Program--First Impressions: Interviewing & Resumes

11:00 am - 1:00pm
2 hours
Total hours to date: 37

Today, I attended a program planned by the Adult Services Coordinator, Cassie, as part of a series of programs this year called "Live Well in 2012." The program was called "First Impressions: Interviewing & Resumes." I planned to attend this program to serve two purposes:

1. I am interested in the topic since I plan to re-enter the workforce after a ten year absence and need to brush up on my resume and interviewing skills.
2. I thought it would be a great opportunity to attend a program and view it through the lens of both a participant and an intern, learning about what it takes to put on a great program.

I must say that this program was excellent on many levels. The presentation was given by Heidi Ragan, who had formerly served at ASU as Director of Career Services at the Walker College of Business. She was recruited by a company in Hickory and now serves as a Recruiter for Training and Development in a growing company. She has experience in career education and can speak from an employer's perspective regarding the hiring process because that is the role she now fills. As a presenter, she was poised, knowledgable, experienced, and well-prepared. She adapted her presentation to the needs of the audience, took questions as needed, and covered the topics thoroughly, giving tools and resources along the way. She had a power-point presentation which she used as a visual and a guide for the presentation and she also gave out handouts and supplied participants with paper and pen for taking notes. The program was very interactive, with participants feeling comfortable in sharing and asking appropriate questions. The room was comfortable and everything was ready when participants entered the room. Participants were greeted and welcomed with a friendly smile and introduction by both Cassie and the presenter. All-in-all, I was so impressed with the quality of the program. One factor which served as the weak point was the attendance. There were only five adults in attendance, so it was not a large group. After the program, I helped clean up and set the room back to its normal arrangement, and Cassie and I discussed a couple suggestions for what might be done to increase attendance if this class were to be offered again. For this class, she had pre-registered students and had called each person who had pre-registered to remind them of the program, which was smart. It was such a good program, so it would be nice to get the word out. Still, I understand that in programming, there is only so much you can do to plan and promote the program. Attendance is still in the hands of the public.

Summer Reading Planning Meeting, Needlework in the Morning, Front Desk

9:00 am - 2:00 pm
5 hours
Total hours to date: 35 hours

Today, I had the privilege of sitting in on a planning meeting for the Summer Reading Program. The meeting was led by Betty, the Assistant Director, along with staff from all three library branches. This was their second planning meeting, and they each were supposed to review their planning notebooks and come in with ideas to share. I learned that the NC state library produces these notebooks of ideas, along with the state-wide theme, and they provide 3 notebooks to the BCPL. Betty said she also buys a few more copies so that there are enough copies for key personnel at each branch. Planning for the summer reading program begins with the first meeting in January and they meet monthly to get ready for the big series of programs and activities involved in the Summer Reading Program.
The theme this year is: Dream Big. Read!

I also learned that libraries share ideas through a forum available on NCLive, called NCKids, and anyone can subscribe to that List Serve, so I did.

"NC public library youth services staff can collaborate and receive real-time communication from the State Library via NCkids list serve. Also,view past posts via the list's archive."
----from http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ld/youth/index.html

The staff shared ideas for weekly theme activities as well as ideas for weekly reading incentives for kids and ideas for larger kickoff events. They discussed whether or not to try and hire one or two acts for these activities and decided to have three events with one being an activity with a hired performer and the other two would be planned and staffed by library personnel. Staff members were given tasks to complete or research to do and the next meeting date was scheduled for Friday, March 23 at 9:00 am at the CB Hildebran branch.

