1 A Day in the Life (Library Style)

Y'all! The League is back!!  Emily and I have gotten our act together and we sincerely want to share some of our fun times with you.

Tuesday is storytime day at my library, and I wanted to take you through my day.  There's no such thing as a typical day in the life of a children's librarian, but this is what today was like.  Enjoy! 


7:45 – Arrive at library. My storytime room has no vents, so on cold mornings I try to come in a few minutes early and put space heathers in there so it will be warm enough for my babies.  I also get the books out that I’m reading and get my music ready.

8:00 – My employee D. gets here and she straightens shelves and clears the cart of the books that are left over from last night.

8:15 – We’re having our annual “Come in From the Cold” program starting this morning where we provide coffee and snacks for our patrons, so I go into the kitchen and make fancy coffee in this mammoth industrial coffeemaker that one of our sponsors lent us.

This thing is behemoth, y'all. But the coffee is SO GOOD.

8:30 – I take a phone call assuring a worried dad that yes, we are having Baby Bookworms, even though it’s storming  Since it is raining, my numbers probably will be much lower than they usually are.

8:40 – I sit at my desk with a bowl of grits and a giant cup of fancy patron coffee (sorry I’m not sorry) and answer an email from a teen. I update the Facebook page for the Mississippi Children’s Choice Award.  I also talk on the phone to K., the youth services coordinator for the system, about the open position in my department that we’re trying to fill.

9:30 – Baby Bookworms! I had 8 kids, which is actually quite a lot for when it’s raining.  This program is for kids up to 3 years old.  I read two books about Valentine’s Day and I sang some songs with them—Laurie Berkner, Dr. Jean, the usual ones that they love.  Afterwards, we pull out some large toys, board books, and manipulatives for them to play with.  Between storytimes, D. cleans and sanitizes these toys.

10:25 – Answer a quick reference question at the desk between storytimes.

10:30 – Preschool Story Time! We have 5 kids, which is down a LOT but it’s thundering and lightning pretty hard.  I’ve had up to 22 for this group.  We make a fun Valentine’s craft and some of the kids pass out little Valentine’s happies to the others—it’s super cute. I’ve had a lot of these kids for several years and this group is great fun.

11:30 – I need to write a letter to some high school students that took a survey for me.  Their teacher wants me to make it a powerpoint or a Prezi so she can present it to them instead of just reading it. I have to really push through on Tuesdays to get work done after storytime, but I get a good start and I also get some SRP prep done.

1:00 – even though it’s pouring rain outside, I still venture out to meet a friend for lunch. I usually eat in my office, but sometimes I just need an hour away from the building!

2:00 – back to my desk. Sort through a few emails, check social media, take a quick peek at NetGalley/Edelweiss to see if there’s anything I can’t live without.

2:05 – Keep working on presentation for the high school, trying to figure out how to incorporate a panoramic photo of the teen center. Meet with D. about SeussFest, an upcoming program that is usually one of our biggest of the year. I ask her to finish up displays and make craft examples. I direct a teen volunteer to my colleague J. who is setting up for adult programming.  I do research about passive programming that might work in my branch, then continue planning storytimes for April, May, June, and July (D. pulls about 40 additional picture books for me to look at). 

Not even halfway though with ST planning.

 3:15 – a regular family that we all love has braved the rain and come in, so I stop to say hi!

3:30 – I fully intended to do more storytime planning this afternoon, but my brain cannot look at it anymore today.  I switch to collection development and start working on my order for next month.  Necessary, but also my favorite part of my job!! Not only do I prepare a cart for my branch, I do a cart to help K.  send suggestions to all the youth services staff in my library system. I'm reading reviews and looking at prepub sources today.

4:00 – Maggie Stiefvater reveals cover and title for the Raven Boys sequel. I do the children’s librarian hop and squeal, and am giddy for far, far too long. Pretty sure this is the beginning of the end of my productivity for the day.

4:30 – take a peek at my google reader to see if anything exciting has happened today that the twitter hasn’t informed me of.  Read several book reviews (they're my crack).

4:50 – Check and make sure J. is all set for the evening and then head out!

So, fellow librarians, are your days comparable?  Let us know in the comments!  And watch out for Emily's recap of an awesome event she had last week that will be posted in the next day or two!

Ally