Brentwood Library Internship Week Seven

Monday was not a very busy day, so I really didn't have all that much to do. Just as with every Monday, I helped the librarian set up and get prepared for the Monday morning story time. My supervisor had gone on a trip over the weekend and she missed her flight, so the branch manager had to do both the baby story time and the toddler story time. The only things I had to do were set up the carpet squares, where the children would sit and retrieve some things from the craft closet. After that was finished, I went to the back office to work on my story time once again. By the time the day was over, I had decided specifically which books I am going to read, I found dances that would go along with the songs I will be singing in between the books, and which songs will be my opening and closing songs. 

Tuesday was an incredibly busy day, which I was very happy about. The first thing I had to do was process the new books that had arrived at the library. To do this, I have to put "new" stickers on the spine of the books, then write down the month and the year that it was processed into the library. After that, I had to go into the computer and change the books' location to Brentwood Children's New. Then when all that was done, I had to go put the books away. After that, I had to do the opposite of what I had just done. I went around the children's New Books sections and gathered the ones that were older than October. I removed the 'new' stickers from the spine, then changed the location of the books in the computer from Brentwood Children's New to the proper location, then I put them away. I actually had to deal with a rather difficult patron on Tuesday. She gave me a long list of books that her child needed to read for school. The problem was that she walked away when I needed her library card, but thankfully, my supervisor helped me. This was my first experience using Mobius, which is a system that allows the public libraries to borrow books from university libraries in the area. Once that was completed, my supervisor took me on an outreach visit with her. This one was to the Westminster Church day care. She just performed a story time and she said rhymes, sang songs, and read a few books. 

Wednesday was an extremely slow day, so I went to the back to the office once again and began working on my craft for my story time. All that I had to do was glue the green sheets of paper into cylinders. Then for the rest of the day, I began researching events that I will have the kids grades kindergarten through second grade do in the library Olympics. I still have not made a final decision on that, though. 

Brentwood Library Internship Week Six

On Monday, I did the usual preparation for the baby story time and the toddler story time. This week there really wasn’t much to do, so I just laid out the carpet squares where the kids would sit. When I was done with that, I was able to get in some desk time. Monday mornings can be rather busy, so I spent a lot of time giving out prizes for the summer reading contest, helping people find books, and answering other questions.

On Tuesday, I worked all day in reference. I really enjoyed this because there was always something interesting to do. My day started off with a list of adult fantasy books that were to be pulled off the shelves and weeded, which means these particular books were to be taken out of circulation because they haven’t been checked out in at least a year. These books will then be given to the annual book sale. After I pulled them from the shelves, I had to go into the computer and remove the titles from the system. When I was finished with that, I had to do some shifting, which pretty much means making the shelves neater looking. I had to make sure that the shelves were 3/4  full and no more. Then, I was given a list of non-fiction books to weed through and remove from the computers.

Wednesday was a very slow day, so I went into the back office to work on story time. For the farm animals toddler tub, I have included a poem about a barn and different colored chicks using felt figures on a felt board. My supervisor got me the different colored felt I needed for this activity, so I cut out chicks in white, pink, green, purple, black, blue, brown and yellow, then I cut out a red barn from the felt. For my own story time, I will be doing a dragon craft, so I spent the rest of the time gluing googly eyes to cotton balls. 

Brentwood Library Internship Week Five

On Monday, I helped set up both the baby story time and the toddler story time. This week, the baby story time was mostly set around sound, so all I had to do was organize the carpet squares for the children to sit on and set out some things that make sound, like eggs full of sand and wooden hoops for them to bang together. After that was over, I picked up all of the sound items and helped to prepare for the toddler story time. For this story time, the theme was “big” and the craft idea was to have large pieces of paper for the children to lie on and draw.  So it was my job to cut pieces of butcher paper that were about four feet long and tape two together, so that there were large squares on which the children could draw. After that, I was able to have a little desk time, which I think I am getting better at. For the first couple of weeks, being on the desk made me really nervous, but I’m starting to learn where everything is and it isn’t as intimidating anymore. The only downside was that I did have to deal with a particularly impatient patron on this day.

Tuesday was a very quiet day, so my supervisor, Charity, sent me to the back office to work on my story time and my toddler tub idea. I finally finished my Farm Animals #1 toddler tub. I wrote up the directions for this particular toddler tub and all I have to do now is post it up on the main library website.

Wednesday was a really fun day! I spent the entire day up in circulation and there was always something to do. The first thing I had to do was organize the books on the checked-in shelves, so that the pages would be able to put them back on the shelves more efficiently.  Next, I was set to work on checking in books that were slid through the return slots, and with that, I had to put a slip in the items when they had a hold on them. After lunch, the delivery man arrived with all of the items that had been ordered from other libraries for our patrons. When all of the items were on carts, it was my job to check everything in, insert a slip with the patron’s name that ordered it, and put them back on the cart in alphabetical order.

Brentwood Library Internship Week Four

On Tuesday, I spent the day finalizing my craft idea for my story time that will happen in August.  Originally, I had this craft that is made out of several toilet paper tubes, but the site I found did not give specific directions, and neither my supervisor nor I could figure out how to do it. So, I continued searching for a craft that was somewhat like it and I found this one. What I really liked about this particular craft is that children can blow through the back of it, causing the streamers to go up, which would look like the dragon is blowing fire. I liked this because it will go with my story time’s theme of imagination. 

On Thursday, I focused on my toddler tub. The subject of this particular toddler tub is Farm Animals #1. This is much simpler than coming up with your very own story time because there are already books and activities in the tub. The only things I need to do are come up with a few songs and write up the directions for the other library branches. However, when my supervisor looked in the tub, she didn’t like some of the activities because they were poorly made.

On Friday, I mostly focused on trying to complete the Farm Animals #1 toddler tub. I had to find pictures to go along with the Old MacDonald song. There were cut out pictures taped to popsicle sticks already in the tub, but they were not very nice looking. After I picked out some pictures for that, I found a cute little rhyme about colors and chicks that used the felt board. So the next thing I had to do was find some felt and cut out some chick figures. I was only able to find several of the colors needed, though. Next, I was able to spend some time on the desk and I helped my supervisor sterilize some of the toys and exchange them out for new ones.