What happened to summer?

Today we finished week two of the new academic school year. The ease with which everyone settled back into a familiar routine of homework, meetings, and finding a favorite library work spot, makes it is almost like summer never happened. I'm once again working as an adjunct for our COE teaching sections of an online technology course, always a great opportunity for me personally and professionally.

One of the course assignments is working with emerging technology, I'm able to explore new resources and adapt them into the library online presence. In the last few weeks I've had fun working with Animoto and Screencast-O-Matic, great resources for instructional videos. There are free versions of both that are web-based, no download necessary (yeah). Though both have advertising (embedded logos) and time limits in the free version, however neither is detrimental to the finished product. Both also offer reasonable pricing for additional functions and the removal of the advertising. I've created projects and embedded them in Angel, LibGuides, and blogs (oh, my).

Week three, here we come ...

Side-step for next fall

Moving in to the second week of our first summer session, the juvenile "new book" shelf is empty and awaits titles ordered via my final spending spree. Though a temporary sad sight, it is also fraught with hope since new books are coming soon. I liberated a few picture books that caught my attention to use for next fall's Mock Caldecott session. I suffered a momentary pang of guilt checking these out through September, but it's better than hoarding them in my office while patrons search the stacks in vane.

Two caught my attention immediately; Chalk is an eye-catching wordless picture book and Palazzo Inverso is an extremely clever offering that reads beginning to end and back again. Here are the five titles I pulled:

• Chalk, Bill Thomson
• Animal Crackers Fly the Coop, Kevin O'Malley
• LMNO Peas, Keith Baker
• Little Cloud and Lady Wind, Sean Qualls (illustrator)
• Palazzo Inverso, D.B. Johnson

Getting a jump on spring

The end of this semester was brutal; filled with meeting after meeting after meeting, my relief last Friday at 5:00 pm was palpable. A week makes all the difference. Today finals are over, grades submitted, and students are gleefully on their way home for holiday break. Right before closing Wednesday evening, I asked my student worker to pull a list of recently acquired picture books in preparation for a spring Mock Caldecott session.

• Looking Like Me
• We Troubled the Waters
• Sweethearts of Rhythm
• Cool Cat
• The Longest Night
• John Brown: His Fight For Freedom
  
• Let There Be Peace on Earth
• The Goblin and the Empty Chair

On an aside, check out this Amazon video of Mem Fox reading The Goblin and the Empty Chair.

I have four journals to peruse tomorrow for juvenile books, two Booklist (11/15 & 12/1) and two School Library Journal (Nov. & Dec.) issues. If I submit orders tomorrow, I should have a few more choices available for the spring session.

1/2 way point

Midterm grades are due next Wednesday; this week marks the unofficial midway point for the fall semester. I graded for five hours this morning; submissions continued, the deadline drew near, and the atmosphere took an inevitable turn with hurried assignments lacking substance. At closing time the last group of students grudgingly left the library. Their unhappiness was palpable.

A blurb on ABC evening news tonight noted YouTube had reached a milestone of one billion viewers per day.

For some reason, these two unrelated items resulted in a vaguely baffling childhood memory; I don't care, Pierre. So, I searched YouTube and found cranky Pierre.

Back to school, me too

Weekend shopping meant sharing stores with parents and children in varying degrees of joy and frustration as they located clothes and shoes for the new school year. While the bulk of my purchases were for the house, I determined a few new items for myself were not remiss. Though shoes were not among my primary purchase (scary looking in some stores), I did get several blouses, sweaters, and/or tops. As is the case with any first-grader, I have something new to wear tomorrow to greet incoming and returning students. Welcome back!

I think I may be spending just a bit too much time with YouTube ...

Ready or not

Freshman arrived on campus today and were unloading cars, picking up pre-ordered text books by the box, and traveling in somewhat happy packs. Several students and their parents were in the library and resource center after lunch. They were excited and asking questions about the collection - and the Ellison dies! I found it both interesting and reassuring; this is the first time I remember seeing students and their parents beyond the library main floor.

For me, today was a day for finishing big tasks, little tasks, and all manner of tasks in-between. Oddly enough, finishing the little tasks that kept piling up made the biggest difference. Starting happily with the little things, I was able to post a dozen entries on the resource center blog featuring children's books, education books, activity books, and educational technology specific books. Moving on to the big things I completed all my scheduling for graduate assistants and student workers for the fall term! Once finished, the in-between things were a challenging way to finish my day. It took close to half an hour to search my email for a password, but I prevailed and the new GA's will be able to access their course email and blog outside of the course management system.

It is another Ghostbusters movie night on AMC, while waiting for Eureka to start I watched the opening scene in the library and ...

