Feedback

Over the past couple of days I've posted my web site URL on my course discussion board and sent it to friends and family to review. I've received compliments and suggestions. Some of the suggestions include grammatical corrections and editing the page layout. I've added each comment to an editing list that I've written for each page. Most of the changes come from my own observation but it is great when someone notices an error that I overlooked. I realize that sometimes it is easy to get lost in the formatting and design of the page and let the attention to the content take a back seat. I really appreciate the suggestions and the encouragement. Composing the text of a web page is best done in Word and then copied and pasted into the layout. This allows fewer grammatical errors to be made.

The New Yorker day-by-day calendar 5/8/07

My theme paper has been off to a slow start. The beginning of any paper is always the hardest part for me and the editing takes the longest. I have potentially a dozen or so sources to use if needed. Three of my eight theme books are due tomorrow and I'd hate to tarnish my no fine status! I have asked for no interruptions in the house and hopefully any noise will be minimal, I don't want to have to use my librarian face! I look forward to turning in my final draft because that means I will have about three weeks ahead of me to read non-school related literature and I'll have time to get organized for my last course in this program.

The Writing Can Begin

I finished The Garbage King this afternoon. It was a good book with a really positive ending. It wasn't the best of the eight I read for my theme paper; I think Crow-Girl gets that prize. I'd still recommend both books for young adults and adult readers of ya lit. Tomorrow I shall begin writing my theme paper. Tonight will be spent reading over the theme paper instructions (once again) and organizing all my sources--I might even be super ambitious and compose an outline just for kicks!



My Entertainment Weekly came in the mail today with "36 pages of pottermania!" If you have not finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows do not read this EW edition yet. It is full of spoilers. On the plus side it is full of fun facts about the seven books and their impact on the rest of the entertainment world. I can't wait for the amusement park to open up at Universal Studios in Florida!


Harry Potter theme park; EW issue #946 August 3, 2007

We Have Lift Off!

My web site is up and running as of this afternoon! What a labor intensive, yet unbelievably exciting and beneficial, process. The decision to purchase a domain name and a host provider was a good move. I used godaddy.com as my host provider as well. Hopefully I'll be able to use the site as another tool to show potential employers my abilities. My main intention is to keep the site as a tool for myself. I found several helpful and unique sites for young adult reading interests and library programs. There are a few things that I need to tweak still but I will get those taken care of before my web site due date of 7/31.

Things are still moving along for the shift at work. We have shifted over 400 shelves this week, including our awkward and heavy art books. In addition to the shift, recruitment has begun for circulation. We are filling our part-time library assistant II position. We are interviewing a couple candidates next week. I will say that the interviewing process for my current job was one of the most grueling. The length of time (2 hours) and number of people I met during the interview (felt like 20) seemed overwhelming at the time. We are trying to fine-tune our interview questions in hopes of receiving more detailed responses.

I intend to have The Garbage King finished by this weekend and to get a jump start on my theme paper due 8/3. I've received positive feedback about my topic, the struggles of orphans, from my professor. I've read eight novels (which will include The Garbage King) all of which take place and are written by authors outside the U.S.--hence the course title: International literature for children and young adults. Updates on this blog will also be accomplished this weekend.

Ideas Afloat

I showed my blog to my supervisor and she is very excited about creating a blog for circulation. We have several student assistants and their work schedule is even crazier than ours. Email is the only way that we communicate changes with all of them no matter what shift we or they work. However, we have found that they do not really check their school email very often. The idea is that a 'friendly' blog would be more casual and interesting to them. We could post procedure changes or notify them of the next staff party in a creative format. I think we should also have a ticker counting down to Christmas break, spring break, summer break, or any other event that evokes delight. My supervisor and I will probably get started on this project once we get the OK from our reference librarian supervisor.

I've been listening to Prey by Michael Crichton on my commute to work for about a week now. The reader is excellent and the story is rather interesting, although the techie stuff is way over my head. Anyway, I recommend listening to it.

Amerian Libraries June/July 2001

1, 2, 3.....Cheese!!

