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Monday, March 23, 2015

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

One thing I love about my job is that every day is different! Last Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day!), here's what my day at work was like:

8:45am - Arrive at work, put stuff away, check email, touch base with staff member who is coordinating our upcoming volunteer luncheon.

9:00am - Print off staff schedules for the next couple of weeks, highlight upcoming programs and make notes about reminder emails I need to send.

9:15am - Set up program room for Mother Goose on the Loose - go over my books and songs, get out the bells, scarves, felt pieces, etc.

9:30am - Send reminder emails for this week’s booktalking programs and the programs coming up after spring break.

9:45am - Head out to Children’s Desk to wait for my babies to arrive. Everyone’s wearing green today!



10:00am - Mother Goose on the Loose. Today I read Higher, Higher by Leslie Patricelli and my favorite new song is Mama's Little Baby Loves Dancing, which I learned from the wonderful gals at Jbrary!

10:30am - Wind down storytime and bring out the toys for some play time.

10:40am - Time to clean up!

10:45am - Everyone’s out of the program room, I grab my stuff and put everything away. We have Toddler Time at 11am, so I have to get my stuff cleared out to make way.

11:00am - Get stuff together for this afternoon’s Afterschool storytime and booktalks. Put together my bags with books and crafts and practice my booktalks a few times.

11:20am - Put together a cart to order on Amazon - we need new foam blocks and I promised my staff a new pencil sharpener for the office.

11:40am - Work on some book carts and put in the PO requests for all my orders.



12:00pm - Time for lunch! During my lunch break, I start the fabulous debut novel The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart. (More on that at a later date.)

1:00pm - Back from lunch, place book orders.

1:05pm - Chat about our upcoming homeschool program with a potential volunteer. She is not able to help on that day, so I take some time to rethink my activity plans for that day.

1:30pm - Pull some books to fill up our Women’s History Month display.

1:40pm - Leave library and head to schools for a couple of outreach visits.

2:00pm - Booktalk to a class of fourth graders at one of our elementary schools.

I booktalk the following books:

The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs: A Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle



A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson by Michelle Y. Greene



Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean



How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor


The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus by Jen Bryant

2:30pm - Head to second school for Afterschool storytime.

3:00pm - Afterschool storytime for K-4th.

I read the following books:


Beware of the Frog by William Bee



Egg Drop by Mini Grey



This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

And I hand out small blank books made of printer paper stapled together and the kids make their own books. This craft has been a big hit with our afterschool kids. It's a big hit with me, too, since it is SO cheap and easy and it allows the kids to be creative. Win!

4:00pm - Arrive back at library, put stuff away, record stats for program and bring in a School Collection box to be checked in.

4:15pm - Open up box of Junior Library Guild books and evaluate for call numbers before I take them over to Technical Services.

4:30pm - Check mail and put a bunch of catalogs in the recycling bin. RSVP to the annual baby fair, which will be held at the local hospital in June.

4:50pm - Take the last few minutes of the day to clean off my desk - a tip I learned from Marge Loch-Waters’s youth services management class!

5:15pm - Time to go home!