Offers or not

As the 2008-2009 Academic year drew to a close, I had a throng of student workers and graduate assistants leave the academy for greener pastures. Beginning in early May and continuing through last week, I have written letters, answered email inquiries, and given references via the phone to prospective employers. It is something I enjoy doing. Blessed with a continuously capable and talented group of student workers I am glad to have a small part in helping them gain employment. The only downside to this scenario is the ultimate necessity of evaluating applicants, conduct interviews, and choose to hire, or pass on hiring, the next group of workers.

This week I had opportunity to speak with a well-qualified group of interested prospective employees for two graduate assistant positions. Each of them brought something unique to the table and my choice, limited to two, was inherently difficult. After careful deliberation I offered the job to my top two and both accepted within an hour of the email notification. I am extremely pleased. I am now in the position of having to write "rejection" letters to the other applicants, not a task that I embrace. When the person is unqualified, the letter often writes itself. In this instance, that is not the case.

I spent some researching samples of candidate "rejection" letters. Though I found more geared to the candidate rejecting an offer, there were a few viable resources:

• About.com: Candidate Rejection
• Sample Rejection Letter
• Purdue OWL: Workplace Writers
• Sample Letters

They are a good starting point. I hope to craft a letter that successfully conveys my respect for the applicants resume and qualifications. It is never enjoyable to receive this type of communication, but I am learning today it is not easy to write one either.

It's almost that time

Between grading final projects, submitting final grades, and setting up graduate assistant interviews, this has not been the most restful of vacation. Earlier this evening I saw one of the best back-to-school commercials ever; it's heeereee. "Everyone's favorite Staples commercial, back after 15 years!"

Though they have since graduated from high school, and probably college and/or grad school for that matter, I adore the expressions on the faces of those two children. I find myself oddly empathetic of their plight as the school year approaches and my things-to-do-before-school-starts list lengthens and casts a shadow over remaining vacation days.

Last of the budget

This has been one of the oddest academic years I have had; with seemingly unending emphasis on technology and web design little time has been available to read the juvenile books purchased. These last few weeks I have made a concentrated effort to rectify that situation, but find myself with the attention span of a cranky 3-year old. Books accompanied me to lunch and, more often than not, returned to the library unfinished. In some cases I did not even bother to read the end (I'm famous for that, it drives co-workers crazy), never a good sign. As luck would have it, one of my resource center budget lines had a bit of money remaining; the line I use to buy juvenile books.

A few of the titles I selected are detailed below. I hope one of them, or one of the two books I chose to take out of town with me, Absolutely Maybe and The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow, break my book ennui.

• The Vast Fields of Ordinary
• Secret Lives of the Supreme Court: What Your Teacher Never Told You About America's Legendary Justices
• Rissa Bartholomew's Declaration of Independence
• A Tree for Emmy
• Gone with the Wand
• Pharaoh's Boat
• Sprout
• Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow
• Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom

Time will tell, but in the meantime I am enjoying the freedom of better Internet connection with my new laptop and recently purchased wireless mouse (with usb connection). It's nice to be able to post without dropping the dial-up connection.

Be careful what you wish for

Today was the first day of summer classes; there really is no rest for the wicked. Horrifically spoiled by graduate assistants and student workers providing uninterrupted service during the term, there is always a period of adjustment regarding summer hours and availability for the resource center. I have to get used to being the only person on duty and closing for lunch. Patrons have to get used to fewer hours during the work day, no evening or weekend hours, and no hours when I have vacation. It takes some time, but soon enough we will all adjust to the summer term groove.

Was it only last week that I was wishing for just a few minutes of peace and quiet? This morning, my wish was granted when there was not a soul on the second floor between 8 and 11 am ... it was spooky. The quiet was broken before lunch by a slightly cranky faculty member searching for videos and things picked up as students wandered into the library to try their course management software for the first time and print (and print and print).

This evening I am suffering from a bit of sensory overload; watching Dancing With the Stars, listening to game five Pens-Caps playoff hockey, talking on the phone to my sister, and blogging somewhat aimlessly here, all while trying to filter out the consistent drone of my dishwasher.

I'm outta here.

Stop and smell the roses

Due to a course deadline countdown on the resource center door, for the last month we have been almost preternaturally aware of time remaining in the semester. As the countdown progresses, we know on a daily basis there are "x" number of days until the last day of class. While an exciting rite of passage, once the sign goes up its very existence makes the last month stretch ... on ... for ... ever. A bit of a conundrum.

Focused on getting us all through the course with minimum of fuss, it is easy to lose sight that with the end of the term excitement is finals and graduation. With graduation comes the yearly loss of great student workers who move on with their academic lives and careers. Both of my graduate assistants and two student workers are anticipating graduation on Saturday. One of my student workers has been with me for three years. A sweet young woman who has already secured a teaching position out of state, she has been joyfully anticipating her walk across stage. She also stopped in my office on Monday with a bouquet of flowers; a thank you and wonderful lift to my spirits.

And so it begins

Busy, busy, busy ...

