aide that carted them all down to him. Had another class set of Biology books that our aide also took to a room for another teacher. Checked out a lot of books today to kids and I missed a couple of pick ups for another teacher but her student teacher helped out to pull books! Processed a teacher magazine and two for the library. Started to process in 18 books on true stories of D-Day. Did more emailing on books we needed. Hopefully our loan of Chemistry books will arrive tomorrow and a small order of french books will arrive and we'll get to order in some spanish one books as well. Worked with a student looking for a classic book to read. They have several classes and no one can read the same book - so the choices are getting low. I helped her get up the list and our library catalogue search page to go from one to the other, but she ended up heading back to the teacher to get a list of which books were still left since so many had already been taken.

Driving Over Books

2011-09-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

We had a student come in with a book that another student had driven over. One book wasn't too bad and I was able to do a quick taping on it so he could use it. But the Street Law book has a bent back cover and the top of the front cover has been shredded. It's in bad shape. I told Ms. W that if it were up to me, I'd ask him to pay for it or replace it. Then I told her what I'd need to do to it to get it back into shape for a student to check out. She thanked me for that. I don't know what she'll do with it, but that's now her decision. I processed in 126 First Aid books and some Working With Young Children that were given to us by another school. Helped a student with a resume, checked out a lot of books, processed in two magazines for the library.

October/November

2011-09-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

Some of the magazines I processed in today were not only October issues, but November ones! So, I did one teacher magazine and five for the library. Checked out books today and shipped off another five boxes of books to McNary. Sent out about six requests for extra books for various subjects and teachers. There seemed to be a ton of emails about books going on. I managed to repair an American Pageant so I now have two of those to check out. Got in some Biology teacher texts and some Chemistry books. I had a teacher wanting her Adobe installation disk and I looked through our material and realized she just needed to update her Adobe system, so I had her put in a life ring request. We heard that one teacher was berating us for doing nothing to get her books for class and she would just have to do it herself! You go girl! Started to process in the First Aid books we just got in for Ms. W.

Online Access

2011-09-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

Checked out more books today and started to clean up the piles that we're done with. Shipped out the rest of the Guide to Good Foods to McNary. We got in some Working with Young Children and I had to check with the librarians over there since these are fairly new books and no one had x'ed out the barcodes or anything. We ran out of our Realidades 1 books and the teacher wanted to get some more, now! So I inquired around and another school is looking for 25 more themselves. With the bigger class sizes and less options, we are running out of books that we've never run out of before. I let the teacher know we did have online access for that text and she needed to register and that would give the students access, so I hope she does that soon. I also looked up prices for our American Pageant books since we are also short on those. I think check outs did really well with the new schedule and we're just about done with the main classes. Helped a teacher look for some novels for his class. Helped a new aide learn the back room and how we put away books. Had a group of resources for a teacher and she was really excited about them and a set of memoirs about D-Day we had gotten in. Went through my staff handouts and checklist for that for the year.

Field of Flags

2011-09-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Friday - September 9th - Spent the day checking out, getting more books out and starting to put books away from classes that are done. Processed in two teacher magazines and twelve for the library. I also helped Mrs. H work in the computer lab checking the internet cords for access. After work I went to the Field of Flags to honor those who died on 9-11 and those in the service and responders who have died since at Riverfront Park. Very powerful.

Mandatory

2011-09-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

Finished up processing in the Realidades 2 textbooks for students today and kept just ahead of classes. So that was a good thing! Finished up processing the materials the teacher wanted for that class as well. Did my mandatory training and sent my completion results to Ms. W who is making sure we all get that done. Checked out books, put out books, helped students and didn't have a spare moment to the day. A good day.

Running

2011-09-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Even though I left last night with tables loaded, we were still running all day keeping up. In between loading tables up, checking out books, I was also processing in the new Realidades 2 texts we got in so the Spanish 2 classes could come and check them out. I managed to get one class checked out today and got another 2 class sets ready for tomorrow and have one more to do. Have run out of our Bien dit! 2 books so had to email another school to see if we could borrow some like we did last year. Answered emails - checked out another class set of lit books, directed some students that were in helping out (yes, they were fabulous!) and got a few things ready for tomorrow that came up at the last minute. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we also had a fire alarm this morning just after I got in that lasted nearly an hour. At least the weather was perfect to be outside!

