Journal

  = =       ==** Darien Practicum Journal **  __Wednesday, January 19, 10-6 (8 hours)__  I began my internship at the Darien Children’s Library, and I love it already. My co-workers are friendly and smart, and have been actively including me in conversations about programming and collection development. I think it will take come time to orient and familiarize myself with the way the collection and room are organized, but I was able to provide reference help and reader’s advisory to a few patrons today, and ultimately had a great learning experience. ==     <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Wednesday, January 26, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I pulled some resources to help me prepare for planning and leading the “7, 8, Create” program and observed “Libros y Cuentos,” a bilingual lap-sit program. I am enjoying observing peoples’ behavior in the Children’s Library, and working on providing solid service to patrons who ask me for help. I am looking forward to beginning my own program, and appreciate that the administrators trust me enough to allow me the freedom to do so.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, February 2, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Kiera and I hosted the first “7, 8 Create” session, which focused on codes, cyphers, and cryptograms. We had two children attend, and activities included solving word puzzles using various codes. I really enjoyed the program, and am becoming more familiar with the collection and library procedures. It’s so great to be part of such a thriving and focused library community. Patrons have high expectations, and the library staff works to provide efficient and friendly customer service.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, February 9, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I lead my first program today - “Robot Dance Party.” Five kids were there, and we watched a clip of a robot comedian, made paper robots, and danced like robots. I was surprised and impressed that most of the children chose to incorporate bits and pieces of the craft templates I distributed to make their own versions of robots that ended up looking very different from my model. They seemed to have a good time, and enjoyed looking at the nonfiction books about robots that I pulled from the collection for display. I was also able to answer several questions at the reference desk, and am beginning to recognize some of the regular patrons.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, February 16, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Children’s Department had a meeting about the Summer Reading Program today, and I was excited to be invited to attend. We talked about themes, dates, incentives, and programming ideas, and I was later able to help Claire with some related tasks in the office. My program theme was dinosaurs, and we read a picture book and made crafts from paper plates. While I love working in such a positive environment, it can sometimes be frustrating to be around a lot of fussy children at once.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, February 23, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Today’s program sort of got away from me, but it ended up going well in the end. Because of school breaks, some of the regular kids weren’t there. One new girl showed up at 4:15, but at that point there was no one else. Because I had planned a Bingo activity for that session, I felt like I had to get some other kids in there. I made an announcement in the computer area, and it turned out that there were two more 8-year-olds there. It also turned out, though, that there were some much younger children who also wanted to attend. Feeling awkward about saying no, I allowed them to come, and the older kids were actually pretty good sports about it. Everyone liked sharing their own experiences with and feelings about various bugs (our theme), and they enjoyed playing the Bingo game and designing their own insects.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, March 9, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Nine kids attended “7,8 Create” today, which was an all-time high. We made mixed-media postcards and shared Simms Taback’s <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//I Miss You Everyday// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I also assisted several patrons, the most interesting of which were a pair of twin boys and a sixth-grader studying Egyptians. I wish I could work at the Children’s Library more often, as I’d like to get involved in more big projects, but feel my schedule to be somewhat limiting. I also put together some ideas for upcoming programs, and checked out new picture books.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, March 16, 9-6 (9 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I traveled to Darien early today to help with a preschool outreach program, which was awesome. Kiera and I read some picture books and talked about the library with two classes of three and four year olds. Back at the library, I had my first official reference desk shift, which proved to be a bit overwhelming when I had four different patrons approach me at roughly the same time, and realized that I was the only staff member on the floor. Luckily, I was able to attend to all of them, and they were patient as they waited for me to assist others. Only 3 children attended “7,8 Create,” but they all seemed to have a good time as we read a story and did an activity about Egyptian hieroglyphics.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, March 23, 9-6 (9 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Today I helped Marian host a preschool visit to the library, which involved giving them an overview of basic library information, reading some books about spring, singing songs, and taking them to see where books are organized when they are returned. I also helped several patrons while at the reference desk, and had 8 kids attend “7, 8 Create,” where our craft activity was map-making. I am always so interested to see how some of the kids put their own unique spin on whatever it is we’re doing. For example, as I was giving different options of what types of maps they could create, I didn’t even anticipate that they would want to make treasure maps, which is a really great idea. I ended the day by selecting some neat-looking picture books to take home and read, just to continue to familiarize myself with great titles that are out there, which I can suggest to patrons.