Beyond the Shelves

2006-06-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

End of the Year

I just recently completed my service contracts with Cambridge Public Schools. It was an invaluable experience. Not only to work in two different libraries, but to work with two very different librarians in two different schools. I concluded my hours at Cambridgeport first, and then wrapped up my additional hours at the King Open by working on closing up the library for its last two full weeks of the year. Not too surprising, but closing a school library for the year required tons of work. Looking back, it couldn't have run smoother.

Some of the projects I completed were:

Writing letters and announcements notifying students and staff of book return
Daily over-due notices for two weeks
Monitoring and evaluating circulation statistics
Updating lost and missing book reports
Weeding
Creating a scheduling system for televisions, VCRs, and DVDs
Taking down student artwork and displays

2006-03-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

My collection development gets put to use

During my fall semester at GSLIS, in Children's Literature with Amy Pattee, one of our assignments was to develop a nonfiction collection by zeroing in on one specific Dewey. At the time I was volunteering at the Beebe School in Malden, a K-8 public school. Claire Pagnota, a great librarian, welcomed me to her collection. After evaluating the library's current holdings in the 940.1 (Middle Ages) Dewey, I developed a very large and current collection and offered it to Claire. Just a few weeks ago I got this e-mail from Claire:

"Guess what? I've got $2050 more to spend and will be ordering some of your 8th grade suggestions."

It's a great validation to know my classwork can be useful to a working professional.

2006-03-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

A great outreach tool and new software

I recently completed a brochure for the King Open school using Adobe's InDesign for the first time. Back when I was the photo editor at the Improper Bostonian I was stuck using Quark, a program that was clumsy and awkward to use. InDesign is amazingly intuative to work with and incredibly compatible with Photoshop and Illustrator.

This brochure was my first big assignment in my curriculum frameworks class, which I am also blogging about. Our instructor Dan Fleming is a vice principal in two Framingham middle schools and is a huge supporter of library outreach, as am I. Simple brochures, newsletters, and Web site updates are great ways to remind faculty that the library is always available and current, promoting events, new resources and activities. It was a really fun assignment and the librarian I work with is planning on using it as part of her outreach!

2006-03-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

My article on blogging and library students in the March 2006 InfoLink

I'm very excited about my newly published article in Simmons' College Graduate School of Library and Information Science newsletter, the InfoLink. Click here to check it out! Also, feel free to look up my Snapshot interview in the InfoLink archives from last month.

Co-writer Alison Cody and I had a great time writing this month's article and it turned out to be a very resourceful article for beginning bloggers. Alison and I, with the help of the GSLIS technology department, have some big plans for this upcoming summer. We will be editing a special edition of the InfoLink focusing specifically on Library 2.0, which will include an article reporting from Wikimania, being held here in Boston in August, as well as articles on social software, Web tagging, and more.

In addition to this project, I will also begin a larger, independent piece on prison libraries, which will include many of my photos.

And speaking of photos, I have begun a collaborative project on diversity with MassBLAST, a group at Simmons College dedicated to building library awareness and staff for the future, as well as reaching out to minority populations to fill these roles. It is a great opportunity to use my photography, my love of libraries, and my goals for outreach altogether in one project. Plus the high school students I'll be documenting are so great. Photos will be made available soon!

2006-02-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

Student artwork at King Open

I spent my first week at the King Open School designing and hanging student artwork all around the library. Each section represents a grade-level. From top to bottom: 7/8 Identity Masks, a wider view of the 7/8 Identity Masks, 5/6 Poetry, 1/2 Warm and Cool Colors, and 3/4 Integrated Curriculum: Social Studies: The Charles River.

The art work has been a big hit with the students and staff. I can recall the school libraries of my youth and how some were decorated and some weren't. It's such an great way to build a collaborative relationship with the art teachers and other faculty. Everyone has student product to display, and a little glue, tape and construction paper can take bland, white walls and make them interesting.

I plan to continue to create inviting libraries, filled with student projects and artwork. Nothing makes me happier than to see students slowly stroll the library, looking at books, looking around, and taking it all in.

2006-02-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

My interview in the February 2006 InfoLink

I was recently interviewed for the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Newsletter, The InfoLink. The current issue and archived issues can be found here. Thanks to Victoria for the fun questions. Thanks to Mike for the lovely head-shot.
Enjoy!