I was also able to join in with the ladies who were participating in the bi-weekly activity, "Needlepoint in the Morning." I had promised them last time that I would bring some of the things my grandmother had made, including an afghan she had started for me but wasn't able to finish before she passed away. I have held onto the yarn, the pattern, and the work she had started for all these years (she passed away in 1994), in the hopes of either learning to knit so I could finish it myself or paying someone to finish it for me. The ladies looked at it, examined it, and gave their opinion on what could be salvaged and how it might be redone. Then, Frances, the senior-most expert of the group, offered to take it home and work on it a little to see if it could be finished. I am so humbled that she would be so generous with her time and talent for me when we've only met just recently. Carmen had brought some beautiful beaded necklaces that she had made and even gave away a couple of them to participants in the group. These ladies care about each other and this group has become an important part of their schedule. They use the time to create, to knit/crochet/etc. but also to share their creativity and to socialize.

When the group ended at noon, I helped clean up, then helped out at the front desk and helped a patron find some information he needed for a research project on herbal medicines using resources in the NC room.

Day Six--NC Room, Event Planning Meeting, Front Desk

9:00 am - 2:00 pm
5 hours
Total hours to date: 30

Today, I started off in the NC Room with Gale. We discussed a snag in her efforts to send microfilm to be digitized. There is a copyright issue involving The News Herald and its parent company, so she must hold off on sending microfilm to be digitized with a different company. It was her understanding that she could have reels dated pre 1978 digitized, but there is some dispute about it so she must clear up the matter before proceeding. I was able to do a little detective work because she had received 3 email requests for research since Tuesday, so I tried to find answers and sources for these patrons. One patron wanted copies of two unrelated news articles from the local paper. One was an article on a local business, and the other was a wedding article with photo printed in The News Herald. Using the vertical file, I searched for the requested article about the business, but there was no such article in the file. Without further details, it may be difficult to find this article without considerable research; the only information given was the nature of the article and a year--1956. Since the microfilm is not indexed, this job would take quite a while. However, if we had these microfilm reels digitized, like Gale is trying to do, it would be so much easier for patrons to locate such information, even from their own homes. I was able to locate the wedding article and print out a copy for the patron. The patron had given the wedding month and year and names of bride and groom, so Gale suggested that I check the marriage records books first in order to find the exact date of the wedding. Using that date as a starting point (March 6, 1970), I was able to locate the article (March 17, 1970). I enjoy doing this kind of research for patrons, but Gale cautioned me that she must be wary of time spent on this type of work because she has so much else to do and must prioritize by considering how much time and effort would need to be spent on the tasks. Although she is able to charge a fee for research service, there is no guarantee that money will come back to the NC room since it is turned in to the county.

Mr. Wilson asked me to attend a staff meeting at 11:00 in the meeting room downstairs; in attendance were Mr. Wilson, Alicia (YA), Chesley (Children) and Cassie (Adult Programming). The meeting was mainly run by Alicia, who is planning a large event to be held in May, the Taste of Culture. This event has been run each year for the last 4 years and consists of 15 to 20 tents/booths representing different countries, historical & community organizations, and library organizations--and lots of FOOD. It incorporates information and entertainment with a multicultural focus and is held on the lawn of the library campus. With a budget of $4000, funded in part from a grant by the Arts Council, it is a big event. Morganton Parks and Recreation is also involved. In the meeting, Alicia distributed a flier, performance schedule, and a map that were used in the previous year's event to refresh everyone's memory about the event and stimulate ideas. They discussed what worked and what didn't work as well as the types of equipment that were used to determine what would be needed for this year's event. Plans were discussed about inclement weather and it was decided that the leftover passports from last year could be used again. Participants who visit booths will receive a stamp at each booth and will be able to show their passports for a reward at the end. Chick-fil-A had supported this activity in the past with a coupon for a prize, but another prize will have to be determined since that business no longer operates in town.