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, March 30, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spent some time observing and helping out with the Reader’s Advisory team today. These ladies work at the front desk, and basically provide reference services and reader’s advisory to adult patrons. The interactions were not that different from the ones I have with younger patrons in the Children’s Library. I also enjoyed my program today, as I had four attendees, all of whom were girls. Two of them were new, and two were regulars. We read <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//Baloney (Henry P.)// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Jon Scieszka and made alien crafts using aluminum foil and toilet paper rolls. The girls really seemed to enjoy it. One thing that I continue to work on is trying to manage behavior in the public library setting. It’s not school, so there isn’t the same feel in terms of discipline and rules and consequences. However, I do want to ensure that there is a certain level of appropriate behavior - both in the general library space and in the programs - because I think it’s my place as an adult role model to make sure the children act appropriately and treat each other nicely.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, April 6, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The days just seem to go by so quickly in the Children’s Library! Perhaps that’s because there’s never really a dull moment, or a time when there is nothing to do. I spent time today helping parents find “just right” books for their beginning readers, and helping young patrons themselves locate books on subjects of interest in the non-fiction section. It’s interesting, whenever a child comes and asks where to find a book on movies, let’s say, or a particular animal, my mind immediately creates a picture of the Trevor Day School library, which is where I really became familiar with Dewey categories thanks to a shelf-reading project assigned by my mentor LMS. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had a good turnout for “7, 8, Create” today, with 7 kids in all. We read <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don’t)// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, by Barbara Bottner, and did a book-making craft. The kids created their own books about subjects of their choice; some of my favorite titles were “All About My Math Fairy,” “Flame Zombies,” and “My Fish Michael is 4.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Wednesday, April 13, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a bit more crowded and busy in the Children’s Library today, as it tends to be when it is rainy or nasty outside. I helped a lot of young patrons find “just right” picture of easy reader books, and even provided some reader’s advisory to some older children. My program went really well also, as today we read a really awesome story about friendship called Pete & Pickles, and then made puppets. The main characters in the story are a pig and an elephant, so we began by making pig and elephant puppets. True to form, though, once the kids had made their pig and elephant puppets, their creative juices kept flowing, and we ended up with bear, owl, and moustached creature puppets as well. Never a dull moment! <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Wednesday, April 20, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; white-space: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Things were a bit calmer in the Children’s Library today, which we attributed in part to the fact that it was a really nice day outside. I helped the librarians prepare for Raina Telgemeier’s visit, which entailed helping prepare signage and contacting local bookstores to see if they had any extra copies of her books we could distribute for the author to autograph. I also assisted with a baby storytime program, provided reader’s advisory to a fantasy and mystery-loving sixth grade girl, assisted several parents with finding materials in the picture book sections, and helped some younger children find desired titles by using the online catalog. My “7, 8, Create” program went ok, despite the fact that only 4 kids attended. In honor of April being National Poetry Month, we read selections from Robert Weinstock’s collection of food poetry, //Food Hates You Too//, (after I shared my opinion that while I like the poems, I don’t like the title, since we should never say that we hate people, and we certainly don’t want to encourage people who say they hate us...). The children then created their own food poetry using templates of cheese, ice cream, carrots, apples, bananas, and bread, and we posted the finished products onto a big poster. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Wednesday, April 27, 10-6 (8 hours)__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because we were a bit short-staffed today, I ended up working at the reference desk a bit more than usual. As always, it was a great chance to interact with patrons, put my knowledge of children’s literature to work, and, of course, again realize the limitations of our collection. I completely sympathize with patrons when they want a title that we either do not own or that we own but is checked out. However, it’s much easier to sympathize when they are pleasant and polite, as opposed to getting rude or hostile. It’s always interesting to work with a population that, in general, doesn't seem to want for much; the sense of entitlement in certain individuals is one that I think will always irk me, though. As one working in a service profession, though, which I consider librarianship to be, I suppose it is up to me to learn how to deal with difficult people. It’s just something that I’m still working on.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __Wednesday, May 4, 10-6 (8 hours)__ I helped out with the big e-book launch today, which was both exciting and intimidating. While I've experimented with e-books a little, I wasn't totally sure of my abilities to explain to others how to access and use Darien's e-books. The demos went pretty well, though, and I am actually very excited to continue to learn about e-books using Darien's collection. I was also very happy with my program, which involved reading a book about a mouse who plants a sunflower, and showing the kids how to make paper flowers using the outlines of their hands. Of course many of them decided to do their own variation of paper flowers, but I would have expected nothing less. I also helped a young patron find several books about pirates, and several kids who appeared to be researching for a class project on inventions and inventors. Total Hours: 122