Getting my Learnin' on At TLA

Texas Library Association (TLA) as been a blast!  

The first day, Tuesday afternoon, I attended Speech Dating with Bluebonnet Book Authors. We were only able to visit with eight authors/illustrators. Two were unable to attend. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to get to the other 10. 

I've gotten a lot of free goodies!

I had to get my picture taken with my alma mater's mascot, the Bearkat. And after dinner we walked down to the capital building. 

On the way to the capital building a homeless man asked us for some money for food. We ignored him. So he added for food or crack. I couldn't help myself. I giggled. 

I plan to talk more about the sessions I went to in another post. I'm too tired to think that hard right now. I have been tweeting during the session so check out my Twitter feed!

Getting Ready For TLA

The Texas Library Assiciation Conderence is next week!! Four days of library fun!

They have an app (which this techy girl loves!) that you add sessions, events, author signings, etc that you want to attend to My Schedule. I added sessions to My Schedule a couple of weeks ago. This morning I looked over My Schedule. There's so much I want to do! So many sessions. So many author signings! Some events overlap. I hate having to choose between events. It's the one time I actually want some one to tell me what do too.  Any other time, don't tell me what to do! Ha!

I'll be posting here about my time at TLA. Stay tuned!

On a side note. TLA is in Austin this year. My aunt and cousins live there. We are going out to dinner one night. I see my aunt and uncle a couple of times a year. I don't remember the last time I saw my cousin. I can't wait to catch up with them!

Collection Analysis

I ran an analysis on my library collection today.  Back in June the average age was 1994 (according to TLA standards that's considered good). Today it is 1996! By the end of the school year I'd like it to be 1997. And by the end of the next school year I'd like to have it at 2001 which would be excellent condition.

I did a lot of weeding this week in the biography section. I think that helped a LOT. 

My principal also received a lot of grant money this year and I was able to spend a significant amount of money on new books. I was also able to use some Bilingual money to purchase Spanish and Bilingual books. 

My book fairs did really good this year and I was able to use Scholastic dollars on new books, assessories, decorations, etc. 

My collection is coming along!

Weeding Has Begun

I decided to join the Shelf Challenge this April.  Last year was my first year in the library.  I inherited a pristine library.  Since I was new and the library was in such good condition I was hesitant to weed. I did trash books that was worn but I didn't go further than that.

This year I moved with my principal to a different school.  The library needed a lot of tender loving care.  My fabulous mother-in-law, dear hubby, darling daughter and I spend all summer working on it.  There was a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, and a little blood.  But the end result was worth it!

Since we had to pull every book off the shelf this summer so the shelves could be painted and reshelf them when the paint was dry I was able to physically touch most of the books.  I knew I was going to have to do a major weeding.  It seemed so overwhelming!  So I was happy when I heard about the Shelf Challenge.  It has helped me focus on one area and not feel so weighed down by the task.

I decided to start with the biographies.  I picked this shelf because a lot of the books look like this:

It's crazy the books I've found in this section!  There's a book on Johnny Carson copyrighted in 1972! One on Pocahontas copyrighted 1946! I think these are good book to get rid of!

Below are some more pictures of books I've pulled to evaluate.

Easter

You're never too old for an Easter basket!

Or eggs filled with money. 

Pictures with my parents. 

The "up shot" picture. I put my iPhone on time & sat it on a table to get a group shot (hubby had already left for worship). 

My granny and her boyfriend (she hates when I call him that but it makes me giggle so I continue to do it) my mom, my daughter, hubby, me & my in-laws (my dad was taking the picture). 

Yesterday was beautiful, today not so much. It's a rainy Eater this year so no outdoor pictures.  

We stuffed ourselves silly. Laughed and talked. Both sides of the family don't get together often so Easter is always a treat. 

Happy Easter!

Azalea Garden

My parents came in town today. They love flowers so after lunch we headed to the Azalea Garden for a walk, pictures and some fun! 

Sorry this is such a picture heavy post. It was hard to pick my favorite pictures! 

This nearly gave my mom a heart attack!

We "had" to take couple of selfies just for fun.

Character Day and DEAR Day

We had a fabulous day at school yesterday! We started the day with a Character parade. All the kids dressed like their favorite book character then we paraded around campus. 

Even the teachers dressed up! That's me in the middle... I mean that's Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter surrounded by two Hermione Grangers. 

Some of our teachers got a little hot!

After the parade we started DEAR Day (Drop Everything And Read). 

Some teachers read the "old fashion" way with physical books. Others chose to use technology. Neither way the students had a blast and our goal to have all the students reading was met. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love my job!