The Calm Between the Storms

There has not been much action in the library today other than the usual group of students who like to hang out in here watching videos on their cellphones and playing Yu-gi-oh cards. It makes up for yesterday afternoon when the after school students were making a lot of noise out in the halls, wandering in and out of here because they had left their backpacks. A couple girls came in 3 times supposedly looking for a textbook, Each time, I told them I didn't have a copy. Lots of drama, and I eventually closed the library door because I was working and was afraid students might be visiting backpacks of other students. A fair amount of thievery goes on in the library.

Today I prepared for tomorrow's Professional Development, looking for some websites to make into a webpage about Shakespeare and his world. I signed up for a free account on TeachersFirst, which has some interesting lesson plans and a section on Web 2.0 for the classroom. Now I'm continuing to catalog books in preparation for making spine labels for them. I want to clear this office out this year, and house a Professional Development section of books for teachers in here.

I went window shopping for Shakespeare materials, and saw some good graphic novels put out by Barrons and Classic Comics. I'd love to have some money for those.

Tales from the Trenches: Library Life in the Big World of Books

We are missing YouTube videos of SpongeBob Squarepants getting blown up and Bugs Bunny becoming Bunny Stew after over 60 years of successfully evading Elmer Fudd all because the district is busy protecting you from questionable content over the internet. Don't worry! Just find your nearest middle schooler with a cellphone, and your learning curve can take off, too. While we're on the subject, eblogging is now a less subversive activity as the district filters are letting you read this.





Let's see, On this inauguration of "Tales from the Trenches," so far today, the door frame has swollen from recent rain thus preventing the back door from closing properly. When you have a problem, hand it off as quickly as possible to someone else, which I have done so successfully. (Those guys looked like they're happy to do it, too.) That should be in the Library Manual.





I'm putting together book wish lists for which I have no money, but I truly believe in the magic of making lists and thinking, and voila, in comes a solution. Example: Librarian Magic:I woke up thinking about how I needed to drop a note to one of the artistic-types around the school to unload the old card catalog, and do you know what happened? Before I even wrote the note, she came down with a student looking for information about Bahrain, asked about the card catalog, and I told her that the card catalog is the computer, and that the old card catalog is sitting around in pieces. "Can I have it? I'm an artist, and I love those things!" Sold! See how the universe works, and why we need more magical books in the library!





Productivity:I get so much done around here, even if no one knows about it, and never mind the methodology. Things do get done, in a lifetime of living magically.





Special Request of the Day: (something like Soup de Jour): Can I barcode Yu-gi-oh cards? Can I barcode Yu-gi-oh cards! You bet, and I bet we can get a Noodletools citation as well, but I think that is for someone with a more advanced knowledge of Noodletools.





Special Challenge to Librarians: Let's see you do a Noodletools citation for a Yu-gi-oh card.