What a difference it has made having parent and student help. I have 2 wonderful Year 6 girls, Esther and Anna who come in at break and lunch times most days and help out. Plus the wonderful parents - 2 groups of 6/7 mums have been in this week and have stuck spine labels on more than 1200 books. Today's group even shelved everything, stuck up temporary signage on all the shelves I have, and stamped all the new books. I couldn't keep up with them!
They all promised to come back in again after the October break, so I better keep up with the re-cataloguing.
Have also had some great offers of help with displays and decorations. So far I have an Austrian Art teacher, a Designer and a Singaporean lady who is happy to help out with pictures and displays.
Have actually managed to open for borrowing today and had my first few classes. Great to actually interact with some children for a change. The new book bag idea seems quite popular - just need to see how they will last. I wanted the reinforced plastic ones but the ones that turned up are not quite as robust, we'll see how it all works out!
Can't believe we have half-term next week already, we have only been in school for 4 weeks. It seems good now, but I imagine we will all feel differently with another 11 weeks when we come back.
Been a good week so far, I've even been to Immigration to sign whatever it is I need to sign to get my residence and work permit.
All I need now is some Library furniture!!
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Friday, 19 September 2008
Wonderful parents!!
Aren't parents wonderful - the Friends of Rego launched my appeal at their Coffee Morning on Wednesday and now I have two teams coming in next Mon/Tues to stick the spine labels on and cover them with plastic.
One came today and did around 200 plus there were 2 lovely Year 6 girls who covered them. By the end of next Tuesday I should actually be able to offer some form of borrowing for the kids for over the October break.
Thank goodness! I'll just need to keep up with the re-cataloging to make sure there is plenty for the parents to do.
Very glad it is Friday - feel as if I am shaped like a computer chair.
One came today and did around 200 plus there were 2 lovely Year 6 girls who covered them. By the end of next Tuesday I should actually be able to offer some form of borrowing for the kids for over the October break.
Thank goodness! I'll just need to keep up with the re-cataloging to make sure there is plenty for the parents to do.
Very glad it is Friday - feel as if I am shaped like a computer chair.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Re-catalogued over 300 books yesterday and printed out spine labels. Had help from a parent for an hour so now have around 100 books with spine labels stuck on, they just need covered to keep them on and I can actually put something on the few shelves that I have.
Sent an appeal to the Parents' group, Friends of Rego, and the Year 6s to try and get some more helpers. I think it is more valuable spending my time re-cataloguing than sticking labels on but I may end up surrounded by huge piles of books and nothing on shelves.
Sent an appeal to the Parents' group, Friends of Rego, and the Year 6s to try and get some more helpers. I think it is more valuable spending my time re-cataloguing than sticking labels on but I may end up surrounded by huge piles of books and nothing on shelves.
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Shelves!!
Finally I have got some shelves. Yippee!! Only 6 which were moved across from the Secondary campus but it's a start. I had several classes come in this week just to say "hello" and borrow some readers as that's all that is on offer at the moment.
Wanted to rush and open all the boxes and start shelving, but I discovered that much of the collection is missing spine labels. It's a huge job but I have started to re-catalogue and print the spine labels. Many of the catalogue entries have the author surnames the wrong way round and there is very little DDC in use. The Secondary librarian has already made a start and most of the collection has barcodes but each book needs to have the catalogue entry checked and amended.
I have decided to take a selection from each collection so I can at least offer some limited borrowing in the next couple of weeks.
Had to "shout" a bit on Thursday as the printer was still not installed and my pile of books waiting for spine labels was growing. Luckily the Principal is very supportive and by Thursday lunchtime my newly installed printer was happily churning out spine labels. Just need some parent or students helpers to stick them on and it could start to look like a proper Library.
Book bags arrived, just waiting on boxes for each class then I start to get them into a routine of sending back books in the morning and borrowing when they come. (Those 8 months at RCHK taught me such a lot about good organisation - heartfelt thanks to Andrea) Everyone has booked in for a Library slot now, so my week is starting to take shape - also lots of open slots with possibilities for flexible scheduling once we are up and running.
The days are flying by so quickly - it's good to be busy but I am certainly enjoying the long weekend as it's Mid-Autumn Festival here.
