Common Ground - Day 1

So today was the first day of Common Ground 2015. It started early and is ending late.  Tomorrow is the big presentation.  I wish I was as cool a cucumber as the presenters I saw today.  My head is swirling with lots of "OOOHHHH, I want to try that" and "OOOHHHH, I want to learn more about that" and "OOOHHHH, I wonder if I could go visit them" thoughts. 

Today I learned about QUADBLOGGING and using Skype and Google Hangouts from Nicole Cafarelli-Long, a dynamic speaker/teacher from Frederick County.  I foresee this coming to a library near me in the future.  Check out her class at mrslongsclass.com.

Then I walked into Rebecca Oxley's presentation entitled, "Turn Up Your Classroom" and, yowza!, that is one high energy, tuned in, techy librarian.  So excited to explore more of the links and sites she referenced.

Next up was learning how Stephanie Brandt created a culture of reading at her elementary school.  It was great to see my school's S.T.A.T. teacher in this session too and we got to have a quick chat/brainstorm session about how this related to our school.  Always good when someone from your school is hearing the same words you are!

Finally, I was able to see my own colleague, Joquetta Johnson aka The Digital D.I.V.A. , present about Mixing Hip Hop and Technology to Create Student Engagement.  What an enthusiastic, passionate speaker she is and so creative!  I was emailing a third grade teacher during her presentation saying, "You have to check out this website!  Your kids will love this vocabulary video on Ancient Egypt." 

Now off to bed (as if I can sleep!) and more new learning tomorrow.  Not sure if I am hoping people will stick around and be interested in what Kelly and I have to say or if they will want to get out of Ocean City and head home. Either way, I am grateful for the opportunity and proud of what Kelly and I have worked on together.

It's OK to be overwhelmed

A lot of new things are getting ready to happen over the course of the next few weeks and I am giving myself permission to be overwhelmed at times with the caveat that each time I feel this way I try to make myself stop and think of some amazing things that got me to this point.

Tonight, Kelly and I will give our first presentation to a group of district librarians about the genrefication of the library.  This will take place on my "home turf"-my library.  I can not impress upon you how comforting that is to me.  I am really good with little people but I tend to babble/ramble or completely clam up with big people I do not know.  There is no happy medium.  So these folks are the guinea pigs for our presentation (at least for me).  Sorry in advance!

Then tomorrow I head off to my very first grown-up professional spending time away from it all during the school year conference - Common Ground.  I am so excited to be attended and anxious about presenting.  But I have shared all that already.  So tonight I pack, consult my trusty post-its, create some more post-its and send the directions to the car.  The sub plans are ready (that is one thing positive-woo hoo!)

Next week, we repeat the district presentation all over again to another group of librarians and then I will be off to watch my son graduate from college. COLLEGE!  How did that happen?  I am only 25! (Believe that and I have a bridge in Arizona to sell you - CHEAP!)  Last night I had a chance to Google Hangout with him for a few minutes, oh how I love modern technology, and he was sharing all the last minute presentations, papers and such that were occurring in the next few days before finals.  I truly could commiserate. I reminded him of how amazing he is in my eyes and in reality.  He didn't need me to do this but I like to think it made him feel better to hear it anyway.

So the upcoming posts may have some anxiousness in them but I will add a dose of amazingness as well because, after all, amazingness is what gets us all to where we are going and we need to celebrate it in ourselves just like we celebrate it in our kids (biological and school-based). That is super hard, not only for me, but for most adults.  But given the very sad state of affairs lately, I am ready to celebrate some amazingness all around wherever I see it!

Just A Peek

Last post, I told you that I was off to run some circulation reports and get some updated numbers.  I ran ALOT of reports.  No. Seriously. ALOT!  Think of a number.  Now make it bigger. I was a data monster. I spent HOURS with numbers and spreadsheets and reports and it made me feel very official.

But now I am in a quandary. A perplexing position indeed.  I am not known for my ability to keep a secret.  However, I am pretty good at deception when it involves practical jokes.  Good news makes me giddy and I have lots of good news. But, I don't want to give it all away before our staff development and our presentation at Common Ground.

So, for tonight I will just give a peek of some wonderfulness.

Overall Circulations for the same period (November 2013 to April 2014 vs. November 2014 to April 2015) have increased by 827 or 8.3%. I consider that an accomplishment and success especially when factoring in that over 1000 titles were also weeded from the collection during that same time period. The goal of this genrefication project was increased circulation and we are still accomplishing that in our library.

And that is all I can say!  Honestly.  No matter how much you beg.  But I will say, that is the LEAST impressive of the numbers that I saw in my data.

YIKES!

I have been a bad blogger and I apologize.  I told you in a previous post that I was heading off to Spring Break and then, POOF!, I disappeared into a land of nothingness.  Trust me when I assure you that I have not been sitting around idle.  School resumed this week (Can that really be correct? It seems like so much longer!).  That means welcome backs, what did you read and guess what new unit we are starting for most of my students. 

It also means a new round of standardized testing which means, along with these new research units utilizing online resources, many of the laptops and netbooks I was given to be used in the library have been "borrowed" for testing resulting in a technology shortage in library land yet again.  Oh how I long for the day when the students in our building finally have one to one digital devices accessible to them.  It is coming.  So close and yet so far.  This does present a challenge when planning and an additional challenge when planning for a substitute. 

That's right ladies and gentlemen, let the Spring chaos begin.  Over the course of the next 4 weeks, I will be participating in a 1/2 day district wide staff development (sub needed), multiple afterschool meetings with Kelly regarding our Common Ground presentation (no sub needed thankfully), accommodating for standardized testing (sub again), multiple days attending Common Ground (sub again), 2 afterschool presentations to librarians in our district (no sub needed) and graduation of my own son from college (sub again).  This has resulted in my plan book looking similar to this flowchart (which has nothing to do with education except it reminded me of my librarian friend Laura in some weird way and I know it will make her chuckle when and if she sees it - Are you reading this, Laura?) instead of it's normal ordinary orderly way because there are so many contingency plans coming up with subs and schedule changes due to standardized testing.

But life is good library friends.  I have a stack of books kiddos read over Spring Break that they can not wait to tell me (and their peers) about and a few circulation reports that I can not wait to run, see the results of and share those with you.

So off to work I go.  Check back soon for some (hopefully) impressive numbers!

What Can You Do In 2 Minutes?

If you do a simple Google search, you will discover that in 2 minutes you can do the following:
get great abs
make a chocolate and salted caramel mug cake
stop procrastinating
experience the story of Mankind

OR...you can start transforming your library.

I was gathering some statistics for Kelly and I to use in our upcoming Common Ground presentation. Have a look at the time invested in completing this project.

Fiction Genrefication:  18 people hours (because it was men and women)

8 workers x 2 hrs each = 16 people hours to label and reshelve the books
1 worker (me) x 2 hrs = 2 hours of prep work to initially categorize the books

Nonfiction Genrefication: 67 people hours

9 workers first evening x 3 hrs each = 27 people hours to label and reshelve books
8 workers second evening x 3 hrs each = 24 people hours to label and reshelve books
1 worker (me) x 7 hrs = 7 hrs of prep work to initially categorize books
1 worker (Chimere) x 3 hrs = 3 hrs of prep work to initially categorize books
2 workers (Kelly and I) x 2 hrs = 4 hrs to finish labeling nonfiction books
2 workers (Amanda and I) x 1 hr = 2 hrs to finish subcategories and shelve books

Adding Location Fields in Destiny: 44 people hours

1 worker (me) x 7 hours = 7 hours for Science Fiction, Sports Fiction, Graphic Novels and some series
2 workers x 8 hours = 16 hours for Day One entering location fields in Destiny
2 workers x 8 hours = 16 hours for Day Two entering location fields in Destiny
1 worker x 5 hours = 5 hours for Day Three entering location fields in Destiny

The actual hands on work was 129 hours or 7740 minutes.  That means each item was touched for an average of @2 minutes per item.  2 MINUTES!

Not included in the above numbers are the planning meetings, behind the scenes work or the time I will spend in the upcoming weeks to make sure every book has a location field set in its' Destiny record.  Because this is the first full blown genrefication project in my school district, we had to work through many questions, problem solve time and material constraints and coordinate schedules. 

Meetings: 16 people hours

4 workers x 2 hrs each = 8 people hours for Initial planning meeting
4 workers x 2 hrs each = 8 people hours for Post Fiction labeling/pre Nonfiction commencement meeting

There were also a great many hours spent designing spine labels, communicating via email and coordinating personnel.  Much of that was done through the office so I don't have the statistics.

So, if you add it all up, we have WELL OVER 145 people hours into genrefying @5200 items. 

But, if you are considering moving towards a genrefied library, DO NOT LET THESE NUMBERS INTIMIDATE YOU!  The payoffs far surpass the time invested.  I am spending less time reshelving books.  My circulation has increased.  The amount of time needed for book check out has decreased.

So 2 minutes can make a big difference.

Work Smarter Not Harder

I need more time!  Don't we all feel like this sometimes?

 

 

It feels as if the minute hand on the clock is spinning wildly out of control and the to-do list keeps growing.  What's a girl to do?  Reevaluate, prioritize and control the TYPE A monster living within.  For me, this means looking at ways I can empower my students AND check off some things on my to-do list. 

 

One of the things I most like to do is read all the new fiction titles that come into the library.  This lets me book talk, make recommendations and be honest when a student asks, "Have you read this book?"  But this has been a crazy year and I still have a stack I need to get through and I really want to get them out in the hands of my kiddos.

 

Here's my (maybe) bright idea for this year.  I wrapped some of the titles up in construction paper.  I put a number on each one and a code for the genre type in the corner.  Here's what they looked like. (I know--very high tech!)

 

 

 

 

Here's my pitch to kiddos.  They get to be the FIRST person to read a new book (which is a BIG deal).  They get to take it home over Spring Break (in addition to their regular book check out).  The only thing they have to do is read the book over Spring Break and get ready to videotape a book talk about the book they read. 

 

To make it seem even MORE exclusive (wink wink), I limited it to 3 participants per class. 

 

Worked like a charm!  Now I can't wait to hear about these books when we return in April.