Performers from the previous year were discussed--some worked out well and will be asked back, some will not be asked back, and another group requested more money for their fee. Children's activities were discussed; need to choose an alternate activity besides chalk art because it was not popular last year. Possible ideas include photo stand-up artwork and Chesley will work on some other ideas. Center for Cultural Diversity in Asheville has had an informational poster-size panel display which could be held inside the library. Marketing plans were discussed--banners at library and across street in downtown. There was a concern about whether or not the cost of the second banner would be worth it in the long run because there was limited access time for the banner to be put up. The banner should include minimal information so it can be read easily by drivers. Other plans for marketing include: city and library website, facebook, radio, newspaper, schools. We may offer free water if a donation can be found. April 3, Cassie and Alicia will attend the Cultural Festival at ASU to try and research local acts and make contacts for future programming efforts. They also discussed number of garbage cans, volunteers, and Friends of the Library book sale at the event. Next meeting time would be March 9 at 11:00 am. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, and it was rather eye opening to me. I was amazed at the amount of planning and the fine details that must be accounted for in events of this size. Alicia gave me an advanced copy of the YA events calendar for March so I can try and fit some of the activities in my schedule. I am excited about the topic because it is related to the Hunger Games (since the movie comes out in March). There are 9 activities!!!! This library really does put a lot of energy into the programming.

The rest of the day, I helped out at the front desk and shelved adult fiction.

Day Five--NC Room

9:00 am - 12:30 pm
3.5 hours
Total hours to date: 25

Today, I spent my entire time in the NC room with Gale, the curator, and I was able to work on a variety of jobs. I started out shelving materials (books, archived materials, and vertical files) and recording statistics. There are so many various types of information contained in this room, it is truly amazing and complex. It will take a while to truly understand where everything is kept. I also looked up names and contact information for all the Social Studies department chairs at each of the county's high schools for the Genealogical Society.

I helped Gale locate information to help a patron (from Pennsylvania) who had requested genealogy information via email. That was easily the most interesting and exciting part of the day. The patron wanted information about a possible family connection to a specific road and a church in the county. Using Burke County Heritage volumes 1 and 2, vertical file--church history, and Edward Phifer's History of Burke County, we were able to trace the history of the family name connection to the road and church, and I made copies for Gale to send to the patron.

Gale also showed me several photographs that a patron had emailed to donate to the Picture Burke Project. She will need to contact the patron and explain that the library would be unable to use the digital photos in their current form because the resolution is too low for the Picture Burke standards. She will request that the patron bring in the originals, if possible, so that they may be scanned at the proper resolution.

While I was there, a gentleman who works at the Burke County History Museum came in to let us know about a past special edition of The News Herald that he wanted to see if we had a copy of in the NC Room. It is from March 30, 1997, Section H, "Images of Burke II," and contains 14 pages of historical information and photographs of black schools in the county. He thought this might be a good resource for patrons. Gale found this issue in the vertical file, but the section H was missing. She isn't sure if it had once been included but was removed or if it was never part of the collection. We agreed that it would be worth pursuing to try and get a copy for the library. That led to a discussion with Gale about The News Herald's lack of archived copies of the newspaper. I learned that some newspapers have a "morgue" or collection of previous editions of the newspaper that can be used for reference and that The News Herald once had such a collection but decided to throw these away at some point. Now, the only archived copies of the News Herald are contained in the state archives or at the library--Microfilm or clipped articles in the vertical file. Gale is currently seeking funding for a project in which old reels of microfilm (containing the newspaper archives) will be digitized and will become searchable online, after receiving original approval and enough funding to get started. I hope to help her get this project underway. She will be sending off 40 reels for digitization soon and will be seeking grant money to expand this project. Both of us feel like this is a worthwhile project that has great potential for library patrons both in Burke County and elsewhere.

