September Bulletin board for the Library!

  Yes I know many of  you are back in school already and probably have your "Welcome back" bulletin boards already up. We go  back  the first week in September!
 I will put up  one of the following. When I make a bulletin board I always take a photo and keep the pieces in a homemade  folder.

Fall in Love with Reading

Leaf though a Good Book

Fall in love with  your library

Rake in a good read

Welcome Back - The books missed you!

All of these can be done with a simple background,  a tree, and some leaves!

Don't forget to leave a comment to one of my posts in order to be included in The Organized Book giveaway!

Weeding- Reference section

  This year I weeded my Reference sections  because I was looking for Makerspace room for LittleBits, and some other  items our district purchased. 
    I left the Encyclopedias even tho no one uses them for two reason: I think all libraries should have at least one set for quick look up, and 2) I like to do an activity each year where groups of students work together  to see who can find answers the questions- the inherent or an Encyclopedia. ( More details on this in another post)
   I moved on to look at the general books. With 4 books of costumes/ uniforms/ dress, I  got ride of all but one.  The same with Science Encyclopedias- I saved one - the newest . ( All though not completely up to date) The other sets I offered to the Science teachers , That is pretty much what did in each subject areas.
   I looked at copyright date, condition and scope. Some of the items I knew would never be used I also eliminated.
  I really dislike weeding because I feel there is value in most items I did weed items that were completely out of date( Mostly Science)  Most of my teachers are happy to take the items  for their classroom libraries. I ended up with shelving for my Makerspace so I was pleased with the process.
Check out more tips on weeding in The Organized Librarian!

Supplies for Book Processing - part 2

  We don't have all of the necessary items yet for book processing. So in another larger box, we have several sizes of our most used book covers. We also have contact paper for our paper  backs- its not regular contact paper but one we get from the supply company especially for covering paper backs.( I can;t right at this moment think what it is called,)
  Both of these boxes are put on the bottom shelf of a flat shelved book cart that we keep specifically for this process. Then when  a shipment comes in , the books are checked in and put on the top shelf.
  This way we can wheel out the cart when we have time to work on the new books. It can be tucked away  when we are busy, This helps us be efficient and have supplies ready when we need them.
See The Organized Librarian for other tips on getting library jobs done.

Supplies for Book Processing- part one

    Get ready for processing your new books! Do  you have everything  you need?  Do you know where your processing supplies are ? Are they in on spot or do you have to go from cabinet to cabinet  to get them?  Or do they happen to be all in one location?
   A couple of years ago , I worked on getting  all of my processing supplies in the same location ( or at least close to each other) , so that processing  supplies would be together. Then my assistant or I would not have to hunt out the things we needed.
  We gathered up barcaroles, property stamp, label protectors  and genres colors into one large box- The barcodes are in a folder. Also in this box we included tape, scissors, fine line makers , a ruler and posts it, pens and pencils.  Later this week- part 2. Check out The Organized Librarian for more ways to be organized. For sale here or at Amazon!

Book Review-The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

    The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek  by Kim Michele Richardson.   It's 1936 in Kentucky, one of the book woman is Cussy Mary, takes her books to patrons by mule. There are many miles ad obstacles to over come on her route: animals, weather, underbrush, and folks who want to harass her because she has blue skin.
  Cussy Mary and her kin have blue skin , so they are treated as "colored". Cussy is a wonderful book woman to her patrons, some of whom are cautious because of color of her skin, and some who treat her no differently at all. She reads to some of her patrons and tries to help them as much as  she is able( bringing food and medicine, and company) Her library supervisor  gives  her a hard time because of her color. Her patrons become part of her life. This is a book based on the people who delivered the books in Kentucky I did't want it to end! You've got to read this !