There's No Place Like the Library

For Halloween, my co-workers and I decided to dress up as characters from the Wizard of Oz, being the only brunette that works full time at the branch, I was given the roll of Dorothy. Wahoo!

Interesting fun fact: I used to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" every night before bed when I was a little kid. A lot of my co-workers are anti-costumes, so I was pretty proud of them for what they pulled together for the day. And the kids loved it.

We just happened to have a Wizard of Oz themed program the previous weekend and had a yellow brick road photo background made. It made for the perfect photo backdrop for us.

The Tinman and I. I hope we get to take many many co-worker costume pics together Emily!

And me, with my ruby red children's sized 5 slippers that killed my feet. All in the name of Halloween.

2014 Goal Achieved

One of my Life goals for 2014 was to earn a promotion.

Well if you follow me on instagram, you know that this was crossed off the list!

I'm super excited to be one of the newest library associates at my library system, and one step closer to being Jeri the Librarian. And the best part is that I get to stay at my current branch and continue to cultivate relationships with our patrons. We have such a great location being right near a middle school and grade school, and this wannabe Youth Services librarian is in kiddo heaven.

Yay for a lot of hard work paying off! I heart my job.

Oh, and because, lolz, I'll leave you with this video because, again, lolz.

Library Anniversary

Today marks my one year anniversary at my library, or my libraversary if you will. The last year has been the best year in my professional career, so since I can't shout it from the rooftops (I live in an apartment on the first floor, thus don't have a rooftop to call my own) I'm doing the next best thing: blogging about it.

Over the past year I have learned the ins and outs of all things circulation, the department that I started in, and got to be a part of a major conversion where the entire library system changed from barcode scanning to RFID tags. And I got to help convert many MANY of those items personally. I wish that I had an odometer of sorts to determine how many of our collection I tagged on my own. I like stats, what can I say.

As I was getting close to finishing my Masters degree I found out I was selected to transfer to our brand new, yet to open library branch and I was beyond excited. Along with my new co-workers, I got to help get the library ready to open by unpacking thousands and thousands of books, putting them in order, shelving shelving shelving until the cows come home.

We had our grand opening and I have never seen so many people in a library at one time. Also I have never had a day of work fly by that quickly before.

Since we have opened, I have lead two story time sessions, and am just starting two more sessions. I have co-lead our teen programming events with my friend and co-worker Emily, and I have started a book club for adults who read YA books, that is almost already at capacity.

We all dressed up as Harry Potter characters for Halloween!





And I get to make some fun displays.  Here are two I've made for the teen section.

Banned Book Week Display

Murder Mystery display

If the first year was this great, I can't wait to see what year number 2 will bring.

Weekly Reads: Engagements + Sisterland

This week I'm going to highlight a few books that I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on.

  J. Courtney Sullivan has written a couple of books that I've enjoyed Maine and Commencement, so I was excited when her summer 2013 release was announced, The Engagements.

Blurb from Goodreads:

"From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding.

Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. 

As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything."

Another author I enjoy is Curtis Sittenfeld, who has written  Prep, American Wife and The Man of My Dreams that I've enjoyed.  Her new novel, Sisterland, is currently on order at the library due to a purchase suggestion by moi, and I'm sitting in eager anticipation as the #1 hold recipient once it comes in.  Tick tock tick tock.

The blurb from goodreads:

"Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of American Wifeand Prep, returns with a mesmerizing novel of family and identity, loyalty and deception, and the delicate line between truth and belief.
 
From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar “senses”—innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people’s secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them.
 
Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift. After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she’s long tried to deny.
 
Funny, haunting, and thought-provoking, Sisterland is a beautifully written novel of the obligation we have toward others, and the responsibility we take for ourselves. With her deep empathy, keen wisdom, and unerring talent for finding the extraordinary moments in our everyday lives, Curtis Sittenfeld is one of the most exceptional voices in literary fiction today."


Anything you're jazzed to read this week?

**If you click on the book cover and/or book title links and purchase the book through Amazon, I get a few pennies of the sale.  If you check it out from your library, it's free, and I don't get anything, but I'm super stoked that you're supporting your library.  :)**

One 2013 Goal Done

No sooner then I had drafted my 2013 goal blog post, and scheduled its publish date, did I receive a phone call with the potential to cross one of the goals off of my list:

• Nab my dream job.  Or one that will lead to my dream job.  I love my job as a library assistant at an academic library, but my passion is within the public library, working with children.

Without setting out to do so, I received a phone call asking if I'd like to be considered for a position I had interviewed for, and heartbreakingly was not offered, last February.  And with six short looooooooooong days of worrying, obsessing, willing the phone to ring, I received the offer.

Cue franatic freak out.

I accepted the position, and today is my last day at my current job.  I never thought I'd want to work in an academic library, but I was willing to try my alma mater to see if academia would change my mind.   I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, particularly helping students with research (I mega puffy heart love research) and interacting with college kids.  But I know that my passion lies in helping the greater public, and eventually, hopefully children and youth.

So goodbye Augustana College, and hello public library world.