Day Four--Needlework in the Morning, NC Room

9:00 am - 2:00 pm
5 hours
Total hours to date: 21.5

Today, I started out helping Cassie, the Adult Program Coordinator, set up for "Needlework in the Morning." This is a small group of women who meet from 10 am to 12 noon on the 2nd and 4th Fridays each month and sit together to socialize and do needlework--crochet, knitting, crewel, etc. This meeting occurs when the library is closed to the public, so those participating enjoy a period of uninterrupted time and have more freedom to speak without worrying about noise. Light refreshments are provided, and the atmosphere is casual and friendly. I wish that I had known ahead of time that I would be in this group because I could have brought my own crochet supplies, but Cassie gave me some yarn and a needle. I haven't crocheted in about 3 years, and I only have a minimal, beginner's experience, so I was able to get some help and advice from the other ladies. By the end of the two hours, I felt as if I had made friends with the ladies as well as gotten a jumpstart on my crocheting skills. It really was fun and I felt a little guilty because it didn't feel like work to me to spend time with these ladies. Although the activity isn't directly tied to books or literacy, some of the discussion centered around books, travel, and an interesting conversation on the pros and cons of e-readers. This type of programming is designed to foster a sense of community, sharing, and learning, which is integral to a library's mission.

Aside from my time with the needlework group, I was able to help Jeannie pull books that had been requested by patrons and I helped Gail in the NC room with copying and dating newspaper clippings and excerpts from books. I was also able to help a patron/volunteer in the NC room with Microsoft Word and I spent a small amount of time working at the front desk. From my discussions with the director, Mr. Wilson, I have learned that programming is a very important component of the Burke County Public Library services. I feel like he has directed me toward access to these programs while I have been here because he wants me to get a feel for these types of library services. So far, I have enjoyed all of the work I've been involved with at the library, from the mundane clerical tasks to the special programs.

Program--Author's Luncheon

12:00 -1:30 pm
1.5 hours
Total hours to date: 16.5

Today, I had the opportunity to attend the annual Friends of the Library Author's Luncheon, featuring author, Katerina Whitley. She spoke on her experiences living in Greece as a child during the World War II period, her love of books and reading, and she described the types of books she has written. Her most recent book, Around a Greek Table – Recipes and Stories, will come out in March. The food service staff had prepared several of Katerina's recipes from her cookbook for the luncheon, and the food was so unusual and delicious.


I was privileged to sit with one of the librarians from the Valdese branch and I look forward to visiting her library later in the internship. We also learned we have a mutual friend who attended the luncheon as well. This was an annual luncheon sponsored by the Friends of the Library as a service to the community. Although the Friends did sell books at this function, it was not technically a fundraiser. I estimate that there were about 90-100 people in attendance. I am so glad to have had the chance to attend and hear from this wonderful author, in the company of so many members of the community who share a love of books and a desire to promote reading and library services.

Day Three--Children's Room, Baby Bookworms, Main Desk

9:00 am - 2:00 pm
5 hours
15 hours to date

Today, I began the day in the Children's room, located in the basement of the library. There, Kimberly showed me many of the procedures and routines of the children's section. I learned how to check in and check out books, procedures for managing bookdrop, rerouting phone calls to the cell phone, where to place specific groups of books on the J cart or E cart, managing holds, and the locations of various types of materials in the Children's room. In this area, the following separate sections exist: parent resource materials, videos, easy readers, picture books, juvenile fiction, biographies, non-fiction, packet/audio-visual materials, magazines, computers, play area, display above ramp. I also had the privilege of helping Halee set up the classroom for a group of 1-year-olds, the Baby Bookworms. I helped set up the room for refreshments and crafts and helped to supervise the program. Approximately 12 children attended, accompanied by a parent/grandparent. Usually, this program consists of a story time and a craft or activity, but today, it was a special Valentine's Day party. The children made a valentine using paint, stickers, and construction paper. They also ate a snack together--cupcakes, pretzels, teddy grahams, cheese cubes, and a juice drink. The kids and the parents also exchanged Valentine cards and everyone seemed to have fun. Halee and I discussed the possibility that I may be able to help out with toddler story time on Tuesdays. This activity was fun and I really enjoyed being involved. I met and talked with several of the parents, grandparents, and kids. As a parent, I can appreciate this kind of activity for young children. It provides the opportunity for children and their caregivers to engage in a structured activity with other kids of similar age. Many children do not have frequent interaction with other kids their age, when they do not attend a daycare, so this type of program provides that special opportunity for social interaction as well as helping to expose children and their parents to books and the library's services.

