Tasks

I would like to talk about some of the things I have done in my practicum so far. One of the highlights was sitting in on an executive meeting concerning accreditation. I learned that there is available funding for things like hiring employees and funding other endeavors for libraries that meet certain requirements. These things must be met each year by a certain date. There are different levels: A, AA, AAA. This year the Laurel-Jones County Library qualifies for AA, which is really good. The boss delegates each of the requirements to various staff members in order to get everything done in a timely manner. She says this is her management style. I am currently taking Library Management. I hope to learn more about this in that course.

Some of the tasks I have done include shelving the Easy, Juvenile, and YA books daily. Easy books simply go in by author's last name with no further classification. Juvenile books go in by author's last name, and you must check to make sure the author shares the same first name, but there is no further classification. YA books go in by author's last name, and title of book. Books lying around are collected and in-housed for reshelving.

I learned that shelves should be stocked to 75% shelf space. We moved books to leave one shelf free, but we had some difficulties. So we will have to go back and add more books to each shelf in order to fit all the books. It works a lot easier when you have two people doing the same job as we did. When you do it by yourself (which I have done), it gets more exhausting.

I used the cutting machine at the circulation desk to cut out Summer Reading Program postcards. I laminated posters and cut them out in the repairs room, upstairs. On Tuesdays, I set up for totally tots and help set up materials for the craft project. I haven't been taking pictures, but I plan to soon.

I had a project I enjoyed doing, which was writing catalog notes for bound Cliff Notes. I just enjoyed a refresher of classic literature. It makes me interested in proofing books or cataloging. I also enjoyed looking for crafts that will be used during the Summer Reading Program. Last week, I began inventory of repair books and did the over the shelf checklist for circulation.