Behind The Scenes - August

The Summer Reading Program has ended. Our lunch program has concluded. The event calendar is bare for the next couple of weeks. 
So, just what exactly do we do at the library in August?

Professional Development

We strive to offer the best customer service we possibly can. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful community, and our patrons make our jobs and lives a lot easier. Regardless of how awesome and easy-going our patrons may be, it is important to maintain our professional skills. Therefore, we use our down time to take web-based classes, complete training seminars and sharpen our reference skills. We (try to) catch up on reading the fantastic journals that come with our profession as well. Monthly journals such as American Libraries and School Library Journal are wonderful resources for book reviews and cutting library edge programming. As information fanatics, wanting to continue learning comes naturally to most librarians. 

We also have one day every August where the library closes and all staff members assemble (a lot like super heroes) for an entire day of training and engaging activities to help us continue to grow as a team. Below you can see my pile of journals to read, invoices and orders to submit, books to grade, and donated items to sift through. I'd like to say it only looks like this for dramatic photo staging, but that would be a lie.

My messy desk.

Planning

We strive to provide meaningful and interesting programs throughout the year. Our library program calendar is released quarterly, which means we have to complete planning at least four months in advance. Our next calendar will share information about September through December, but in order to meet the calendar deadline, we had to have all of these programs planned in May and June! The next deadline, for January through April, is quickly approaching. We are busy planning the fun activities and services we will offer in 2015, which is hard to believe! Planning also means contracting and scheduling with any outside performers or educators.

Cabinet full of planning materials.

Preparing

Since we have so many wonderful things planned for the fall, we are busy turning our plans into a reality! We usually host about 5 or 6 storytimes a week, in addition to our other special programs. January through July of this year, the children's department has already hosted 176 programs! We love integrating Every Child Ready to Read early learning skills into our programs: reading, singing, playing, talking, and writing. We gather books and music, assemble craft materials, and create lesson plans to guide our classes. We also have to create flyers for all of our programs, upload them to the blog, edit the library website and visit school events to promote all of the cool programs!

Miss Nicole's awesome felt board in progress.

Gettin' It Done

We usually apply for at least one grant to help supplement library funding and hopefully make our dream projects come true. We have been very fortunate to receive funding from The Stocker Foundation for several years in a row. This year we have two very important projects we are working on completing:

1. Grow, Make, Play, and Learn! (GMPL!) is our way of offering hands-on programming at the library that encourages kids to engage in learning, while promoting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) learning objectives. We have 8 more GMPL! programs planned over the next few months.

2. Our second project focuses on working with incarcerated fathers at the Grafton Correctional Institution and the Grafton Reintegration Center. We are providing learning materials and books for reading rooms so visiting children have access to quality educational activities. We are also working on providing Every Child Ready to Read training to inmates and volunteer readers to share the importance of early literacy. This training will help to prepare them for sharing literacy and reading skills with their children once they are released. To encourage a stronger parental bond, we will be recording the fathers reading a story and sending a copy of the recording, along with a print copy of the book, to their children. Even though they are apart, these children can still enjoy hearing a bedtime story from Dad. The bulk of this project is being conducted this month.

  Bits & Bobs

 Summer Reading was such a successful time for the library. We broke our record for participation, as well as circulation. We are so pumped about this! Due to the popularity of our program and the amount of traffic our books have seen, we have decided to take some time to reorganize our shelves, clean them off, and make sure they are in order. We are working hard this month to provide a clean and welcoming place to be all year long.

We are also doing some re-organization of our staff here at the library since one our children's librarians, Miss Nicole, will be leaving us to take on a new position in the library. She will be the new Emerging Technologies Supervisor! Rest assured, she plans on coordinating with Miss Katie and the rest of the youth services team for fun, tech-oriented programming for our young patrons in the future! You haven't seen the last of her yet!

Cleaning and shelving in progress.

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is the third Sunday in June, and this year falls on Sunday, June 15th. This special day is celebrated to show fathers everywhere that they are loved, appreciated, and remembered. Father's Day is a relatively new holiday, beginning in 1972, 58 years after President Wilson declared Mother's Day a national holiday. For more information on the beginnings of this holiday, scope out History.com. While many men initially balked at the day for its sentimentality, we are so glad the holiday exists so we can celebrate how cool our dads are. We'd like to share some awesome books to read with your favorite daddy-o.

Just Like Dad by Gina and Mercer Mayer. Little Golden Book, 2001.
Little Critter is eager to be just like his dad, and looks up to him very much. Each page shows him trying his best to mimic his dad in this sweet picture book.

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman. Harper Collins, Reprint Edition 2006.
What would you do to get some goldfish as pets?  Would you trade your dad?  In this story a child does just that and his dad barely notices at first because he is so busy reading the newspaper. Will he be able to make it back to his family?

Daddy's Do It Different by Alan Lawrence Sitomer. Disney-Hyperion, 2012.
Daddies and mommies do a lot of things differently, and this adorable picture book shows many of them. Mommy makes a delicious breakfast and eats with you at the table, but when daddy makes breakfast it involves a fort made out of waffles. Grocery shopping with mommy includes label reading and coupon clipping, but when daddy does the shopping he makes mustaches from bananas. But what is really important is what daddy and mommy do the same.

 

Saturday is Dadurday by Robin Pulver. Walker Childrens, 2013. 

Mimi's favorite day of the week is Saturday because it means she gets Daddy all to herself! When Daddy's work schedule changes, so do her Saturdays. Can Mimi still make Saturdays special? 

When Dads Don't Grow Up by Majorie Blain Parker. Dial, 2012.
This charming picture book follows four dads and their sons. Some dads have a tricky time growing up and show they are young at heart with shopping cart races and drinking from crazy straws. 

Things to Do With Dad by Chris Stevens. Buster, 2008.
This book has a ton of ideas for projects, crafts, games, and many activities to do with your dad. The fun doesn't have to stop with dad, however. Moms and grandparents can get in on the fun, too!

My Dad's a Birdman by David Almond. Candlewick, 2011.
In rainy England, Mr. Poop goes through the streets announcing the Human Bird Competition. Lizzie looks on in wonder as her dad begins eating bugs, donning wings, and building nests. Despite all of these odd behaviors, Lizzie and her father share a loving bond and she cheers him on in the competition.

My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein. Candlewick, 2013.
Urban Dictionary defines Dad Joke as "the style of joke limited to the dads of the world because anyone else would be able to see how embarassing the punch-line and response will be". You know that special brand of funny that dads have and when you hear it you cringe and roll your eyes? This book is for anyone who has ever marveled as the corny jokes dads make, smiled, and felt your heart swell with joy because you love him anyway. 

Where Did Daddy's Hair Go? by Joe O'Connor. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2006.
Jeremiah keeps hearing that his dad has 'lost' his hair. He searches all over the house to find his dad's hair, and in the process accepts diversity.

Wherever you are this Father's Day, remember to take a moment and let your dad or special father-figure know that you're thinking of him.