Friday, October 30, 2009

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

8:30a - Arrive at work, talk with T about the Indiana Library Federation conference.

8:35a - Set up the Small Meeting Room for storytime and the craft. I move tables and chairs around, put plastic tablecloths on the tables, set out the craft supplies, etc.

8:50a - Turn on lights and computers in the department. Feed the fish and frog.

9:00a - On desk, I work on the holds pull list. We run a list every morning that tells us what books patrons have put on hold through the computer. We try to find all the books on the list (and mostly succeed).

9:35a - Get name tags ready for storytime. For our registered storytime sessions, we prepare a name tag for each child and set them out at the reference desk before their storytime. When they arrive, we have them practice picking out their name and each week they attend they get a small sticker to put on their name tag. After the last storytime, they may take their name tag home.

9:40a - Help kids find their name tags and check off storytime attendees.

10:10a - Take call from local preschool to schedule a visit.

10:10-1:00p - On desk. I work on some weeding in between questions.

1:00-2:00p - Lunch time!

2:00p - Talk with C about ILF conference.

2:30p - Get Small Meeting Room set up for After School Adventures, make a sample of the craft. This week is our last week and we're doing an Afternoon of the Paper Bag Monters.

3:15p - Work on weeding. My staff members have pulled hundreds of books based on circulation, publication dates, and condition. I'm going through them to make the ultimate decision whether we'll weed them.

4:00p - Get out name tags for After School Adventures, make sure the room is ready.

4:15p - Time for After School Adventures!

5:00p - The program is done. I clean up the room, put away the craft supplies, and record the statistics for the program.

5:15p - Time to go home!