It was well over a month ago I posted a recap of events
going on during our summer reading. My goal was to post one every week. Let all
laugh at my optimism and naiveté.
Seriously this has been one of the busiest summers I have ever experienced. Busy work, maintenance, book reviews, and blogging have been pushed aside to for answering questions, prepping for programs, and assisting kids and co-workers. I am reminding of my years working in retail during the holiday season. Taking the up with the downs, I’ve had plenty people angry that all of my copies of Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants and Elephant and Piggie books are all checked out. What do they want me to say? I work in a place were I let you borrow popular items for free. Why do you act shocked when they are gone?
I had a patron chastity me for the way I organized my program
and volunteered her services to organized the kids in the same age and gender
groups for me the next time (yeah no
thanks)
I’ve been bad cop and a snitch. Catching kids stealing craft supplies and then ratting them out to their caregivers.
I’ve been poked in the ribs, smacked and slapped as kids trying to get my attention and have had my butt touched way too many times. To be fair, I probably bumped into enough people with my butt to make it even.
Plenty of internal “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” moments, when scissors have been flung at me in disgust. Or when a kid auguring with me that they didn’t know how to use a pipe cleaner to shape something and I stood there in disbelief, flexing a pipe cleaner in their face. “You just move it and shape it with your figures. I don’t know what else to tell you !”
I snapped and told a group of kids "The next person who is running in the library is going to get tripped!" When I confessed this later to my library manager, she laughed instead of firing me.
My co-workers and I have experience stress and additional hardship
such as car accidents and the loss of a husband who we all considered a friend
to our library.
It’s been rough.
However….
We’ve had over 3,200 kids and teens sign up for summer
reading.
Our shelves are bare in spots because kids are actually taking books home to read them!!
In June we 48 programs with over 3,400 in attendance. Kids are coming into the library and participating in both our voting passives. I’m still pleased to say at this writing Wonder Woman is still winning by a landslide of over 70 votes.
I had teens actually show up to my program. Knowing my record so far of almost a year of programs with more of half of them being no shows this is a big deal to me.
More importantly, Summer Reading as been a learning experience for me. (And if you aren't learning something new at work, what is the point? ) Real life lessons in what works and what doesn't. Boosts in my confidence to interact with patrons whether I'm leading them in a song or having to correct them on their inappropriate library behavior. Using critical thinking to try to solve problems before they happen and always having a back up plan for when programs go wrong or performers don't show up.
So this summer had been a ride, but I'm glad I got on it. I could have been sitting at my desk all day bored out of my mind.
(But realistically...yes I'm counting down to the days when summer reading is over...)
