Day 5 started with a lot of breakthroughs. First came when I again exported my picture book collection report. This time I reorganized the fields, in Sierra, in the order I wanted them to be displayed: Call number, barcode, title, author, internal note, message(item), and description. Then exported it into an excel spreadsheet and it worked perfectly. This order with the ‘description’ field at the end allowed the fields to not become dispersed/expanding over 3 or 4 columns. I printed the report and started viewing the collection. I viewed the World Language section of the picture book collection to evaluate for literacy topics, marking possible reading level distinctions and word families but did not find any letter sounds or figurative language items. Next week, when my supervisor returns, I will get feedback on this sampling of work. I have also divided the report into 8 sections which correlate with the layout of the collections shelving units.

These next images are shots of a questionnaire created for seeking information from the children’s librarians and staff at the PFE location. This questionnaire helps me meet Goal 2 Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning: 2.1 Graduate locate, retrieve, evaluates, and synthesize information from diverse sources to meet information needs and 2.2 Graduate explains and applies the concepts, principles, theories, philosophies, and techniques of reference and users’ services in providing diverse individuals and groups with access to relevant and accurate recorded knowledge and information. By surveying the staff asking about their interactions with patrons during their time at the library. I gained knowledge of which topics are needed to be included in this project. The staff also gave me insight on how they would like the final project to be accessed by them and patrons.

On Day 6, I am off and running with my search for letter sounds, figurative language, and other literacy and teaching topics. My goal for the day is to complete the A authors. It’s 1 pm, halfway done. Below is an image of my work, labeling items no, Letter sounds (A-Z), Figurative Language FL (Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Hyperbole, Symbolism). This labeling will help complete Goal 1 Foundation: 1.4 Graduate explains the principles involved in organization of recorded knowledge and information by creating a direct way to find items that meet known literacy and teaching topics requested by patrons. During the next part of my PFE, once the items have been labeled. I will work on completing Goal 1 Foundation: 1.5 Graduate explains the national and international standards of cataloging, metadata, indexing, and classification systems for organization recorded knowledge and information for retrieval by creating a Literacy and Teaching Topic list within the catalog. This will allow the staff and patrons to do a keyword search for the Literacy or teaching topic they wish to find. This will be a bit tricky. The wording will have to be clear and in a natural language that the patrons will understand and use. I am still working on this part of the project.

Some of the unexpected challenges are reviewing the items in a timely manner. Each picture book must be opened, read, and evaluated. This is time consuming. What will I do about the items that are checked out? Will I have time to go back to evaluate them?

The learning curve for the Sierra System is large. The way the project is asking me to use this system is different than if I was just waiting on patrons. I run reports with the system but checking patrons out, creating new accounts, even searching for individual items to be place on hold are not easy for me because of the limited amount time I have needed complete these actions. I feel very comfortable help patrons find the correct section but once in that section I get lost on which shelving unit that letter is found. Learning a different operating system, Sierra, is a very important part of this PFE for me. This will make me a more diverse candidate during the interview process.

My time at Cranston showed me that I can do more than just work at my little local library. This PFE has given my more confidence in myself and the newly acquired skills this GSLIS program taught me. I also feel like my knowledge is needed. My supervisor and her staff have welcomed me and truly supported and encouraged me throughout this PFE.

Day 7 I worked for 3 hours reviewing items with authors beginning with the letter B. I met with my supervisor to update her on my progress discussing the tagging notes I am using; FL - (Figurative Language Type), Word families, Poetry, Letter Sound (?). She likes what I have selected but wonders if I will complete evaluating the collection by the end of this PFE. We made a plan for my next PFE day, to time how long a shelf takes to review then calculate how many hours it will take to complete all the shelves in the picture book collection. I feel creating another report of poetry items within the picture book collection will help speed up the evaluation process. Poetry includes two criteria for this project; word families, repeated letter sounds.

Reference

Betts, Jennifer. “Examples of Figurative Language: Guide to 12 Common Types.” Examples, https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-figurative-language.html.