I put together a book display for the adult section, which will be up for the month of September. It was titled Page to Screen, and was made up of books that were adapted into movies and tv shows. I choose this topic for display so that it would generate interest from people who enjoyed the film adaptations and who might be interested in reading the original source material. I figured that these are already popular stories, and would have a built-in audience. 

I printed off the sign using a template from Canva, to which I added a new title, the city logo, and then laminated it. I also printed off two picture of popcorn buckets and 10 pictures of popcorn kernels, laminated them, cut them out, and attached them to the side of the display. I also created a hanging film reel out of a cardboard roll, and printed off pictures of film reels which I hot glued together and then hung from the ceiling using fishing wire and paperclips. I then attached a paper strand of what what looked like film with pictures of the book covers in place of individual frames of film that I created in Canva and printed off. 

Although I spent the majority of this day creating the display, I also had to do some prep work on previous days (8/22 and 8/25), mainly putting together a list of the books that would go in the display and getting them okayed by my supervisor Jessica, and pulling the books from the main shelves. I really enjoyed putting this together! I think it turned out well for my first one, although it did take a little longer than expected. I think the next one will go faster, now that I have a better idea of all the different components of a display. 

I also helped some patrons with checking-in books and doing some shelving. 

I attended our monthly staff meeting ,  and we went over some new hires that were just selected and when they would be starting. We discussed current events related to the new adoption of SB 20, the Texas law that recently went into effect concerning libraries. We also discussed some upcoming local events such as the city volunteer fair, the ceremony for the kids who completed summer reading, and the upcoming pumpkin painting event toward the end of the night. And then we spent the last portion of the meeting painting pumpkins to use as examples for the kids pumpkin painting event coming up. 

I thought the meeting went pretty well, in that it was efficient and got across all the things that were most likely to affect us directly. I did feel a little trepidation in maybe having to explain some of the explanatory talking points about the new SB 20 law to our patrons, wanting to make sure I did it in a way that was clear and correct. I also had a lot of fun painting my plastic pumpkin ( which is the cheshire cat design seen above in the photo) and seeing everyone else's pumpkins as well! 

I spent about 1 hour creating the sign shown above which gives information to our patrons about an upcoming event where people can paint plastic pumpkins and compete in a contest for  the best decorated one and win some small prizes. To create this sign I used acrylic paint pens on a chalk board. The acrylic paint pens can be considered permanent, but usually clean off the chalkboards fine with some scraping and cleaning solution. There are three of these boards in the library which we change out about once a month, to let patrons know about upcoming events. 

I really enjoyed doing this. I have done a couple of these now, and usually find it a nice creative outlet. I asked for opinions about the lettering from my co- workers and looked up a few reference photos on google for inspiration for the pumpkins at the bottom. I wish I would have filled in the green Frankenstein pumpkin (bottom left) so that it read a little clearer from further away. However I really liked the dripping pumpkin goop letters. I also did a lot of shelf cleaning and organizing and shelving  on this day. 

I spent about 1 hour going through our catalog to find books for my next book display in October. For this month I choose the theme of ghost stories. I landed on this topic because my coworker initially gave me an idea which I really liked, which was werewolves vs vampires, but when I looked in our catalog we only had 2 physical books in circulation about werewolves! So I pivoted to thinking about other classic monsters, and landed on ghosts because I think I have a pretty good idea of some cute decorations for the display.  It was actually pretty difficult to find this many books fitting this specific theme. I wanted to get a few more than necessary to fill the display, in case Jess didn't approve one, or a couple were checked out. I had to try several different search terms, such as haunted, spirits, ghosts, ghost stories, haunted house etc. 

I enjoyed this, despite it taking longer than I had planned out. I had fun looking at all the summaries for these books and actually came away with wanting to read several of the books that I put on the list. I turned this list into Jessica for approval. I spent the rest of the day doing shelf reading, cleaning, shelving, and answering patron questions. 

