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!

Tools of the Trade

This is a short week due to Thanksgiving.  That means just 3 short workdays of 6.5 hours each minus classes to teach equals AARRGGGHHH! Being the Type A, always need a plan, kinda gal means that this is freaking me out a bit. (OK- a WHOLE lot!)

So I gathered up my "tools" to plan an attack on the project today.

Tape, my beloved Post-Its, tape measure, pens, paper and markers - a genrefication go-to kit!

I know what you are thinking - she's finally gone over the edge.  But there is a method to my madness.  The shelves in my library are not all same sized.  Depending upon their location, they range from @25 inches wide to over 50 inches wide.  Enter the tape measure.  I needed a rough idea of how much shelf space each category would require.  This meant physically walking around and measuring the existing real estate being occupied by books in different categories.  Armed with these numbers, I began to write the new categories on Post-It notes so I could start labeling the shelves and working out the anticipated amount of space each category would need.

Initially I followed the layout of the library; aligned as closely as possible to the Dewey classifications. And then, I had an epiphany!  I was not bound by this any longer.  I was free to organize as I saw fit. 

First round of organization was trying to create a logical "flow".  But when I sat back and looked at it, I realized I was not really meeting the needs of my students and of myself as a librarian.  Back to the proverbial drawing board.  I had a really hard talk with myself and dug deep to find out what I wanted to achieve.  Here's my answer:

1) I want to incorporate relevant biographies and poetry into each category.  Looking for a wild animal book and you might pick up a biography of Jane Goodall or a book of poems about elephants.  How about finding a biography of Neil Armstrong with the Space books?  Could be life changing for some student.

2) I wanted to separate "high traffic" areas to create better flow and visibility of under utilized sections of the library.

3) I wanted to put frequently accessed topics within a quick visual range to be able to assist the youngest patrons.

So I pulled off the Post-Its and repositioned them yet again.  Tiresome?  Yes.  Worth it?  Yes. I feel like I have a loosely planned idea of how many shelves each category will need and how I want them positioned.

I also took the opportunity after school today to quickly peruse the poetry section and pull books that I wanted to include in other categories and relocate them to that category.  I also did a very quick perusal of the biographies to pull any immediately obvious connections (like sports biographies) and relocate those.

I know I have only scratched the surface of what needs to be done in preparation for Monday's start to the genrefication of the nonfiction section.  So incredibly thankful that I have Kelly, Chimere and Fran working on labels and ordering and printing. 

Tomorrow's goal is to look at the layout again with fresh eyes and see if it still feels "right".  I might even ask a few students what they think. 

But for now, I am one tired librarian!