drumroll please.....

I AM NOW A FULL TIME LIBRARIAN





(yes....all caps was necessary). I was offered a full time Circulation position at my old library (I was previously in Children's). I am very excited about this move, even though I hate to leave my current library.



Also, I have signed up for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Plan, which is also quite exciting.

I will update more on everything later (I promise!), but Im not feel so great and I think a good douse of sleep is required.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending positive thoughts my way for the last few months. I truly appreciate everyone's help and encouragement.

Things Library School Didn't Teach Me

Just a few things that Library School didn't prepare me for....

1.How to clean the cage of a tarantula

2. How to work a copier (seriously, can I just get a class on how to operate office equipment?)

3. How to change a roll of laminate on a laminator

4. How to deal with the public....particularly the angry public

5. Tornadoes (i.e. policy and how to handle the public)

6. Summer Reading (I don't think anything can really prepare you for this madness, but a little warning would have been nice)

This list will continue to grow over the years. Feel free to add your own!

P.S. Yes, I did have to clean the cage of a tarantula. Children's Departments have pets and their cages have to be cleaned....

Job Interviewing Continues ... (With Interview Questions)

On Thursday, I went on another job interview. I am applying for everything I can, just to build my interview experience. This interview, in my opinion, was a little more difficult than the one I had in the previous week. The questions were more about my interaction with the patrons, not necessarily work relationship with supervisors.

Here are some sample questions from the interview:

What was the last nonfiction book you read?

Will you be able to hold up the library’s policy of a censorship free environment?

If a patron asks for controversial material that you are not comfortable with or disagree with, will you be able to help them?

How many times in the last year have you had to call out for work?

Will you be able to work around these ____ days and hours?

What sets you apart from other applicants that we might interview?

If a patron has a research paper on a certain topic that they are not excited about, how would you go about helping them?

How would you help a patron research the tea party movement?

I had to rate my skills on several software programs on a scale of 1 – 10 and explain why.

I know a lot of my peers are going out on interviews and several people have mentioned what are some key things I do that sets me apart from others.

1. Laughter. I am a firm believe that getting people to laugh with you will leave them with an overall positive impression of you.
2. Smile. Another key factor is having a warm smile. This aspect is important, not just for interviews, but for every day life.
3. Sell yourself! I try to be modest, but when I interview, I know that I have to be a salesperson and the product I am selling is me.
4. Be honest. If you lie in an interview and they end up hiring you, they are going to find out that you initially lied about your experience/knowledge.
5. Before hand I prepare a set of questions that I want to ask my interviewers if given the opportunity.
6. I also try to think about what questions they might ask me. If I know what department I am interviewing for, I will research all the books that I have read in this genre, along with the popular choices at this moment.

I hope this helps anyone who is applying for a job. I know that this time, especially with graduation looming, can be very frightful and scary, but the important things to remember are to keep applying and keep putting yourself out there! Also, network! Your colleagues have been in this position before. Talk with them about it. I have asked several of my co-workers, friends, and really anyone I can find about their job searching experience. Another key factor is to decide what you want! Think about the things that are a requirement for you to have in a job. Salary? Benefits? Location? Hours? It is important to know what you want.

Recommendations...

Alright, so at my internship they have a recommendation list of the student's favorite books submitted by the students. Normally this list is compiled by students submitting their recommendations while at the library. This year they decided to take the list to the students. There are 21 English teachers, each one with roughly 80 to 100 students. We sent recommendation slips to all the English teachers. Keep in mind that there are 1800 students at this high school. That is A LOT of recommendation slips. Each slip has space for two recommendations of their favorite books.
For some reason, I thought all the recommendations would be the same. I never anticipated such a larger response. Now there were some students who wrote some fluff silly answers or got their facts mixed up and here are some of the ones that made me literally laugh out loud:

The Dictionary by Webster
Sex by Madonna
The Scarlet Letter by Harper Lee
The Prince by Mac
The Bible by God
All Books
The Outsiders by Louis Lowrey
Tenth Legion: Tips, Tactics, and Insights on Turkey Hunting by Tom Kelly

So what were the top books? Stay tuned...

Coming Up...

Well my Spring Break is finally over. I took the week off (from blogging, definitely not work) to enjoy this time and my birthday (which was awesome)

On Thursday I received a call as I was leaving my job letting me know I was being offered an interview with a small branch in my city. The position is full time but it isn't in one particular department. Since I had the morning off I drove to this particular branch to scope it out. Like I said it was small, but had lots of character. Its one room so childrens/dvds/adult/computers are all together. I really hope this works out for me because its definitely a step in the right direction. Library jobs are few and far between in my city and there are a great deal of SLIS grads so we are all competing for the same jobs. keep your fingers crossed. I will post more after Thursday, which is when my interview is. Keep your fingers crossed....

Best part...

So what's the best part of an internship in a high school setting?

Seeing the same kids everyday? No....



Getting out at 3:30PM? No....



No work on the weekends? No....

SPRING BREAK !!!

book reviews and news

Since part of my job is to blog, I will also post those blogs that are normally for my public library's blog here as well.


I will try to update more tonight about what's going on at my internships, school, and lots of fun library related stuff

Dr. Seuss' Birthday - Reading Material

March 2nd will be the 107th Birthday of Dr. Seuss. To celebrate and honor Dr. Seuss my SLIS school will be reading to a local elementary school in Tuscaloosa. I wasn't able to participate last year, but I have decided that since I have the day off I'm going to make the drive to T-Town.

I've picked a couple of my personal favorites to take a long:

Mary Has A Little Lamp by Jack Lechner
Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman
Princess Hyacinth: The SurprisingTale of a Girl who Floated by Florence Parry Heide
It's A Book by Lane Smith
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (Since it would be nice to have at least one Dr. Seuss book)

Honorable Mentions (They didn't make the list mainly because they are currently checked out....)
The Stonecutter by Demi
Princess Justina Albertina by Ellen Dee Davidson
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Animals should definitely NOT wear clothing by Judi Barrett
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett (Its a classic, but I'm sure they have already heard this one and I want to expose them to other titles.)


What would you recommend?