Wake County Library

Other Projects

Request for Reconsideration Committee

Recently, Wake County has determined the necessity for solidifying a formal Request for Reconsideration of materials policy. Most librarians believe the removal of books form a collection to be a very serious matter, so when the administrative team sent out an invitation for staff to participate on this project I was eager to be a part of the greater solution.

The experience has allowed me to work with people I may have never worked with, and meet people on my team that I had never had the pleasure of meeting before. It has been a great experience and also a fulfilling one in that I believe the changes will all be positive ones that will only strengthen our already great library system!

Halloween and Storybook Ball!

I don't often get to participate with the youth services activities, but the past few years have allowed us to work together more frequently. For our Spooktacular stroll, I created a "Mad Scientist" tent and handed out crafts and candy to the children and adults with one of my co-workers.

It's always fun to dress up for work!

Collection Maintenance Project updated again.docx

Shelf Reading (2).pdf

Collection Maintenance

Because of an increase in the size of our collection, I designed a work flow as well as a collection maintenance guide for the adult services department at Northeast Regional Library. Each Librarian oversees a particular part of the collection, and within that collection the library assistants have their own sections to maintain (dusting, straightening, shelf reading, etc.)

The documents on the left are subject to change depending on staffing levels or staffing changes.

Training

Along with a colleague, I provided a 20-30 minute training on one of our databases: "Simply Analytics." This database is a very useful tool to understanding demographics and can be used for many purposes. Simply Analytics, however, can be quite difficult to get the hang of without proper training. The right is a copy of a draft of the presentation that we provided for the entire AS Librarian group in Wake County Libraries.

Simply Analytics.pptx

Rotating Adult Services

Last year we decided to begin rotating between the adult service librarians the service appointments that we offer to our adult patrons: Book Adviser, Book Club Kit Assistance, Custom Book List, Device Advice, Get that Job, Research It!, and Tech Tutor. In order to keep track of the service appointments, I created a spreadsheet that automatically calculates appointments attended for statistics. It also is a way to keep track of who is assigned to each service appointment. The spreadsheet can be viewed at this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VaV8C7AhC6k-QafDDo7-b5W_4mGHf_JFRS6bbDfQjiE/edit?usp=sharing

Ambassador Coordinator

At Wake County Libraries, our volunteers are referred to as Ambassadors. This past year my supervisor asked if I would be willing to step up and assist with the coordination of the ambassadors. I assist with their schedules and their duties as well as interviewing and training. I work with one of our library assistants on a regular basis to ensure that we are both working towards the same goal. I have created a libguide for our staff so that they are more aware of the ambassador recruiting process, training process, when their scheduled times are and who to contact in certain situations. The libguide can be viewed here: http://guides.wakegov.com/c.php?g=601582&p=6842309

Book Discussions

I lead the Wednesday morning Novel Reader's book discussion group. We meet every second Wednesday. The titles that we have discussed so far are: My Cousin Rachel, Bel Canto, Kindred, and The Other Einstein.

I prepare for these discussions by reading the book and taking notes, finding and reading literary criticisms on the title as well as historical context or biographical context depending on the subject.

Adult Services

Each quartile has a number of service appointments that we provide to the public. It is much like "book a librarian" but a bit more specific to the needs of the patrons. I have performed the following services for patrons:

Book Club Kit Assistance: We provide over 100 kits for patrons to check out. Each kit comes with 15 copies of the book as well as a discussion guide. We assist the patron in this service by helping them choose the kit and use the kitkeeper system to request the kits they would like to borrow.
Device Advise: We provide this service for patrons who are interested in downloading e-books but need help navigating their device. We walk them through downloading the Libby app, as well as all the functions involved in borrowing e-books or e-audiobooks.
Get that Job: This is an extensive service that is used to help patrons with their job search, resumes, cover letters, job interviews, and social media presence through sites like LinkedIn.
Proctoring: All regional Wake County libraries provide proctoring services. I have filled in for the Career and Education Librarian for 4 months to provide proctoring coordination for the Northeast Regional Library.
Research It!: This is a very broad service that provides assistance with various research topics and assistance with using the library databases.
Tech Tutor: For patrons who may need basic computer help, Microsoft office help, or email help, we provide a one on one tutoring session for an hour.

Reader's Advisory

Every Librarian provides reader's advisory in many different situations. At Wake County, we have two specific services offered for reader's advisory: Custom Book Lists and Express Book Bags. I have performed a few of these requests by using resources such as NoveList, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and my own knowledge of books.

We also, twice a year, provide booklets composed of the adult services librarian's top picks. We each select a title and write a short annotation which are always popular for our patrons.

WCPL has an extensive number of book lists that each librarian has participated in cultivating. This past year I worked on several lists including: LGBTQ, Literary African American fiction, If you like Gillian Flynn, as well as many other lists that I have prepared in the past.

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