June 27

Summer Reading Programs
My second day was just as exciting as the first. It's summer at the public library so, of course, there's the Summer Reading Program! This year there are summer reading programs for children, teens, and adults. The kids bring in their certificate with the ten books they've read written on the back. One parent said she really likes the certificates because then her and her child can look back and see how her taste in books and her reading levels have changed over the years. The librarian signs the certificate, then the child puts their name on a slip of paper to have posted on the children's area wall. They also fill out an entry for a drawing for the "Breakfast of Champions" which is a fancy breakfast for four at a hotel. And then they get to pick one book from the book prize box to take home for their very own. If they would like, they can take a slip of paper that says, "I read 10 more books" which is a way to encourage them to continue reading for the summer, but they don't get another book prize.

The teen and adult summer reading program are similar to each other. They read three books and write a short, thoughtful review of each. The teen turns in their reviews and they get a choice from the teen book prize box or a Literary Latte card from Starbucks. When the adults hand in their three thoughtful reviews they get entered into a raffle for a canvas book bag full of literary goodies and they get a Literary Latte card from Starbucks. It's all very exciting.

The New Book Section
When it's slow at the reference desk (which is almost never) the librarians process new books. The criteria for designating books for the "New" section are:
No books with their own audience or limited audience, for example cookbooks or physics books.
Fiction is considered new for a year after it's published. Non fiction has a shorter "new" life; once a year is up it's considered old.

RSS
I want to learn more about the RSS feed on the SPL website. A patron came up and had questions about subscribing to the RSS feed for the children's programming calendar. There is also an RSS feed you can subscribe to for your library account. I need to play around with it to see exactly how it works. (Note to self: Bloglines is an example of an RSS Reader.)

Mature Content
Interesting teen interaction: A girl brought up a manga book called "Basilisk" by Futaro Yamada. The girl's mom saw the "Mature Content" label on the book and said she couldn't check it out. "Basilisk" had been cataloged in the adult section so the teen librarian showed the girl the young adult section where other manga is cataloged. Jessica, the teen librarian, said that labels like "Mature Content" are helpful, kind of like movie ratings. They often say what the mature content is, whether it's language, violence, or sex.

Information Literacy
A ten or eleven year old boy came up to the desk and asked how to use the catalog to look up books. Pamela took him over to a catalog computer terminal and showed him how to browse the catalog. She used "Calvin and Hobbes" as her example :) She also showed him how to look up his own account.

Reference
An older woman, maybe in her 70s or 80s said she needed a basic math book. This was a classic reference question where we (the librarian Paula and I) asked clarification questions. What kind of math? (fractions and percentages) What will you be using the math for? (learning about finances and business) Is this for you or for someone else (it's for my grandson) What level of math is your grandson at? (3rd or 4th grade). We found a couple of books for her on the shelf and also ordered one from another library.

One thing I've noticed at Ballard is that the librarians try to find what's available in the library first and then if the patron wants more they'll look at placing holds at other libraries. It makes sense but it was a surprise to me.

Tech Questions
I know more about tech than I thought I did. For example, a patron needed to send a file as text only. She had it saved as a Word document. I was able to walk her through how to "save as" a text file and she was able to send her document! I was also able to trouble shoot when a patron said she couldn't connect to the wi-fi in the library. I walked her through how to choose the library's wireless connection on her network options. Then she was able to connect! Both of these experiences made me feel alot more self-confidant that I do have a certain level of tech savvy. I didn't cower at the suggestion of tech - I did what I could with what I have.