While working at the Stow library I helped on other projects which included
An afternoon program organized by another practicum student featuring Anime by Hayo Miyazaki
This program was another practicum students project and I helped with it. Here I helped to watch over the events and be there in case there was any need for more people. The program had a basic viewing area where the film My Neighbor Totoro was played. The first event was an interactive quiz using a software application called Kahoot! it was a lot of fun and taught me how various software tools are utilized by libraries to help with events. After the quiz, we held a small design contest for umbrellas and ended the event by watching Totoro until time ran out. It was a fun event and taught me how special events at public libraries work. These events are used as a tool to get people to come into the library and have them use our materials. The success of a good event depends on the content of the event and its timing as if it’s held at a good time and has content people want to access then the event can be a huge success.
A pre-organized program called Harry Potter Night.
This was an event that was planned months before I came to the library but this was an event centered around the Harry Potter universe and the entire library participated. There was a honeydukes at the reference desk, several events upstairs including divination, potions, robe fitting and a scavenger hunt for various items hidden throughout the event. For my contribution, I helped with some of the prizes as I knew about a store that had some fresh Harry Potter candy that could be offered as prizes for contests. For the event, I helped to run the common room which was a basic game room that people could come to for a rest. It was fun but tiring and taught me how large events like this work and the intricate planning involved in making it a success. Events like this are important to a library because they can increase the gate count and promote literacy through exposure to our services and materials.
Some basic weeding
While working at Stow there were sometimes where it was very slow and there was not much for me to do at the reference desk. So, I was given some weeding to do. Weeding is the same in an academic library as it is in a public library. The difference however is the policies and what is being weeded. The material I withdrew were items that had not circulated in 2 years and were taking up space needed for new materials. I went and withdrew these materials from a prepared list and then placed them in minding status so they could be withdrawn from the collection by technical services. I had done weeding before and knew what to do I thought it was nice to see how weeding is performed in different libraries while working my practicum.
I would like to use this space to say thank you to multiple people who made this practicum a success. Without them I would not have learned as much as I did. (last names omitted for privacy)
Thank you
Christina the Teen Librarian
Jessica from Reference services
Beth the local history historian who's work made my project possible
Doug the director
Chris from Reference Services
Diana from Tech Services
Jim from Reference Services
and Amy from Reference Services- your work helped me to grow as a professional and I cannot thank you enough for your honest feedback and dedication to librarianship.
Thank You everyone.