Welcome Back, Blogger

I don't know if it's ironic, or just an indication of how much of a procrastinator I am, but the post before this was my first post in a long time, so that seems to be the running theme...



Anyway, a few weeks ago I began working in a new library and with this new opportunity I have decided to resurrect my blog. I will be mostly chronicling my work as a reference librarian with my special projects, day to day activities, and also my work with professional organizations. This blog is not sponsored, or endorsed, by any libraries, or library associations as an FYI. It is solely to chronicle my work life and help illustrate the varied functions of a modern librarian and advocate for the importance of information professionals.



My first week on the job my supervisor oriented me with the layout of our branch, and I learned the various sections for non-fiction, reference, fiction, large print, etc. I also was introduced to my co-workers and am very lucky that everyone is very mellow and friendly. I attended county wide training on my second day and learned about the various benefits provided us and all about safe driving. I also conducted some online safe driving training, but apparently they updated the class and last week I had to take different training. Needless to say I am now very informed on how to safely drive both forward and backwards!



I have been tasked with sorting all newspapers for my branch, including the financial newsletters, and popular magazines. Unfortunately we have a magazine thief on our hands, so I am experimenting with various theft deterrent techniques. For now, we are keeping the magazines that go missing frequently behind the Information Desk. We are hoping this strategy works, so that more strict ones do not need to be implemented.



Since I have 6 years of collection development experience at 2 diverse libraries I have been asked to help with a new project of adding donated books that are lightly used to the collection. These donated books can be used to replace our more worn out copies. Most collection development in the system is centralized, so I look forward to this opportunity and hope to keep my skills sharp.



Finally, I am creating new end cap signs for all of the shelves in the library since the collection has been growing. I finished reference and non-fiction last week, and will be working on fiction, biography, large print, mystery, and science fiction this week. Yes, we have a sci-fi section! Something I find important in public libraries and was lacking at the last place I worked. What with all of the new sci-fi movies coming out, this section is being used a lot lately.