World Book Day

Can I just say how much I love being a librarian?

It is funny how now that I'm not doing programs that often I let myself get all nervous and doubtful. When I was working at the library and did two storytimes a week minimum with possible branch visits, school visits, and auditorium programs on top of that I couldn't stress. It would have made me crazy. And today was a shining example of why I should not worry now: I'm good at this.

Through Libby, the library in Long Stratton asked me to come do storytimes today for World Book Day. I told them I would bring some of the American picture books from the Second Air Division Memorial Library collection and talk about how books can teach you about other parts of the world. They made arrangements for three primary school classes (ages 5-7) to come throughout the day.

My program:
* Sing "My Aunt Came Back"
* Read The Perfect Nest
* Talk about the accents the three birds in The Perfect Nest have
* Tell the story of "Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle"
* Read Mama Don't Allow
* Sing the song "Mama Don't Allow" inserting instrument names suggested by the children
* Read King Bidgood's in the Bathtub with an introduction about how America has a president, but the American colonies had a king under England's rule
* Sing the "Hokey Pokey" after explaining that it is the American version of the "Hokey Cokey"
* Invite children to color

The children were all willing to participate and seemed to have a great time. They were very bright and answered even my more difficult questions like "Who is 'in charge' in America?" (I was looking for "the President," but some children actually said "Barack Obama.")

I had a break after the first two groups during which I walked to a local bakery to eat lunch. After I got back, the librarians were warning me about the last class because they both had children in there. Truth be told, the final class was a little rowdier than the first two. (Not due to the librarians' children, as far as I could tell.) But they were also the most interested in the books. Many of them spent the whole time that was alloted for coloring looking at books. I sat on the floor with a couple of boys looking at an atlas. I had to giggle because the boys on the couch had found the parenting section and had pulled out a book that had pictures of boobies. Their teacher didn't think it was very funny, though. Someone did drop a dictionary on my leg, which reminded me that being a librarian is a job that comes with a certain amount of risk. (In Athens, I once got headbutted in the pelvis mid-book. I kept reading without letting on that it hurt quite a lot.) But it was so sweet to see the kids so interested in reading and learning.

Basically, I had a fantastic day. I am so thankful that I have been allowed to volunteer, because I just don't know what I would do with myself otherwise. I may not be making money, but I'm keeping busy and I'm having a good time doing it.

Certifiable, or at least, Certified

I forgot to tell you one of the cool things about the London trip. I had just finished reading this book in which London statues come to life and then I saw some of the statues while we were there. It was like meeting your favorite characters in person!

Anyway, my big news of the day is that I am now a certified Georgia librarian.

I've had my MLIS since December 2007, but Georgia requires professional librarians serving a population over a certain size to hold a certification from the state. I was not working in a professional capacity in my last job so I didn't bother getting certified earlier. But, since I'd like to be employed as a professional in the near future, I forked over the money. I just received an e-mail today telling me that the State of Georgia does consider me a librarian.

I'm glad we cleared that up.

Volunteering

I was in charge of the volunteers for the children's area when I worked for the Athens library. Now that I am doing so much volunteering, I see how good volunteer management really makes a difference to the volunteers. Even something like being honest with a volunteer about when they are not needed. You might not want to turn down a volunteer, because they are free help. But there is a point of diminishing returns. Managing volunteers will take up part of your work time, so you have to balance how much time and effort is being expended on volunteers with what you are getting out of having them. Sure, a volunteer may be disappointed if you tell them there is nothing for them to do today, but they will appreciate the fact that you didn't waste their time. And, taking on a volunteer you don't have the time to work with could be frustrating for both of you.

Interestingly enough, Libby, from the Memorial Library, seems to spend a great deal of time working with me, and I am flattered that she values my contributions so highly.

Pirate Party

So obviously this picture wasn't taken at the actual party. John took it for me at home and it is the only picture in which I'm not making a weird face. And you can see one of the purple boots I bought for this outfit.

The pirate party consisted of three pirate books and lots of rhymes. Most of the rhymes were adapted for the occasion. i.e. "Old MacDonald" became "Old MacPirate." After story time the kids got to color and make pirate hats. I was mostly an observer again, but I did get to help hand out pirate stickers.

The small amount of interaction I had with the children reminded me that when I was working at the Athens library my favorite part of story time was at the very end when the children were handing back in their crayons after coloring. It wasn't my favorite part because story time was over (usually), but because that was the time when the kids could talk to me if they wanted to. It was one thing to entertain them for half an hour, but something else to build a relationship with them and be a meaningful adult in their lives. I miss that.

My mother got me started on bar jokes this morning, so might as well:

A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel sticking out of his pants. The bartender says to him, "Do you know that you have a steering wheel sticking out of your pants?" The pirate says, "Arrr, it's driving me nuts!"