The shifting continues as does the influx of more new books to shelve. Our IT reference librarian has been busy working on re-vamping our library web site. He and I discussed some of the programs to use for web design. He is very comfortable with coding by hand in notepad and working from there. The new pages are such a huge improvement. They are very user-friendly and pleasing to the eye.

My hours after work have been spent taking pictures to post on this blog and my web pages. Picture taking has always been a hobby of mine but I'm not overly fond of having my own picture taken. Ah, the sufferings I endure in the name of education! I also registered my domain name today at godaddy.com. I've been designing the pages since early last week and it looks like everything will be added and ready for publishing tomorrow (fingers-crossed).

A Shifty Day

We've started a mini-shift at the library where I work. This is the first shift that I've participated in. The library recently received some money, all of which has to be spent on the purchase of new books only. We've been spending like crazy because of the whole 'if you don't use it, you lose it' theory. Therefore, our shelf space has become a little congested. It's not such a bad process as long as you only work in groups of two. I've also discovered that it's a great way to see books in our collection that I wouldn't ordinarily look at. A review process has also ensued--we're not calling it weeding but we are reviewing to see if certain copies would be useful at any of our three center libraries. Another benefit of the shift is the day just flew by!

After work I did some more editing and designing for my web site. This evening I think I'll try Google Pages or Geocities with Yahoo to register for web space. I could register through FSU for space but I'd like to use the site after I graduate as a personal tool and possibly for potential employers to visit.

I'm still working on The Garbage King. Dani, one of the two main characters, comes from a very rich family but I think he is getting ready to run away. Mamo, the other main character, is poor and a stranger claims to be his uncle and then sells him to work for a cruel farmer. The boys have not met each other yet, I'm only on chapter 5. I think I've been reading a little slow because this is the last book I need to read for my theme paper. I'm wrongfully assuming that I have plenty of time. I hope to start my paper next Monday and be ready to submit it that Wednesday (2 days early!). This way I can leave ahead of schedule to visit my folks while they vacation in Myrtle Beach.

Secrets Revealed (but not by me)

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today at 2:30am. I did not intend to be up so late but two things kept me reading: the need to know what would happen in the next chapter, then the next, then the next, and so on; and also the fear that someone would let something slip about the book. I shall not make any comments about the book except that it was worth standing in line for two hours until the midnight release.

I've also made some improvements to my web pages, submitted my theme paper bibliography assignment, and started the last book for my theme paper The Garbage King. The Garbage King takes place in Ethiopia and tells the story of two boys, one is an orphan and the other a runaway, who join a gang.

The majority of this week will be spent working on this blog, my web page, and finishing The Garbage King.

Must Read Faster!

It's been a busy couple of days. I'm making good progress on my web pages. The Teach Yourself Visually Dreamweaver MX book I checked out two weeks ago has been put to good use. I'd recommend any of the Teach Yourself Visually books. I've already used one for digital photos and it was also helpful.

I also finished another book, A Bushel of Light, for my theme paper in international literature for children and young adults. It's the story of twin girls, orphans, separated when they were eight years old. They become farmhands and housemaids and are increasingly distracted by the memory of each other. Maggie, the main character, thinks of ways to escape and find her twin Thomasina. The novel falls within my theme of orphans but it also has the unique element of twin connections.

BookPage: America's Book Review February 2007

Anyway, most of today has been spent working on my web pages using Dreamweaver CS3 in between reading chapters of the last Harry Potter book. My goal is to reach at least page 500 before I go to sleep. This will leave me 259 pages left to read on Sunday. I think I can pull it off.

The Beginning

Greetings!! This is my first post so I'll give some introductory information. I work as a circulation assistant at a university library in middle Georgia. I'm close to completing my M.L.S. and I'm working hard to learn everything I can about working in a library. I'm the financial coordinator and reserves assistant for circulation and I offer to help reference whenever I can. It's been a slow summer as far as patrons are concerned but summers are usually full of projects and meetings (this is what I've been told, it's only my second summer working here). A mini-shift is in the works, as is an overhaul of our procedures manual.

I hope this blog will be an interesting way for potential employers to get to know my interests and efforts in school and at work. Friends and family are welcome to observe as well ;-)

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson