Shelf Dilemma

Tonight is Open House for our school and I have been cleaning like a mad person trying to get things ready. I really don't want parents coming into the library and thinking that there is some slob crazy person teaching their kids. I know that I shouldn't expect to have everything perfect when we haven't even been in school for a month and when I am taking over in a position that hasn't been really filled in years. Does that mean I don't want things to be perfect? Um, NO! Throughout the day I barely sit down because I am so busy cleaning areas of the library, hanging signs, organizing closets, and so much more. Personally I strive every day to make this place as perfect as I can, and then the students come in and I have to accept the mess and move on. By the end of each class period I am struggling to keep tables lined up and books from falling over on shelves. I am picking up forgotten notebooks and pencils even though the students know better. The truth is that I clean here as much as I clean at home and it is equally as exhausting and I barely have enough energy to clean my house!

With that I have made a decision that many librarians will not agree with but we have to pick our battles, do we not? It is well known in libraries that books should be shelved with the spines out and lined neatly up about half an inch from the lip of the shelf. This helps the shelves look even and doesn't allow for smaller books to be pushed further back than larger ones. Like this:

Looks nice, doesn't it? Well I want to be the person to tell you that it is all a sham! Those neat rows of books are a horrible pain in my librarian rear end and I am not afraid to say it. See students come in and they pull books off those shelves, and in the process shove the entire row or parts of the rows back which leaves me with half neat shelves and half messes ones. And here is where my dilemma arises. I spend hours a week fixing shelves where the books have been shoved back--pulling them back into their neat little rows--just to have a student come in behind me and wreck it all. So, do I keep wasting this time making neat rows as is "proper" library shelf etiquette? Well of course not.

From now on all of my shelves will hold books that are pushed back and not neatly lined up. I mean why fight it? Today is the day I push all the books back and rejoice at not so neat, but otherwise cleaned and organized, rows! 

Culture Shock and Taking Stock

I recently accepted a position as the librarian at a middle school. I didn't really think it would be too rough of a change as I worked at a middle school for a couple of years before moving onto the previous position I had at a high school. But just so you are aware--high school students are one thing--middle school students are something completely different (trust me). Beyond the students, this position wasn't something I was 100% prepared for if I am being completely honest.

Whenever you start a new job you have to take all of the new changes in stride and remember that at one point in time your old job felt exactly the same and that soon enough things won't feel so off. How you get to that point of not feeling so off is another story and this situation was no different. Not only did the school in question not have a full time certified librarian last year but the year before that wasn't much better with the librarian leaving halfway through the year. So, that means when I walked into the library I was the first certified librarian there for almost two years. That's a long time in school years!

The library didn't look awful--it was/is actually very neat and friendly (the new carpet helps a bunch I am sure). When I asked the administration what the library policies and procedures were from last year he blatantly told me that there really weren't any and that a substitute had filled the role (woot!). So, not only was I coming into a position where I am brand new to the school and school district but I am also coming into a position where the foundation of the library program is very much like attempting to walk on molten lava. What? Do you think that simile is a bit too drastic? Well, obviously you have never worked with middle schoolers then. Welcome to the land of over dramatic everything! Let me explain what I mean though. See without circulation policies in place I didn't even know how many items students could normally check out or even how overdue were handled or anything really--and with middle schoolers you can't just NOT KNOW. That is some dangerous territory you don't want to tread into. What did I do? I tried to reach out to some other librarians within the district to see what policies they had in place. I, also, reached out to the Director of Library Services within our district to see if she could provide some guidance (yes we have one and yes it is the most amazing thing!). Well after some in-person and email conversations I started a year with at least an idea about how many items the students could have. It wasn't a lot but that is what happens when you walk on lava for a living.

Along with policies and procedures, I was adjusting to the students in general. I had entered a world where I was a clear minority and where I had/have very little experience. It was like visiting another country for the first time--culture shock and all. So what happens when you take a country girl and place her in an intercity middle school? Well, I guess you will have to just check back and see.