Wanted to rush and open all the boxes and start shelving, but I discovered that much of the collection is missing spine labels. It's a huge job but I have started to re-catalogue and print the spine labels. Many of the catalogue entries have the author surnames the wrong way round and there is very little DDC in use. The Secondary librarian has already made a start and most of the collection has barcodes but each book needs to have the catalogue entry checked and amended.
I have decided to take a selection from each collection so I can at least offer some limited borrowing in the next couple of weeks.
Had to "shout" a bit on Thursday as the printer was still not installed and my pile of books waiting for spine labels was growing. Luckily the Principal is very supportive and by Thursday lunchtime my newly installed printer was happily churning out spine labels. Just need some parent or students helpers to stick them on and it could start to look like a proper Library.
Book bags arrived, just waiting on boxes for each class then I start to get them into a routine of sending back books in the morning and borrowing when they come. (Those 8 months at RCHK taught me such a lot about good organisation - heartfelt thanks to Andrea) Everyone has booked in for a Library slot now, so my week is starting to take shape - also lots of open slots with possibilities for flexible scheduling once we are up and running.
The days are flying by so quickly - it's good to be busy but I am certainly enjoying the long weekend as it's Mid-Autumn Festival here.
Monday, 8 September 2008
Progress
Bit of a shock when I walked in this morning - both library doors were wide open and there were a couple of boxes lying on the floor. There has been some problems with things going missing so I started to think the worst. Luckily I had a good look round and realised that the boxes were actually from a new interactive whiteboard and projector which had been installed over the weekend. There were also some lovely big palms and pot plants to make the space look a bit greener.
Still no furniture but progress! Did a welcome display and managed to locate a colour printer so I can start to make the place look a bit more colourful. Actually had 3 Year 4 classes in during the day to borrow readers. Unpacked the cushions I found in some boxes and let the kids sit down to read for a while. It was great to have company for a little bit.
Catalogued some more readers until the sprinkler guys arrived to do some maintenance. Enough for one day!
Still no furniture but progress! Did a welcome display and managed to locate a colour printer so I can start to make the place look a bit more colourful. Actually had 3 Year 4 classes in during the day to borrow readers. Unpacked the cushions I found in some boxes and let the kids sit down to read for a while. It was great to have company for a little bit.
Catalogued some more readers until the sprinkler guys arrived to do some maintenance. Enough for one day!
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Week 1
Week 1 is almost over already - whizzed by!! Had a day 1/2 handover with the Secondary librarian to get me up to speed with the systems in place. We are using Athena which is little more antiquated than Alice or Oliver but does the job. No OPAC options so will be a little hard on the students but longer term we will move to Alice or Oliver.
I have a fantastic Library space - at present it is just that - a SPACE!! The furniture is on order but there is some delay related to quality so I will have to be patient. I have spent a few days updating the class lists and sorting out the levelled readers which are also kept in the Library here.
Finally sent out a draft timetable today for teachers to choose a slot. I am hoping to offer a combination of fixed and flexible scheduling, like at RCHK in Hong Kong, but am slightly restricted by being a one-woman band. There are 27 classes from Nursery to Y6 but relatively small class sizes, 9 - 17 so only about 370 students in total.
It's going to be a lot of work but a great opportunity to start with a blank sheet. The Principal is very supportive and approved the combined flexible/fixed scheduling, introduction of book bags and a few other ideas.
Will upload some pics of the space soon but internet speeds are much slower in Shanghai so may take a while.
I have a fantastic Library space - at present it is just that - a SPACE!! The furniture is on order but there is some delay related to quality so I will have to be patient. I have spent a few days updating the class lists and sorting out the levelled readers which are also kept in the Library here.
Finally sent out a draft timetable today for teachers to choose a slot. I am hoping to offer a combination of fixed and flexible scheduling, like at RCHK in Hong Kong, but am slightly restricted by being a one-woman band. There are 27 classes from Nursery to Y6 but relatively small class sizes, 9 - 17 so only about 370 students in total.
It's going to be a lot of work but a great opportunity to start with a blank sheet. The Principal is very supportive and approved the combined flexible/fixed scheduling, introduction of book bags and a few other ideas.
Will upload some pics of the space soon but internet speeds are much slower in Shanghai so may take a while.
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