Today is the first day of the spring 2009 academic term; it arrived with a little less enthusiasm than its predecessor, but there is also less confusion and more understanding of various technological quirks accompanying a new term. For the first time in a long time, many students have forgotten their passwords for the network as it requires students to change password at regular intervals (the last instance was prior to finals). We can help with ID numbers and usernames in the library, but only the IT department can assist with passwords. Hence the angst and lonely treks to IT.

I am once again working as an adjunct for the college of education teaching two classes, a lab class and an online educational/instructional technology course. I have several resource center class tours and introductory lab sessions scheduled for this week and an upcoming Mock Caldecott panel in early February which, in reality, is only three weeks from tomorrow (I'm ready!).

This week I need to register for ACRL! I've been emailing with my roommate and we have to make a few final decisions and register before the early-bird designation expires. Friday I'm meeting with my poster session buddies and we will be deciding on our poster for ACRL. It might seem early, but there will need to be lead time for the poster to go to the print shop - and - we are also presenting at a local conference the week before ACRL. We really should have looked at the calendar a bit more closely before submitting.

It's all very exciting, exhilarating, and even a bit overwhelming. But oddly enough, I keep thinking of that song from Santa Claus is Coming to Town: Put one foot in front of the other.

Here we go

In many ways tomorrow is the real beginning of the fall term; last week could be termed the "getting to know you" phase. Students have been to each class at least once, my student workers have worked a shift and some will even get their first paycheck on Friday (if they turned in paperwork as instructed), and almost everyone in my class has an active login for the course management software.

On the library front, training will continue in the resource center throughout the month of September before I am able to have office hours and return to the library web page. That is only to be expected with a newly minted staff and I have prepared the web committee for this delay. I already have a scheduled evening and weekend shift for next week, something I like to get out of the way while our business is a bit slower. And, I have had an opportunity to begin ordering for the library by placing two carts of juvenile books into Baker & Taylor. There are several other items on my ordering agenda that need to be addressed, specifically requests that arrived after the money was spent last fiscal year and consumable items (Ellison cutting pads and laminating film) that will be needed shortly.

Though unwilling to go as far as saying hit me with your best shot (I'm not crazy), I'm ready to move with the business at hand ... fall term.

Monday, Monday (one day down)

I am never quite sure which type of accumulated mail is worse, snail mail, email, or voice mail; but today I had a large dose of each waiting patiently for my undivided attention. They were all doomed ... today was the first day of the last week of summer break (aka Monday) and no single form of communication receives undivided attention. The first wave of students have arrived, all of the sports teams, many football players in the library today, and the resident assistants, creating bulletin boards and laminating in between meetings, are now on campus. Continuing the countdown, freshmen arrive Saturday and everyone else moves into the dorms Sunday.

Today I scheduled library and resource center tours for children's literature classes, found eight more books to use with the Mock Caldecott session that will most likely scheduled sometime after Labor Day, and began a fun project geared toward beautification. Really. I have a hideous wall outside the resource center that was previously used for projecting transparencies. It is an unsightly combination of pencil marks, fingerprints, and residual tape pulls. Requests have been made to paint it (sigh), but after two years I have come to the belated and obvious conclusion it will not be happening any time soon. I have decided to create a picture book cover wall collage.

As new picture books arrive and are processed, often we take off the book cover. I use these on bulletin boards to highlight new books and ultimately discard them. My plan is to laminate selected covers, protecting them from aforementioned pencil marks and graffiti, and affixing them to the wall updating my unsightly space. Discussing the concept with an artistic member of the serials staff, she mentioned I should consider incorporating foam board (putting covers on it as well) to create some visual depth and interest to the project. A very cool idea I am hoping to incorporate. I envision the collage as a fluid art project; once the wall is full I will be able to change out covers making it continuously new. With a growing list of things needing my immediate attention this week, the last thing I should have been doing today was starting this project. But after gaining permission, I was excited to proceed and am thrilled with the progess thus far.

Alas was unable to spend the entire day luxuriating in my artistic side. I interviewed a graduate assistant candidate for my course, solved a potentially horrific problem with a paniced phone call (my course disappeared), and made a few last minute changes to the course adding a section on educational video evaluation, using YouTube, Teacher Tube, and Google Video, to an internet assignment. All I have to do tomorrow is create the grade book, verify students have been loaded, check my course rosters, and create email welcomes for each student enrolled in the course. Oh, and hopefully hire one of the graduate assistant candidates.

On the list for tomorrow I have to schedule GA's and Student workers; place help wanted signs in the resource center for next week; finish the Mock Caldecott book selection; work on the Mock Caldecott web page; create, print, laminate and affix informational book marks or "business cards" to the new resource center pens for tours; nag the boss and reference team for the fall library hours schedule; and attend various meetings. I might even get a chance to order supplies, select picture books for the juvenile collection, and peruse reviews for the education collection.

Other than that, tomorrow is smooth sailing. Piece of cake.