After spending the morning in the Children's room, I went upstairs to help out at the main desk. I learned more about helping patrons to print from computers and did a good deal of shelving fiction. In the paperback section, there were several rows that were in need of some major rearranging because they had become so out of order that it was difficult to place anything. So I did what I could to remedy problems in those areas. It is an impossible expectation to expect perfect order and accuracy with shelving, especially when patrons often re-shelve books as they are browsing. When it becomes difficult to re-shelve because there are so many books out of place, order really must become a priority. I made final plans to attend the annual Friends of the Library Author's luncheon that will take place tomorrow. Several members of the library staff will also be attending. I am excited to be able to attend.

Day Two--NC Room & Main Desk

9:00 am -2:00 pm
5 hours
Total hours to date: 10

Today, I started out working with Gale, the Curator of the North Carolina Room at the library. This is the special collection of regional memorabilia, county records, and genealogical information. Since the library is not open to the public on Fridays until lunchtime, I was assigned to work with Gale to learn about the NC Room from 9 until noon; then I went back up to the front desk. Since I had previously met Gale and had an extensive tour of the NC room as part of a research project for my Genealogy class last spring, she did not give me another tour. Instead, she walked me through her duties and showed me several other features of the NC room that I had not seen before.

I was astounded for a number of reasons. First, for someone who has been working at this job for ten years without any previous library background, Gale is surprisingly knowledgeable about Burke County geography, family names, regionally famous people, etc. Also, I was amazed at the sheer variety of media and types of information that can be found in this collection--land grants, newspaper archives, realia, newspaper clippings, microfilm, archived documents and books, county and state documents and lists, historical writings, published and unpublished family histories, maps, etc. Finally, I was surprised at the amount of work one person is expected to accomplish and maintain control over as well as the commitment level of several volunteers who regularly help out in the NC room. I learned procedures for copying and filing news articles for the vertical file, the process of keeping statistics on items used by patrons (books, v.file, microfilm), how to rough-sort and re-shelve vertical file materials, archived materials, land grants, layout of different sections and groupings of bound titles, copying procedures, etc. We discussed prioritizing tasks and projects according to areas of most need. Patrons, of course, would come first, but many worthwhile projects and organizing tasks have to take a back seat because there is so much to do. Gale showed me several areas of storage, outside the NC room, including a cabinet of archival items that need to be documented, cataloged and stored properly. We had an extensive discussion about a new project that Gale is very excited about--Access Newspaper Archive--which is an online subscription service of searchable newspapers across the nation. She is hoping to raise the money to get 40 reels of pre-1978 Burke County newspaper microfilms digitized and uploaded to this service, allowing them to become searchable from any computer. She demonstrated the program by searching other newspapers in NC that have already done some of this, and explained the BCPL has paid the $1300 annual institutional fee to have access to these records. We talked about the possibility of working on grant proposals to raise money for this project. I certainly hope to have the opportunity to work further in this part of the library for my internship.

At noon, when the library opened for patrons, I went to the front desk and helped several different ladies monitor the front desk activities. I met Nicole, who works in acquisitions and front desk, and Alicia, who is in charge of the YA department. I was able to talk with Alicia more about her duties, the YA Advisory Council, and several upcoming programs. I also shelved books , music, and audiobooks in the YA section. I collected overdue fines and copy/print fees, and learned to release print jobs for computer users. I also helped patrons at the front desk with check-in/check-out, updated addresses, and helped locate materials placed on hold. I made plans to attend an annual Friends of the Library Author's Luncheon which will be held next Thursday, February 9 and will feature Katerina Whitley who will speak on "My Greek Legacy." Programming is definitely an important component of the Burke County Public Library.