Conference time!

NCSLMA annual conference is this week! We have awesome speakers, authors, vendors. We get to see much missed friends. We get to talk library talk and know everyone will understand!

A ton of effort goes on behind the scenes making this event a happening. Many associations have a paid administrative assistant and may even have a director. NCSLMA is run 100% by volunteers. These volunteers are active in their own libraries and give enormous amounts time to help improve our profession. Thanks to their efforts, we have an exceptional organization to represents us! I want to especially thank Brene Duggins, president-elect and conference chair, and Sedley Abercrombie, president. I’ve learned so much from both and am looking forward to serving with them again next year.

This year, NCSLMA, AASL, and NCLA all have vendor booths. Please stop by and say hello!

 

Advertisement

Nonfiction Shift

The library is far enough along that I can walk away for a couple of weeks. Nonfiction started in an odd place, so I emptied a wall and started shifting.

That empty book case will have to go somewhere else when I get back!

There are 100s of things I still want to do, but for a few days, I’m going to rest, think about conferences and lesson plans, and plan what to do next!

If you’d like to see all the pictures of this summer’s progress in one place, visit my Pinterest Board.

Update on the flip

Easy is finished enough to make station plans. Each section needs some work as the shifting of books was done for space requirements and not with *finding the book again* in mind!

Nonfiction has been thought about, but no books have been touched yet.

But I really like the way it’s looking. Lights are still out due to the heat.

This mess of an Easy section

After day 1. I forgot to take a picture before I started. Looks like a used bookstore. The lights are out because there is no AC. (Insert big sweat drop here.)

It’s back to work I go . . .

Last week, the carpets were cleaned at school. I thought they would be done early in the week, so I could go in on Wednesday and Thursday, but didn’t happen. I didn’t get to go in.

So, instead I took a nap most days. Naps are really nice in the summer.

I also

• went to a meeting on our county’s adoption of Discovery Education.
• went to a departmental meeting.
• made a Little Free Library Box header (I’ll have to take a pix, but it’s to use in the library.)
• made a magazine banner and figured out a way to display new magazines.
• cleared out (and cleaned up) a small cart I think can work as a listening station.
• found some large tubs that can be used for big item stations.
• Worked on an August conference.
• Met friends for lunch!
• put a shed together
• laid a tile floor on the patio
• Went to Ikea to window shop for items I think I might like to use at home and in the library. We went on a family outing and ended up with two carts full of stuff. Not bad for window shopping.

Whew! Not really – it’s fabulous to have a week to do that kind of stuff!

Bullet Journals

The thing I most enjoyed was finding information on Bullet Journals. (Thank you Pinterest!) I’ve already told you about my love/hate relationship with planners. Digital or notebook? Monthly/weekly or Monthly/daily or Weekly/Daily? What is the perfect combination of pages that gives you enough for notes on the fly? How do you find those notes again?

OK, I know for some of you, I’ve entered into the nutcase arena. But I also know that some of you know exactly what I’m talking about. *ahem*

Here are some sites to see what it is:

• Bullet Journal This one has a short video on the basics of how to set one up. Easy smeasy.
• The Lazy Genius
• BoHo Berry (post collection)

There are hundreds and hundreds of of sites and videos. What a time sucker. I finally had to stop reading and watching and grave a notebook and some pens to start.

Pictures. Some of them are works of art.

I still have a few composition books left over from when I taught Math, so I set one up using one of those. I want to try one with grid paper in it next time though. And I think that I’d like to put a calendar list for each month at the beginning so it could serve better as a calendar too. I may go ahead and do that at my current spot, just because I think I’ll go crazy without it.

What I don’t like: Lots of writing. I was making a ton of lists anyway with the library flip, but I already had a skeleton page. Mine is functional but not pretty. I’m going to work on that. And I think I’m going to run through a notebook really fast! Hoping that will slow down some after the summer.

What I do like: Everything is in one place. The index helps for finding things that were lost in my calendar. I’ve got all the pages I need for a certain day if a lot is going on.  There are oh so many ways you personalize it for what you need. You can use an expensive notebook or a cheap one.

I wasn’t sure I’d like the monthly calendar list, so I drew off a grid for July and left a column for goals. For August, I just made the list like they show in the video on bulletjournal.com. I think I like the list just as well (if not better) and it was much quicker. It’s also neater looking.

Maybe you are interested in a bullet journal??? I’d like to hear what you think.

Update to Modesto Librarian

Well, the Modesto school board has voted to end its elementary library program in favor of computer time. (article) I’m wondering if any of the school board members have visited any elementary library classroom to know what really happens in that time period or to find out that the school librarian is perfectly capable of doing the computer work they think the students need.

Modesto California and School Librarians

Moving from Middle School to Elementary School has brought some challenges as I scrambled for Kindergarten appropriate lessons after teaching older students. One of the places I found with really good ideas was the Modesto K-6 library lessons. They (along with some other sites) gave me lots of good ideas.

So, it was with sadness that I read this article from the Modesto Bee describing the school boards intent (if approved) to do away with time in the library in favor of computer instruction. A lot of the time I spend in the library is spent on computers – we find information, analyze it, share it on computers.  I’m an information specialist and I teach them how to be responsible with information. So I’m not quite sure how this is not as relevant to the 21st century as having the students go to computer. Oh and we do also talk about books – still a great source of information.