I spent about 2 hours of  my shift on (10/2) working on assembling this display. For two previous days (9/26) and (9/29), I spent around 8 hours of time total constructing the decorations, especially the haunted house, which I created using paint, paper bags, and left over cardboard. I created a 3-D structure out of cardboard for the main house, and the roofs are made out of printer paper, covered with painted paper bag shingles. The windows are painted blue poster paper, with little ghost designs drawn on them using paint pens.

I then gathered up the books I had previously chosen, which were all books about ghosts. I created the background sign in Canva, and made the little ghost sign also in Canva, as I wanted to make sure the sign was readable above the haunted house. It says "Haunted Tales to Haunt Your Mind". The bats were part of the general library decorations put up by my coworkers, and the floating ghosts were made by a former library assistant that I altered slightly to give it some more structure underneath using a plastic cup that I cut and turned upside down. 

I loved completing this, I worked really hard on it, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I also enjoyed that I got to use books from several different genres all concerning the same subject matter. So, Lost on Skinwalker ranch was non-fiction, the dead romantics was romance, All Hallows was suspense etc. I got so happy when people checked out a few of the new books! 

For the rest of my shift on this day I had a practicum meeting with my advisor discussing my main project for this practicum, a Genealogy 101 class, I'll be leading here at the library. I also shelved books and assisted patrons with reference questions. 

I spent about 1 hour of my shift helping my coworkers decorate the entrance of the library with the above pictured stands on lights for Halloween. I held the lights taught and passed my coworker on a ladder tape, scissors, and helped gauge distance. This was a lot of fun! We did it on a morning when the library was closed to patrons due to the homecoming parade in Celina. We spent most of the morning (about 2 hours) processing new books to add to the collection. But this was a welcome break, and something we got to do together. After the library opened back up, I assisted patrons with reference questions and did some shelving. 

I enjoyed spending time with my coworkers discussing future decorations, Halloween plans, and our group costumes for the city employee Halloween party. We are all going as McDonald's characters from the 1990s. I liked getting a little time alone in the library to do some prep work without patrons, as I don't often get that opportunity as a part-time worker. 

I spent about 2 hours creating this flyer. I made it in Canva. I modified a free poster background that was originally a St. Patrick's Day poster. I removed the Irish folk dancers, and confetti, that came with the poster.  I added more foliage, and the tree in the background. I added in my information, and the banner with the date and time. I wanted to get this flyer looking good, so that I can get as many people interested in my class as possible. I originally had a couple of bullet points listed below the address of the resources I planned on going over. However, when I submitted the poster to Jessica, the next day on 10/20/25, she suggested that I replace those with a question because she thought that it would grab the senior's attention better. So, I adjusted it to the form you see above. 

I liked working on this poster, but to be honest I am getting nervous about this upcoming class. I have never led something like this before. However, I was in debate in high school, so I do have a little experience with public speaking. I spoke with a coworker, Moncé, who does children's programming, and she offered to help me with my PowerPoint. I also reached out to my mother, a physician who once taught a sex education course for our local community center, who gave me some advice about not putting too much pressure on it to be perfect. Both of those conversations helped a lot with my nerves! 

I spent about 1 hour of my shift processing new books that we are adding to the collections, mostly picture books.  For each of the ten new books I processed, I did all of the following steps. I created spine labels and added them to the covers one half inch from the bottom of the spine. I attached address labels on the inside front covers, and RFID tags to the back covers. I also then cut and folded a new book cover for each book and affixed it atop the original covers to protect the book from the wear and tear of circulation. I then encoded the RFID tag so that it was associated with the correct book record and was able to be checked in and checked out. I attached a yellow new book tag to the outside of the book jacket and wrote the month and year on it. The new tag alerts our patrons to the new book, and writing the month and year on the tag allows us to know when to remove it, as we only keep a new tag on a book for 3 months. 

I generally enjoy processing books, as I find it kind of mediative and routine by now. I also like getting to put new books out for people and see them getting excited about it. When doing picture books, I often stop and read one or two of the most interesting ones. This can help me give recommendations to people when they come in looking for children's picture books, which is an area of the collection with the most circulation. The rest of the shift I got a few people registered for new library cards, shelved, and answered some reference questions. I also submitted my flyer for the Genealogy 101 class I am hosting to my supervisor Jess for approval.  She suggested a few wording tweaks, but then approved it for use. 