New Oly Day

2011-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

Freshmen were in school today and I spent all day setting out books and checking out class sets of books to teachers. I'm not entirely sure of what is going on with classes. What? No Civics books - all three lower grades will be in America Pathways? What? Freshmen will take Biology along with sophomores? Do we have enough books? What about class sets? Online versions? Some things are just a mystery at the moment, but I put out what I had gotten from teachers and guessed on the rest. We'll see how tomorrow goes when all the kids are back!

Keeping it Real

2011-09-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

Got my calendar all up for the start of school on Tuesday. Got my desk all cleaned off. Processed three magazines. Mailed off 2 books to Mrs. B now over at McNary. Sent off another magazine to Mr. B over at Waldo. Cracked open the new Realidades 2 cases we got in late yesterday and sorted out all the teacher resources. Found that we had duplicates of ten different items - we were supposed to get 3 of each and those we got 6 of each and we were missing two items from our order. So I called Northwest Text and talked with a rep and she is looking into it and will get back to me on Tuesday. I processed in about half of those so the teacher will have most of her materials on Tuesday. I'll ask her what else she needs right away when I see her on Tuesday. Got through all my emails and started lists of teachers and what books they will need starting Wednesday. I was going to pull books today, but never got around to it, so that will be the main goal on Tuesday. Then we'll have student help starting on Wednesday. All too soon, the day is over.

Meeting

2011-08-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today we had our back to school Library Media meeting downtown. So I went in and worked for an hour and half, and then Mrs. M and I went to the meeting. A lot of it was helping out the library assistants who are now the only ones left to mind the libraries. I asked if we could stay in our building and work on projects, but Mr. C asked us to come and support the others, so we did. I worked on my initial bulletin board in memory of 9-11 and our veterans and it was nice not to have to worry about the old A/B calendar! I didn't have to do any of that so I could just let my imagination go for it :) I was very happy with how it turned out. I checked out books for teachers the rest of the day, helped Mrs. H rearrange our movable shelves (a couple of them were out of order from when they cleaned the carpet) and answered questions for teachers. I ended up working past my time, but felt good I got a lot accomplished and got some teachers settled in since they won't be back in our building until Tuesday when school starts.

If Parents Were Treated Like Teachers

2011-08-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on repairs to America Pathways books. I also helped out teachers old and new with getting materials and boxed up the rest of the surplus books for now. I got to sit in on the staff meeting which was mostly for the licensed staff and worked while I listened. Could you imagine what it would be like if parents were treated like teachers? No matter how hard you worked, you would live paycheck to paycheck. Every day you'd have to post what lesson you were going to work on teaching your kids that day and know how that fits in with your annual strategic plan. We'd have to have research based curriculum in our homes and parents would have to be qualified and undergo yearly professional developement often on their own time and expense. They would have to put all daily tasks through evidence based decisions and continually assess their kids against selected standards. Supervisors can walk in at any time and there would be a meeting every month to six weeks of Professional Learning Communities where parents would get together to discuss how they are doing. Are their kids using Cornell notes at home? Have their test scores risen? Countless laws both local and federal would have to impact each moment you interacted with your kids. You had to use only available materials, some of them years old and worn because the district didn't have money to get new timely books or materials. Now you find out you now have 30 kids if you're in the lower grades and 180+ in the upper grades. Man. I'm continually amazed at what our teachers do every day with the students they interact with and it's not for the money, it's because of the love they have for the students and their subject. I applaud you all. You are truly amazing.

Culinary Arts

2011-08-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today I spent a lot of time packing up our culinary arts books to send to McNary High School where the teacher and program has been moved to. I also packed up some math books to send and worked on the surplus books pile. Altogether I packed up 13 boxes of books to send to McNary and another 5 boxes for surplus. I checked the surplus books to withdraw them and processed in two magazines. Sent out the textbook pick up request email and had three responses right away. Teachers are all back tomorrow!

Principles of Technology

2011-08-26T22:56:00.001-07:00

I finished helping Mrs. M this morning with pulling labels off the donated books and putting clear stickers over the sticky parts so they don't stick together. Then I worked on 15 boxes of Principles of Technology. At the end of last year, McKay high school wanted to get rid of them and one of our teachers wanted them, so they sat for the summer. Now it was time to open them and see what condition they were in and count them with ours to see how many we have. I piled them by book (there were 14 different volumes) and had separate piles for the well used and pristine. I sent an email to Mr. D letting him know to stop by when he gets into work and we'll confab about what to do with them. I had a three tier cart full on both sides and another cart full up on the top shelves, but glad to get them out of boxes and ready for processing. I also boxed up some of the surplus I had left at the end of summer and got them ready to go. Helped a few students with book returns. And it was cooler inside! Much thanks to our HVAC crews that worked hard to get us cooler!

