A Clean Desk

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems impossible for me to keep my desk clean.  Now my "desk" is really the front counter of the circulation desk.  I do have an office and we really shouldn't go there as to it's condition.  I rarely use it because without a library aide, I need to be stationed out front most of the time.  I've visited other libraries and they always have a neat, clean circulation area.  Of course the times I've visited have been for meetings so perhaps they tend to be like me and just clean it for "company."  That's how I operate at home sometimes.  I have a party or dinner with guests to make sure that I get my house clean.  But back to the desk - sometimes I get productive and get it nice and clean and it stays that way for maybe 15 minutes.  It seems the piles always build up in no time.  Stacks of magazines that need to be processed, piles of papers that need to be filed or tossed, catalogs, scissors, labels, it just seems to reproduce "stuff" on it's own.  I guess it's because I'm always busy and I'm always multi-tasking.  When I have a clean area, I feel like I can get more done, but alas, that rarely seems to happen.  So my goal before Christmas break is to clean my desk and have it nice and neat so that when I come back I can be productive for all of 15 minutes until it becomes a disaster again!

Finally Reading

You would think as a librarian, I would have all sorts of time to read some of the exciting new titles in the young adult genre, but sadly, I have to admit that last year, I didn't get a chance to read much of anything.  Though I never have time to actually read during school, I have recently made the time to read some of the new books we've gotten in.  The first book I read was "The Future of Us" by Jay Asher and and Carolyn Mackler.  I really liked Jay's book "13 Reasons Why" so I was looking forward to reading this one.  I liked the premise of the story - two teens in the early 90's just finding their way to an online world suddenly discover their future selves on Facebook.  They realize that little things they do have an effect on their futures as their future facebook statuses update.  Overall the book was interesting though I found my own personal flaws with some of the writing.  I do think any teen that understands facebook would still enjoy the book.  I have also discovered a new triology series by Ally Condie.  The first book is called "Matched" and it is almost like a cross between "The Giver" and "The Hunger Games" with its dystopian society.  The first book was an enjoyable read so now I'm on to the second book.  The 3rd will be published sometime in November so I will need to add it to one of my order lists. 

Though I think in general I'm a pretty good librarian.  I'm great at organizing, technology, and research.  I think I did well with my big orders last year as I'm noticing a lot of those new books getting checked out.  I am getting to know the collection fairly well as I've updated it and am starting a large weeding project.  I think my biggest weakness is in knowing the current literature in order to make recommendations.  Unlike elementary level books, much of the books in my collection take more time to read.  Though I'm a fast reader, I find that I typically don't take the time to read as much as I should.  So my goal for this year is to read at least two new books a month.  I think that is somewhat reasonable and gives me a place to go.  But I also need to make sure I go beyond those books that appeal to the female population.  I'm also going to get my library club involved in reading and making recommendations as well. 

A New Year

Well, I had high hopes to blog regularly.  You can tell that I didn't get a chance to last year.  This year is starting off just as busy.  People often ask me what I do all day and it is really hard to answer because I do a lot of things.  Getting set up at the beginning of the year was daunting because I had to store every piece of computer and technology equipment in the library over the summer.  Normally we don't have to do that, but because of school renovations, we had to get everything out of the classrooms.  My first week back was spent putting all the equipment back in the classrooms.  Luckily, I didn't have to set anything up.  Most teachers could handle that themselves.  After that, it was dealing with all the textbooks that were pulled out at the end of the year.  Thankfully, I was able to send back about 30 boxes of books and get everything back in my textbook room so that I don't have to pull out books at the end of the year any more.  That task took a few weeks to accomplish.  In the meantime, I dealt with other issues such as printers that wouldn't print and spending $5000 on books that had to be ordered in a short amount of time.  I just finished processing about 250 books that came in over the summer and finally have those on the shelves.  I still have a set of Encyclopedias to process, but now I've started weeding the collection.  Though a few of my non-fiction sections increased slighty by age with the order of new books, it is still quite dated.  I've discovered that there are still many books that are quite old in the library.  I'm torn between wanting to get rid of everything more than 15 years old and keeping those of some significance.  There are several older books that are Newbery or Caldecott awards that may be worth keeping.  I can't actually get rid of ALL aged titles, because that would cut my collection by more than a third.  My goal this year is to weed about 10% and then see where I stand.  I get the feeling that there hasn't been a deep weeding in many years.

I did a presentation on using online organizational tools at the Region 20 Library Round-Up this year.  I thought that it went pretty well and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about it.  I had another idea that I will try to develop for next year.  I have a wiki page that I would like to spend more time developing, but that is on the list of things to do when I have time.  Right now I need to work on sending out invitations for the Library and Scrabble clubs that I'm promoting this year.  It's not as though I really need something more to do, but I want to get more students involved in the library and I think it will be fun.  I've had several students ask when we are going to get started so I need to send out some invitations pretty soon.  I suppose I should get back to work and get that done! 

College Searches

A few weeks ago, the AVID classes were doing college searches.  They were supposed to find a college/university that interested them and then create a jeopardy type of powerpoint about the institution that they chose.  Since many students weren't really sure which college they might be interested in, I put together a list of webistes for general college searching to help get them started.  I thought I would post the list here as well. This list is for general information or comparison searches.  Once a search has been narrowed, it is advisable to search the actual university website to get updated information regarding things like tuition costs, admission requirements, and degree programs.

Texas Monthly College Guide: This guide focuses only on institutions that "award bachelor’s degrees, own its own facilities, are SACS accredited, and are Texas-based" according to its website.  This means it does not include 2 year colleges and may exclude other 4 year universities.  There are 72 colleges that can be compared and up to five can be compared at one time. 

U.S. News College Ranking List:  This site provides ranked institutions across the U.S. but also allows for searching based on location, enrollment, and tuition costs.  It has a variety of lists including Best Value Schools (high quality/lower cost) and A+ Schools for B Students.

Peterson's: In addition to offering college search capabilities, this site also provides many helpful articles that offer advice when choosing a college or university.  It also offers some career planning tools, test preparation guides, and scholarship information. 

CollegeBoard: Like Peterson's, this site provides other useful information beyond the college search.  It also allows students to save searches and make lists.  It's search feature also offers a college match-maker with 3,800 schools in its database.

CollegeProwler:  This site is based on actual student reviews as opposed to outside expert opinion.  It boasts 7,769 colleges reviewed and offers a search feature based on majors.

Christian College Guide:  This site is sponsored by Christianity Today International providing searches based on denominational affiliations.  Be aware, however, that it covers only Protestant faiths.

Catholic Colleges Online:  This site is specific to Catholic colleges and universities offering searches and information on 160 member instutions.