On this day I came to work dressed as a McDonald's character from the 90s, Early Birdie. I got together with all my coworkers for the city workers costume contest, who were also all 90s McDonald's characters, and we looked awesome! I thrifted the majority of my costume, except the pink jumpsuit and the duck bill which I bought off Amazon for cheap. I then added the McDonald's M on the front of the jumpsuit, last minute using tape and construction paper. 

After a quick photo for the contest, I had to head out though. I went on a bookmobile stop with out with Library outreach technician Jackie (the fries) to the early childhood school in Celina. The stop itself lasted an hour, and we had about a half hour of travel and set up, and then another half hour of travel back to the library and to clean up.  We set up a table that was provided for us by the school in front of the bookmobile. We brought candy, stamps, and bookmarks to give away to the kids. We also brought library card applications, library event calendars, bookmobile calendars to give to parents. It was a pretty good turnout for the event, we had about 30 - 40 people come by, and we issued 9 new library cards. 

I had a great time on this day! I loved getting to see everyone's costumes, and I had fun at the bookmobile stop with Jackie.  I liked getting to let people inside the bookmobile and see how excited they were about it. I had fun giving some book recommendations,  and getting to know one of my newer coworkers a little better. 

So for my shift on this day, I started out with doing some shelving, and answering a few reference questions. I issued a few new library cards.  I also did some processing of new books and DVDs coming into the library's collection. Then I spent about half an hour shadowing our Technical Services Librarian Kathy, as she catalogued new items. She talked to me about how she imports marc records, and how she finds marc records when the our book supplier doesn't have them.  She showed me how she creates call numbers for the new books, and talked with me about how the call numbers are changing in our library to try be more consistent and so that we are  prepared for the new library at the beginning of 2027.  I then spent about an hour helping Moncé clean up the city council chambers building from the holiday party the day before, and from her Halloween story-time that morning. She vacuumed while I put tables and chairs back in order.  

I learned so much from this day! I'm so grateful to Kathy for taking the time to show me how she is cataloguing the new books. I learned a lot about how libraries get their marc records, how they create some marc records, and how libraries rely on each other's resources to help make things consistent. I found it so interesting how she was able to use information from the Library of Congress, from Dallas Fort Worth Libraries, and from Frisco Libraries to inform her own cataloging.  

I came in for this day, in order to go to the Ralph O'Dell Senior Center in Celina with our Library Outreach Technician Jackie. I came in specifically to do this outreach in order to advertise about my upcoming Genealogy 101 class. Both  my supervisor and I thought that the community members at the Senior Center might have some interest in the class, and so adjusted my schedule so that I could accompany Jackie on her regular trip. For this trip, we took the bookmobile to the Senior center which was only a few minutes away from the library and set up in their parking lot. We were open for circulation for the first 30 minutes. We did not have any patron visits at this stop. Then we moved inside to join the Senior Center Book club for their meeting. This was a group of about 12 people, who were discussing the book Murder at Gulls Nest: A Novel by Jess Kidd. While there we got asked some questions about what they thought of the book, we gathered their contact info, and we obtained some suggestions for new books for next month. We also signed one of the new members up for a library card. I then spoke for a few minutes about my upcoming genealogy class, and passed out some flyers. I also left a few flyers at the front entrance for people to take. 

I had fun at this bookmobile stop. I enjoyed getting to see the senior center and talk with all the community members there. I liked getting to here their perspectives on the book, and hear what they were looking for in their next book. I thought it was great that they seemed to really enjoy the book club and want to continue with it. I also found it really interesting to see some more of the Library's outreach programing in action. I feel like programs like the senior center book club are a really valuable addition to the community. I  also felt like there was some interest in the class, so hopefully I will be seeing a few of the senior center attendees there.

