Since my first week at my job, I have been primarily working with the Lisbon Library. I also volunteer once a week at Southeast Linn Community Center. I was initially going to work at the Lisbon History Center as well but have realized throughout the past weeks that I much more enjoy the library side of things. I went in considering a career in either an archival setting or in a library setting. Within the past couple weeks I have ruled out an archival setting and have stopped helping at the Lisbon History Center. This internship has really taught me that I love being in a library setting. I definitely want to do this as a future career. I like kids, but being a parent sounds exhausting. The idea of maybe being a librarian and being able to interact with kids and to pour into them sounds like a much more reasonable idea. I like knowing that I am impacting people in some way.
I primarily have been working on completing the inventory of the library collection. We have been in the process of changing to a new cataloging system, and we needed to see what we had and what was lost before getting it started. I have gone through every book, toy pack, and movie in the library. I have also weeded out ones to throw away or donate. The ones I have weeded have been damaged, ripped, not checked out in awhile, or are just outdated. There is a lot of new shelf room for more books. Most libraries can keep any books, while also accepting donations, but weeding out materials is part of being a librarian. Because the Lisbon Library is so small, we have to constantly make room for the new things that come in. The library looks unrecognizable from when I came in, due to my work with weeding things out of the collection.
During this process, the librarian and I realized that many children’s books were getting lost on the shelves. We realized that maybe having the books in bins, where the covers face outwards, would make checking out a book easier. Having so many book spines staring at you can be paralyzing. I have now started adding stickers with numbers on them to the cover of each book. Then when they are checked in, we can put them in the right box. We are also realizing we have a lot of new shelf room from this. This seemingly takes up less space, and maybe will allow us to expand our collection.
I have also been leading storytime for the kids at the LECC daycare in Lisbon. They come to the library once a week. The ages range from 2- to 4-year-olds. I have learned a lot about how to adapt on the fly. Sometimes we need to change things up between the 2- and the 3- and 4-year-olds. The 2-year-olds often need more songs and movement, and less complicated stories. The 4-year-olds can have longer storybooks. If kids seem to be too restless, we sometimes have to make up songs on the fly. I’ve also learned about what makes a good book read aloud. A book that has lots of interactive elements, or sound effects, and has less words on a page, is often a good book to read aloud to kids. When I did inventory, I was able to pull quite a few books for storytime, which made my job a little easier. Some of the kids may regulate their emotions in different ways. Something valuable I’ve learned is that if you make an effort to include them, they may enjoy themselves more and behave better. I make an attempt to call on the kids that may have more trouble with transitions, or sitting still, because I think it’s important to make sure that they have a good experience too.
We also have different events each Tuesday. This last week we had the Iowa Raptor Center bring in large birds. A lot of kids and their families showed up. It was a really fun event for people of all ages. I learned more about birds than I have in awhile. There was a kestrel, a red tailed hawk, and a barn owl. The red tailed hawk, Hercules, was huge. She was actually the first hawk to fly over Kinnick stadium. It was really cool to see such an important part of Iowa football history in Lisbon.