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.