knitting librarian

Well, school started—for AJ and for me. I don’t know where the last month has gone, but it sure has flown by!

I’ve completed several knitting projects this weekend. First Kael’s Baby Blanket was completed. I can’t wait to photograph it. My friend Theresa has this gorgeous round crib that I think will make a suitable backdrop. I’ve also got an idea for a picture with one of our quilt bears and an antique rocking chair at my aunt’s house. After I get some decent pictures, I’ll get everything finalized for submitting to knitty for possible publication. Because of this, I can’t show off the pictures in advance. I also felted a vase for my One Skein Gift Exchange on my knitting parents group and a bowl I’d like to put out in Theresa’s shop for sale. I love the way they both came out!

I read Mary Monroe’s God Don’t Like Ugly this past weekend (still have 22 pages left in it) and will start the sequel, God Still Don’t Like Ugly tonight if I stay awake to finish book one! I also read a very cool mystery by Maggie Sefton for my WhoDuKnit mystery readers/knitters group, called Knit One, Kill Two. There are two more to find and read in that series. I really like her writing—good plot twists.

AJ is thriving at his new school/daycare. He’s even heading toward potty trained—he’s got peeing down, if we could just get him to poop somewhere other than his pull up, we’d be in business! The school is a great fit for him and we’re really glad we made this change.

I haven’t heard if my Collection Mapping project has been approved, so I may just be observed by walk throughs this year. Given everything else going on, if that’s how it works out, I’ll be all right with that. I’ve still got plenty of time to work on this goal.

Life has been crazy and we’re hoping on adding to the craziness in a while. We’ll see what we see on Friday! sigh I hope we see only good things.

Here is what I turned in to my principal as my professional goal:

Create a collection map to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the library collection. Data will be used to examine the holdings and determine whether they meet the needs of classroom teachers to support the curriculum and the informational and recreational needs of students. This will then be used to create a collection development plan to obtain materials to meet student and teacher needs.

The books I requested are Collection Assessment and Management for School Libraries and The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and Information Sources. I will also be using Information Power and The Information Powered School which I already own.

I know I will need to get my principal on board and will need him to request faculty participation in surveys to see what is in classrooms. We’ll see how it all goes.

Today I wrote my professional goal for next year. Instead of formal evaluation/observations, I am requesting the “Self-Directed Growth” option. I was flipping through some of the books I had nearby including The Information Powered School and found a chapter on collection mapping. I’ve been interested in curriculum mapping but still need to find the means to get onto that job in my district. I figure in the meantime, I can examine my collection and try to develop a plan to make it better and meet the needs of my teachers and students.

I did some quick searching and found a few possibilities for resources which I will include in another post (when I have the time to get cover images, etc.). I also posted a request to LM_NET for resources that members there recommended. In my plan, I listed two potential books to be purchased, but they’ve got older copyright dates. I’ve found a few things online as well. It was interesting to me to see the responses to my target that came in quickly… they both recommended Follett or Sagebrush’s collection analysis tools. I think that is a great place to start, but I don’t think that they will give me the detailed information I think mapping requires. My understanding at this point is that the difference between analysis and mapping is that mapping takes a look at the curriculum and school community needs (meeting the diversity of population, reading levels, etc.) where analysis just looks at what is and what could be purchased to meet “exemplary collections” or something along those lines.

I think the mapping will be beneficial to me because I’ll be able to really examine what teachers think is important in their curricula and can see where the library is and is not supporting those needs. I expect this plan to be long-term with analysis/mapping taking place this year and developing a plan to update the collection as the needs are identified.

I’m excited about my goal and hope that it will be approved. Wish me luck!