Trekking through the wilds of library instruction, management, and fun!

Aug 4, 2014

Easing Into a New Library Position

Changing districts, schools, and school levels isn't easy, and the many details involved with moving my family allowed me to push thoughts of how to execute the transition to the "back burner." However, I finally reached a point this week at which I was able to begin my new adventure! If you find yourself in a similar situation, let me share my how I eased into the unfamiliar waters of a new position even before school begins!

1. School Website
One of the easiest and most important tasks was to publish my profile, create classes, and set up a library web page. In my case, I'm following a master librarian, so I simply modeled the classes and web page information after what she already had in place. K.I.S.S. mentality, folks. It was also interesting to look through the files available to employees.

2. School Board Manual
I wanted to make sure I was aware of anything pertinent to my position, so I searched the online school board manual for terms such as "librarian," "media specialist," etc. I printed everything I found for easy reference later. 

3. Calendar
I need a year long calendar of library events, even if it's tentative. Unfortunately, I've spent the last eight years building such calendars for elementary libraries, and I'm not familiar with what should be included in one for a middle school library. So I'll soon be perusing the calendars for other middle school libraries to get ideas. I expect to receive a school calendar soon, and that will help me nail down dates. 

4. Move In
This week I'll move my things into my new library. Is that essential? Probably not, but I believe I'll feel more at home, and that sense of belonging is something I've missed since I moved out of my old library a couple of months ago.

Okay...that's a start. And that's all I need for now. Easy does it...

Yours happily ever after,