Wrap up the year in fine form

It's Mid-May already, and time to be thinking about wrapping up your year. 

Even though books may be due soon and many librarians will be completing inventory, do keep the library open if at all possible.  Is it hectic?  Are you busy?  Definitely, but teachers are too, and they don't have the luxury of closing their classrooms. 

Some folks have questioned whether inventory is still needed.  For me it's like balancing your checkbook.  It's not something you look forward to, but when you're done you feel pretty darn good.  And in this case, you're balancing the checkbook for the library, which is a district asset.  If inventorying the entire library feels too overwhelming, next year you may wish to schedule a half day periodically to do it in small sections. 

In addition to inventory, there's a long list of things to accomplish including the following:

1.  Make every effort to get missing, lost, and overdue books rounded up.  This may involve calling parents with a gentle reminder, going to the cafeteria every day to ask kids to go look in their lockers, digging through trash cans during locker cleanout, and enlisting the help of pretty much everyone at your campus.  Some librarians get creative with a competition of some sort.
2.  Encourage teachers to continue to check out books through the last day of school and over the summer.  If teachers have books they're finished with but haven't returned, you could go from room to room and trade books for chocolate.
3.  Fix problems found from inventory.  Mark missing books as lost and catalog books not in the system.  Go ahead and delete items that have been missing more than one year.
4.  Prepare a one-page report for your principal.  Highlight important things that happened in the library this year.  Include stats of how many books circulated, how many classes came to the library, and the number of collaborations completed.  Your purpose for the report?  Showcase how the library impacts student achievement and builds a reading community at your campus.
5.  Let the teachers know how much you appreciate their support.  Put a card in each box with a fun-sized candy bar that reads, "Thanks to your awesome support of the library, we have been able to..."  Fill in the blank with 2-3 great things that you've been able to accomplish with their help. 
6.  Leave the library open as long as possible. Even if you aren't able to circulate books, you can still provide services and programs. Make a book trailer to get kids excited about summer reading. Hold one more book club meeting to talk about what kids are planning to read this summer.

And before you wrap up the year, be sure to take a moment to evaluate. What would you like to change or add next year?  What successes can you celebrate?  It's a great feeling to look back on a job well done!

Sass and Serendipity winner!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who voted! With a 63 percent majority of the vote, Gabby has been identified as the sister with the crossed feet.

Comments I received via email or in person included:

“Purple is a sassy color. White is dreamier.”
“Crossed feet are sassy.”
“The more responsible, no-nonsense sister would have the longer skirt.”
“The crossed feet seem more flirty than sassy.”
“The one with the crossed ankles seems younger.”

I’m amazed at the attention to detail and level of consideration that went into the voting. Again, thank you for your thoughtful analysis.

And to those of you who chose Daphne, don’t feel thwarted! You don’t have to change your view of the cover and can still imagine that the feet belong to her.

I hope all of you will keep a look out for SASS & SERENDIPITY when it debuts July 12 and read it to see if we made the right call.

Extra-special, big-time thanks to Leigh Ann for allowing me to commandeer her amazing blog for a couple of posts, for all that she does for bookish types everywhere, and for just being an all-around great person.

Happy reading!
Jennifer Ziegler

Sass and Serendipity: Take the poll!

Please welcome ShelfConsumed's very first guest blogger, YA author Jennifer Ziegler! 

Jenny is the adorable author of How Not to be Popular, a 2009 Texas Lone Star reading list selection.  Recently a fellow librarian and I ran into her at the TLA conference, and she asked our opinion about the cover of her new book, Sass and Serendipity.  "I love the cover," Jenny remarked, "But I don't know which girl represents Gabby (Sass) and which one is Daphne (Serendipity)."

Since I'm obsessed with the covers of books, I love Jenny's idea of a poll in which you, the readers, get to cast your vote as to which sister is the one in the purple dress with the crossed ankles. 

Let the fun begin!

Jennifer Ziegler writes...
Growing up, I hated having a sister. My sister Amanda spied on me and tattled on me and took my stuff without asking. She even once pulled a knife on me. (It was a round-tipped butter knife and all she did was threaten – but still!)

Amanda and I shared a bedroom from the day our brother Jason was born until the day I left for college. It was tough not having my own space where I could keep my stuff – and my secrets – safe and sound.

Now that we’re both adults, Amanda and I are the best of friends. It’s comforting to have someone who understands you so well … who knows what worries you and what cheers you …who can pick out the perfect gifts and YouTube clips to pass along to you … who can recall the exact face Dad made the day he discovered the petrified piece of something in your brother’s room and then laugh about it with you.

Back when I was sixteen and yelling at Amanda that I wish she’d been taken home from the hospital by a different family – preferably a gypsy family who roamed far away from our house – I never would have guessed that someday I would miss her and want to see her more often. But I do.

My relationship with Amanda was a big source of inspiration for my new novel, SASS & SERENDIPITY, which comes out July 12. The book is about Gabby and Daphne Rivera, two sisters who live in a present-day small Texas town. Gabby is the older one. She is sassy and super-responsible and believes that “true love” is just an excuse for people to go crazy. Daphne, the younger sis, is an optimistic daydreamer who believes that any guy could potentially be “the one.” It was a joy to write and I’m very proud of the results.

One of the last steps in creating a book is the concept for the cover art. As the author, I can have input on the cover, but I don’t design it. Mainly what I do is cross my fingers and hope that the art department at my publishing house will “get” my book and create an image that evokes both the theme and mood of my story. Happily, they did both with this design. In my view, it perfectly captures the classic-meets-modern, silly-meets-romantic, sweet-meets-edgy atmosphere of my novel.

But one detail isn’t clear on the front cover: Whose feet are whose? Do the crossed ankles of the sister in the purple dress belong to Daphne – the one who believes in romance, true love and serendipity? Or do they belong to sassy, dependable, no-nonsense Gabby?

I’ve decided to let readers decide. What do you think? Please cast your vote and help me decide which girl is which.

Help! Who do the crossed feet belong to?

Gabby (SASS) or Daphne (SERENDIPITY)?

QuestionsView Results

Working on your "to don't" list

Other people's "to do" lists fascinate me. Many people simply jot a list of tasks on a legal pad and mark them off when finished. Others have elaborate systems involving color-coded pens, multiple notebooks, and grids.

I quit writing a "to do" list a year or so ago when I realized a) it was depressing, and b) I was spending time on the "to do" list that I could actually be spending "to doing" instead. But that's another post.

You may not be ready to give up your "to do" list, but some management geniuses think you should work on a "to don't" list.

Come again?

In a fantastic piece this week, Daniel Pink draws from the ideas of Tom Peters and Jim Collins to suggest that we could improve our work with a "to don't" or "stop doing" list. Some of my colleagues have been talking about a similar idea of selective abandonment. Selective abandonment!

In other words, what things can you just not do anymore?

*Things that cause you to lose focus (Tom Peters)
*Things that cause you to be busy but not productive (Jim Collins)
*Things that cause you to spend less time doing good work & on the people you care about (Daniel Pink)

In regard to the library, I would also add the following:

*Things that take time away from helping kids and teachers
*Things that serve as a roadblock to kids or that make the library less welcoming
*Things that misplace the focus of the program

Below are a few items that I would encourage you to consider for your "to don't" list:

*Fines (punitive; sends the wrong message; a hassle)
*Overdue notices (ditto)
*Library orientation (wastes valuable time on procedures & stuff kids won't remember)
*Passes & signing in (your administrator may require this, but if not, why do you?)
*Fixed library schedule (ditto)
*Lessons in isolation (i.e. here's how to use the databases for LATER; not how we learn)
*Assigning the task of checking out to library staff (more efficient and empowering to allow kids to cko)

What would you add to the list?

As with goals, lists become real when we write them down. Why not begin your "to don't" list for the library today?

Counting the cost of librarian job losses

Early this morning I received an email from the Texas Association of School Librarians (TASL) listserv.  Carolyn Foote, a high school librarian near Austin, TX, has created a Google map to pinpoint job losses of librarians, library aides, and library directors in Texas.

When I first opened the map this morning, it was basically blank.  This afternoon it is a sea of blue pin points, and I'm sure more will follow.  It is heartbreaking.

It is heartbreaking to consider the hundreds of persons who will be out of work. 
It is heartbreaking to consider the hundreds of schools that will be without library services.
It is heartbreaking to consider how many years it will take to rebound from these cuts.

And most of all, it is heartbreaking to consider the thousands of kids who won't have a librarian. 
Who will hand these kids that one book that turns them into readers for life?
Who will show these kids how to be fluent in this information age?

The cost of these jobs is devastating on so many levels and for so many years to come.

Spring for PoetryTagTime

With the arrival of April, spring and poetry are in the air.  An exciting way to celebrate both is with the very first electronic-only poetry anthology, PoetryTagTime.  In this delightful offering for kids of all ages, 30 poets create new poems in a "tag-you're it" fashion.

Jack Prelutsky, Nikki Grimes, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Douglas Florian, Helen Frost, Jane Yolen, X.J. Kennedy, Paul B. Janeczko, and a host of others share a poem as well as the inspiration from the previous poet that sparked the idea.

The idea for the anthology is the creative work of Dr. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, and poetry lovers will want to explore both their sites for fabulous poetry resources.  PoetryTagTime is available on Amazon or bn.com for only .99, and the format looks great on both my iPhone and iPad.

Spring for PoetryTagTime and share a poem and a special moment with your favorite kiddo today.

How to make a parent's day AND advocate for your library in one simple step

Sometimes a simple idea is best.  It's great to have a ton of ideas, but we're busy.  And overwhelmed.  And maybe stressed.  So if we could simplify, I'm betting no one would object.

Yesterday one of our wise librarians shared with me that as things get increasingly harried and fragmented, she copes with these multiple demands by streamlining.  She consciously steps back, identifies what is most important in her library, and then focuses on one or two things.  And because she is wonderful, these one or two things involve helping kids love reading and learning.  When she loses focus, she asks herself if the task at hand relates to her priorities.

Simplify.  Streamline.

In an earlier post I listed ten ideas to advocate for our libraries. In an effort to channel the advice of my smart friend, I'd like to feature one idea that several of our fabulous librarians have implemented.

Make one positive parent call a day. 

It takes only a couple of minutes.  Choose a student that you've had a special interaction with that day or one that may need a little affirmation.  The nervous flutter of calling a parent will dissipate once you find out how amazing it feels to make a parent's day.  And calling home isn't just for the little ones.  There's no age limit on feeling good.

The librarian I mentioned has recently started calling a parent each day with terrific results.  She left a voicemail for one parent at work telling the mom what a great kid her son is and how fun it is to work with him.  The mom called the librarian back and said, "I just wanted to hear you say those nice things about my son one more time.  Would you tell me again?"

"The Mind of a Researcher: Keith Curry Lance," is a great article from the April 2010 issue of Teacher Librarian about the critical role of a librarian. After 20 years of gathering data on the effectiveness of school libraries, Lance notes that the message still isn't being heard.  Why?  Lance feels that when we advocate for our own programs, it often sounds self-serving. 

And who does Lance believe are our best advocates?  Parents.

So today I challenge you to adopt the simple idea of making one positive parent phone call each day.  In this small act of kindness you will make the day of a parent and advocate for your library in one simple step.

And one small action can be powerful. 

If you call one parent a day x 180 days of school, that's 180 parents firmly in your corner.  We have 49 librarians in our district.  If each one would call one parent per day x 180 days, we would have 8,820 parents supporting our library program by the end of the year.

And if every school librarian called one parent every day...

Pass the word.

Cool tool for conference connections

Our great Texas Library Association conference is right around the corner.  Two of the best things about conference are reconnecting with old friends and making new acquaintances of librarians, publishers, and authors.

When you attend TLA or other conferences, be sure to take a stack of business cards to exchange with these folks. You may also want to download a fab app called WorldCard.

WorldCard automatically creates a new contact in your smart phone from a picture that you take of a business card.  Among other useful features is the ability to connect with your contacts on social media sites such as Twitter if that info is provided.

Now that's a cool tool for making conference connections!

Mind your Ps and Qs

A new little quilt shop has recently opened down the street from our neighborhood.  I'm fascinated by this because I didn't realize enough people still quilt to support a new business. 

The name of it is "Mind Your Ps and Qs," which I don't really get either.  If the Q stands for quilt, what's the P stand for?  Is this some quilting expression? 

This started me thinking about the odd expression of minding one's Ps and Qs.  Wikipedia offers several explanations for the saying, but the one that makes most sense to me dates back to the days of printing presses when a printer would need to take care not to mix up the letters p and q when typesetting.  He would literally need to mind his ps and qs.

Of course all roads lead to the library for me, so I quickly started thinking what Ps and Qs librarians might need to mind.

How about these?

Mind your Ps:
Libraries are about people.
Librarians must remain positive, even in tough times.
Patrons (of all ages) are our priority.

Mind your Qs:
Questions are always valued.
Quality trumps quantity.
Be quick to serve with a spirit of helpfulness.

Mind your Ps and Qs, librarians, so our libraries are part of the essential fabric of our schools!

Save the time of the user OR How to email efficiently

We all get tons of email, so I've compiled a few ideas to help us be more efficient.

1. Before you send an email to a group, be sure that it applies to the whole group. If it does not, only email the persons to whom it is applicable.

2. Rarely “reply all.” Instead, reply only to the original recipient or to the person to whom it is applicable.

3. At the risk of being redundant, rarely “reply all.” As Ranganathan says, “Save the time of the user!”

4. Make sure that your subject line matches the email’s content. One subject per email is best.

5. When replying to someone, be sure your reply matches their subject line. If you’re changing the subject, change the subject line.

6. If you have more than one point to make, enumerate for easier reading.

7. Use short paragraphs.

8. Read over your email before you hit send. How’s the tone? Do you have errors? Is your meaning clear?

9.  Bcc yourself if you need a copy.  Keep your inbox cleaned out so it can serve as a "to do" list.

10. If email takes over your day, close it while you're working on other projects and only open it at the beginning of the day, before lunch, and before you leave for the evening.