First Week

My first week working on my practicum was very busy and productive! Since I work in a public library, for this practicum experience I am working at another library branch and working on projects, tasks, and assignments I do not work on during a normal work day. I am completing my hours for this practicum on my own time; not while on the clock and with the children's librarian.

My first task this week was to help weed and remove some materials from the children's collection. In class I have learned the logic and some methods behind weeding, however I have never seen it implemented. For this task, I looked at the condition of the book, its age, and the content. Books with topics of science, space, and health were examined carefully. I found a few items stating that Pluto was still a planet. Items such as these I removed from the collection. I worked closely with Christina, who explained to me here reasoning between pulling other materials. In addition to pulling the books, I also withdrew the items from the catalog. This way, the items which we are discarding will not show up in the catalog anymore.

In addition to weeding, I was assigned the task of taking a set of children's reference encyclopedias from 2011 and changing them within the catalog to circulating. I also relabeled the items and moved them to a different shelf. The library ordered a current set of encyclopedias, so the past editions are now able to circulate outside of the library. This task was interesting because I had to change the catalog record for each item; something I had never done before. Not only did it give me a new skill, but I was able to look at the cataloging records and see some of the information I had learned in the cataloging course put into place.

The last task I worked on this week was helping host a children's activity. This afternoon, the library hosted a "Valentines for Veterans" event. We had children of all ages come into the library and make Valentines Day cards for our troops overseas. A young Marine, currently enlisted, came in and spoke to the children and thanked them for their thoughtfulness and expressed great appreciation for the cards. The library supplied all the materials including the cards, lollipops, stickers, hearts, markers, glue, and other supplies. I helped to set up the tables, put out the supplies, supervise, and help the children make their cards. Since this was the first activity I had ever supervised at the library it turned out great! There was a huge turn out and the children made adorable cards. Considered "passive" programming, the children were able to use their imaginations to create anything they wanted on their cards.

Here is a photograph of the Newhall Library

                                                               Courtesy of Santaclaritapubliclibrary.com