83

2011-08-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

That was the temp in the library when I went in at 8am today. It cooled down to about 80 during the day, but still hot! Finished with my set of books removing the stickers. Then I put away all the textbooks that came in over the summer. When we removed the stickers, the books had sticky spots, so we covered those over so the books wouldn't stick together. Helped out some students and parents today with books brought in as well.

Stickers

2011-08-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

Finished up my magazines today and then Mrs. M asked for help to peel stickers off books she was processing, so I finished off the day doing that with her. When the Juniors came in to register, I helped quite a few students and parents look for billed books. I had no luck with two, but found all the others and made some people very happy. Still hot inside, but had three bottles of cold stuff to drink.

Reading List 2010 - 2011

2011-08-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Starfish by James Crowley - I enjoyed this tale of two Blackfeet children that run off the reservation with a very expensive horse. With help from their Grandfather and a friend or two they end their journey in different ways.
Zombies vs. Unicorns - Short stories from Team Zombie and Team Unicorn pitted against each other - some stories were really creepy! But I still have to side with Team Unicorn and our leader, Holly Black. Worth it just to read Holly's and Justine's comments to each other!
The Dragon Book - a nice short story collection of dragon stories. It was all right.
Changeless by Gail Carriger - Alexia is back and headed for Scotland as she tries to solve the problem of human seeming werewolves. Wireless communications and a complicated relationship with new hubby werewolf, Lord Woolsey leave this tale dangling for the sequel.
Annexed by Sharon Dogar - fascinating story of the boy that lived in the annex with Anne Frank. If a class had to read Anne Frank, I'd suggest the boys read this one.
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card - A long slog, but interesting read that meshes sci fi and fantasy together. I almost fell asleep at one point, but it was all right in the end.
Pegasus by Robin McKinley - Fabulous read! The pegasi were being hunted and killed and form an alliance with humans. Sylvi (daughter of the human king) and Ebon (son of the pegasi king) are bonded to each other and connect in new ways. Amazing tale - bad news, it's a series, good news, it's a series!
The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan - Lena feels the call of the sea deep within. When she realizes that a mermaid lives off shore, her whole world swirls into a lost life. She realizes she needs to make a decision, land or sea. An entertaining read.
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill - a little book that covers a lot of ground! I'm heading to Ireland this summer and this is a must read!
Shadow Magic - by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett - After the war in which the dragons are destroyed along with the enemy's source of power, a peace delegation goes to Ke-Han. Caius Greylace is a flamboyant hoot sharing their story with General Alcibiades. The youngest son of the emporer is forced to leave or be executed and he and his trustworthy servant Kouje flee. I really enjoyed this tale immensely!
Havemercy - by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett - Saw the third of this series at Borders so went to Salem Public and got the first two! Havemercy is a mechanical dragon for the Volstov Dragon Corps. The dragons may be all gears, but they have a soul spark from the magicians that made them. This story focuses on Havemercy's pilot and the technician who is there to train the corpmen into more socially acceptable people and the magician Margrave Royston and the boy he becomes attached to during his exile in the country. Lots of the 'f' word in here as well as the intense relationship between Royston and Hal. Probably not Sprague appropriate.
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest - Mercy is a nurse and needs to head to Seattle to meet her long absent father. Mercy is a compelling character and the research she did on Civil War nursing shows brilliantly.
Soulless by Gail Carriger - Fun little steampunk, vampire, werewolf romance. Spicy Alexia is soulless and at her touch, the weres and vamps become for that touch, human again. She romances the local Alpha, dines with the outrageous Lord Akeldama, and rescueing all from the 19th century scientists, she is quite the heroine.
Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent - A true story of the relationship that grows between two men because of a godly woman. A very good read.
Tomato Rhapsody - by Adam Schell - Fun little book on love and tomato lust in Italy. Ripe characters, notes seeded throughout, this book was fun and of course, love and tomato sauce triumph in the end.
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway - What a haunting beautiful read. I cannot imagine another book that would make you feel that maybe, you had experienced being in the siege of Sarajevo. Based on the true story of 22 people who died in a mortar bombing, the cellist plays an Adagio for 22 days to remember each of the victims. The story is set around three people who live in Sarajevo during this time and how it shapes who they and the city are. A must read as far as I'm concerned.
Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach - wonderful read of her decision to live in Europe and discover if that adventurous woman she thought she was still resided in her. Paris, Italy and London all host her. A most wonderful read.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – Darwinists vs. Clankers as Austria and Hungary go to war. The young prince from Austria is taken to safety via machine while a young girl in England learns to run the biocreatures used for war there. Interesting take on WW1.
Holding Fast by Karen James - The story of her husband's death on Mt. Hood in 2006. An accident coupled with killer weather all conspired to bring the love of her life to his death. Her faith, the faith of those around her and the incredible effort by rescuers don't make this any easier, but a life affirming story that she wanted to tell.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach - I will never look at space travel the same way again! From bodily functions to testing things for weightlessness, this had me chuckling all the way through.
I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth by Brenda Peterson - Barbara grew up in a firm biblical family, but with a father who was a forester and her own passion for the wild she discovers that the earth and creatures here are what she loves and perhaps the God who made them as well. Fabulous creationist read.
Planetwalker by John Francis - Inspiring tale of a man who decided for 22 years to not use motorized transport after helping to clean up an oil spill on the California coast. His spirit, his gentle walking is well worth a read. Glad I found this in the Sprague library!
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan - what if the world did some horrible things to you? Liga nearly throws away the life of her daughter, and ends up in a heaven of her own making instead. An intriguing book, with lots to think on.
This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson - What a hoot! Loved this up to date look at librarians and where we're going and what we're doing to ride the information age! A must read for librarians and those who are in their hearts!
The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey - David needs room and board and finds that in the home of a ceramic dragon maker and her daughter. A dragon for David keeps him guessing and a quest for a squirrel bring together the charactors for this series.
Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti - Harvey still has Einstein's brain from the autopsy in 1955. Michael chauffers Harvey and the brain across America and tells us stories of Albert, Harvey and himself. Really entertaining!
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs - Mercy comes to the aid of an old friend in Spokane and pays a high price to the vampires to try and protect her. Great read.
The Light Bearer's Daughter by O. R. Melling - Dana crosses into faerie to awaken a giant. She can ask for a gift, and only wants her mother returned to her. Another tale in the Chronicles of Fairie.
Time Weaver by Shana Abé - the newest of the drákon series. I'm just sad that there may not be anymore! I'm hoping we weave back to Darkfrith!
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - Everyone knows who Clary is, except Clary. I started out not too excited by this story, but turned around to really enjoy it.
Ironside by Holly Black - Kay is caught up in an impossible quest. A nice tale continued from Tithe.
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs - how nice to have a library with a series! Another story of Mercy and the Tri-Cities fae culture.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - This was a great book, a bit raunchy at times, but you can tell the man loves to cook and can write the experience just as flavorful! Devoured it in two days because I needed to do a few other things than read!
The Note by Angela Hunt - I got to meet Angela at a writer's conference several years ago and had never read any of her books, so I've now read one and should have known I'd be pleasantly surprised! A nice heart healing tale of a reporter who finds her story leads her to doors she didn't expect to open.
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt - quite the epic steampunk tale as two orphans come into their own and turn their world on its head along and find some interesting friends along the way.
Not the End of the World by Geraldine McCaughrean - what would it be like to be on the ark as it floated about? Noah's daughter is the main speaker, though we hear from others, and a few animals as well, sometimes dark, and she doesn't forget to ask the hard questions, a good read.
Treasure Keeper by Shana Abe' - Love the drakon series! Another good tale that leads into the next book.
Honolulu by Alan Brennert - read this in Hawaii, a good sweeping tale of a Korean picture bride and her life in Hawaii - we meet colorful charactors, real and fiction, and it was entertaining! Or for sleeping under on the beach :)