For this shift I mostly completed reference questions and shelving as we were very busy, but after my shift ended I spent about 2 hours making the slides for my upcoming Genealogy 101 class that I will be hosting on 11/19/25. I added slides going over how to get started with genealogical research. I go over how to use online genealogical services including Ancestry, MyHeritage, Family Search, and Geni. I also go over pros and cons of each, how to use the free versions, and expenses associated with each service. I then have some slides listing online free resources and analog in-person resources that beginners might find useful. Some of these included links to the national archives, the local history museum, and local genealogical societies. For the design of the slides, I used a free template on Canva and made some alterations to it. 

I felt like making the slides gave me a better idea of the order I wanted to go in, and helped me clarify the points I wanted to make. I had a nice time gathering the information for this presentation, and found some useful resources, I am looking forward to exploring myself. Creating the slides was time consuming, and made me a little nervous again about the class, but it also made me excited to get started. 

I arrived 30 minutes before the class was supposed to start at 1:30 PM. My coworkers very kindly helped me set up the table and chairs. We also moved the library furniture around to make space in the center area. I gathered pens, the genealogy books I was referencing, and the example family tree I had prepared. I also printed out some blank family trees for the participants, and a sign-up sheet for anyone who wanted to be sent the presentation slides to have the information for their own reference. I then hooked up my laptop to the TV using an HDMI cord, so that my slides would show on the larger screen.  I then began my presentation, going through my slides and answering questions as I went. The total presentation time was about 45 minutes. I did not have a very large turnout, but the audience that was present was very attentive and asked great questions! 

I felt like the presentation went well, and I was very relieved to have it done! I was a little disappointed that more people did not attend, but maybe next time I could make a social media post, and advertise further ahead of time to get more attendance. I was very grateful for everyone who did come and listen. They were a wonderful audience and asked some thoughtful questions about how to use the resources I mentioned, and how to get around a block in their research. I was so glad to be able to help answer these questions, and had a good time discussing this topic which I find so interesting. 

Today I learned from Moncé, our Youth Librarian, about how she sends out Inter-Library Loan books to other libraries that have requested them. She showed me what our library's ILL system looks like and how to tell which books have been requested, sent out, and shipped out. Then she showed me how to note in the system that the book has been shipped out to send to the library that requested it. I watched as she printed out the library information sheet for the ILL, verified the information, and created address labels for the package. She then enclosed the information sheet and the book inside the package, and we went to the shipping label maker in the mailroom, where she showed me how to generate a paid stamp to attach to the package so that it could be sent out. I also shadowed our Technical Services Librarian Kathy again, as she catalogued the new genealogy books that were added to the collection to supplement my Genealogy 101 class. The rest of my shift I shelved, answered some reference questions, completed some online training, and completed some shelf reading. 

I enjoyed getting to learn more about the ILL process, which is not a part of library services that I have had much experience with.  I was interested to see how an ILL book was shipped out, as we usually just leave them on Moncé's desk with a sticky note. I was excited that the genealogy books I picked out were being catalogued and added to the library's overall collection.  I was very grateful for both Kathy and Moncé's time in showing me how they complete some of their work. 

I went on a Bookmobile stop to the Green Meadows community in Celina with Library Outreach Technician Jackie.  We were there for an hour from 1 PM - 2PM, getting there 30 minutes early for set up. I set up the table, laid out the table cloth and  got supplies for library cards out and ready. We had a pretty good turnout, especially considering that the weather was overcast and drizzling. We had 21 people come by, about 5 checkouts, and 2 new library cards get registered. I spoke with the community members and explained how the bookmobile and library cards worked in general. For the rest of my shift, I took down my previous book display, did some shelf reading, shelving, and answered reference questions. 

I really enjoyed this stop! Jackie and I were concerned about turn-out due to the weather, and were pleasantly survived by the community engagement we had.  I had several nice conversations about the bookmobile services with the new library members, and one of the patrons had an adorable dog! It was nice to get out and get some fresh air, and the HOA person at Green Meadows, gave us some more information about another community in Celina that might be interested in Bookmobile stops. Thank you Ms. Jackie, for letting me tag along!