Ta-Da! We're Baaaccckkkk!

2011-08-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

Great day to be back at Sprague! I picked up my keys and badge yesterday! Came in to beautiful clean carpet and lovely polished sparkley linoleum! Then to work! I did some work in the back to straighten stuff out a bit, then collected the mail (2 boxes worth) and sorted it. Some to Mrs. H, some to the teachers and magazines to process for the library. I had 70 to process and got them all in the computer and 30 all tagged and up on our magazine racks. I'll finish them tomorrow. It was hot since they are still working on the venting, but soon it'll be better. Go Olys!

Last Day

2011-06-23T14:18:00.001-07:00

Got all my stuff taken care of today along with a couple of kids that came in. Worked on barcodes for the rest of the stuff I had put aside for that and got those all done, then went back and added in comments exactly what the item was (since I lumped them all together under 'Teacher Resources') and now if something is missing, I can look at the comment and say 'that is a Reading supplement book about 100 pages long' or 'that is a Teacher Express CD'. I think things look really good and feel good about leaving! Turned in my keys and badge, turned off the lights and closed the doors. Namárië

Two More Down

2011-06-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

Whoops! Forgot to post yesterday, but spent most of the day shifting books in the teacher materials section. There was no way that there was room for all the returned resources with the shelves the way they were, so I started in Business and got through Math before I left for the day.
Today I finished up shifting shelves and also went through old resources (for more room!) and put them on a cart to see if Mrs. H will let me surplus them out when we get back in the fall. Processed in 3 teacher magazines and 10 for the library. They'll be put out when we get back. Then I started to barcode the materials that came in and didn't have any barcodes. I will clean all that up tomorrow and things are looking pretty stored for the summer.

Last Monday

2011-06-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today we finished up billing, glad that it's over! A book came in that was checked out to a student and we were glad to call and say it was in and she was now all clear! Prepared all the magazine orders for next year and Mrs. H took them to our office manager for July. Started to clean up the back from all the teacher materials that came in - wow, there's a lot!

Billing

2011-06-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Worked on billing this morning until the meeting and then went to the assistant meeting. After that - to the dentist to pull a cracked tooth. Back on Monday for four more days.

Empty Tables

2011-06-16T16:03:00.001-07:00

Had our last staff meeting this morning and I just worked on getting things boxed up from teachers bringing their stuff in. Mrs. M did a nice recognition of Mrs. H and all the hard work she's put in this year and Mrs. H recognized us for our efforts. Withdrew old teacher books, boxed them up, signed out teachers. Went to the final Library Media meeting today and recognized all the Librarian teachers there that were retiring - a lot were only retiring since they no longer had jobs. Then we recognized all the Librarian teachers that were leaving because of job loss. As name after name was called, I watched the tables empty. Even with a group that didn't come because it was too much to handle, it was still disconcerting to see more people up at the front than still sitting at the tables. I must admit I cried a bit. These amazing people are so passionate about their jobs and the kids they work with it was very hard to say goodbye. Then back to Sprague and continue digging out the books.

Last Student Day

2011-06-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of students and we got in 1500 books, but still have 2000 out! Hopefully it is mostly staff. We just collected textbooks all day and had some wonderful help and they got them all put away! I think we have about a half a cart from what we collected after school was out, but I am so impressed with our helpers! They were amazing!

3500 To Go And Only 1 Day Left

2011-06-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

Didn't get in as many books as I hoped today, but had some good help. We will be swamped tomorrow! Culled through teacher stuff and packed up a lot for surplus and Mrs. H and I looked through and will keep some nicer things. Processed in five magazines and just filed them. Made some room for teacher materials and got some of that put away. Signed teachers out for the year. Took billing off the Main Frame. In early again tomorrow!

From 2005???

2011-06-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Took in books all day today, but funniest moment was when a teacher was cleaning out a room and turned in some very old books, and one was a world history book that was still on the billing from a student in 2005! Can't believe that it was found! Took in more books today. Processed in the last (I hope) of the magazines for this year (7) and had a volunteer bring in all the magazines from out in the library and we worked on getting them all put away. Checked out staff on their paperwork. We only got in about a thousand books, way below what I hoped we'd get in. A student had issues with a book she said she never ever checked out and so took the print out and went off to the office to get it taken care of. Ten minutes, really, just ten minutes later a friend of hers turned it in. She said she'd let her friend know that she had it and it was now in. A parent called and was happy to hear that her child's books were all in. I ran reports for seniors with textbooks still out and a volunteer was going to check the stacks to see if any had gotten put away without being checked in. That will be a great help. He had two books already on my desk before I walked out the door.

Awesome help!

2011-06-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Had some amazing help today and we are down to 5,651 textbooks to go! And they are all put away and lots of empty carts for Monday! Huzzah!

Senior Awards

2011-06-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

More books in again today. Though I spent the first part of my day putting away everything from yesterday that hadn't been done yet. Then Mrs. H and I went to the Senior Awards ceremony in the stadium. The weather was perfect and it was wonderful to see everyone there. We have a lot of kids from the library who are graduating, so it was good to see them. An exciting time! Then we cranked in the books and we just got under 7000 books to go. Mrs. H and I stayed late to put away as much as we could, but finally, we were just done and went home.

Working Out

2011-06-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

Lift, up! Move that pile! Combine and check in. I even took my chair and just shoved it out of the way. I think I sat down twice today. But checked in lots, the seniors are all done now and graduation is Friday! I didn't go and work out tonight since I did it today! Down to 7700 or so!