Ever have one of those weeks where it didn't just rain but pour? Metaphorically speaking, I mean. (Although it did rain yesterday and today, and that was not so much fun to ride a bike in this morning. But I digress.) I just made it through a week of 6 library programs in a row, and lived to tell the tale. Some were more time consuming than others, but it was one of those times where I fervently wished I could have spread them out over the rest of the month to get more of a breather in between. This will give you an idea of what some of a librarian's workday is like, those of you who aren't already one. :-) To wit: last Thursday and Friday was the Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth, held at Kent State University. I'm on the advisory board so I attend meetings all year to plan the conference speakers, and spend the conference helping out, running errands, "hosting" speakers to their presentation rooms, chauffeuring them to the airport and hotel, etc. It's fun but a lot of work. The very next day I drove one speaker to the airport and then went to my library to supervise my practicum student's program--she had a Whose Line Is It Anyway? style skit program for teens, acting out "Worst Case Scenarios" like killer bee swarms or capsized boats in shark-infested waters. It was hilarious and the 3 boys who attended had a blast. I didn't do much for that program, it was all her idea and preparation. But on Monday I held an Open Mic Poetry Night for teens, and that one I did the planning and most of the setup (with Joan's help) and promoted it starting with booktalks in school in February. We had 41 high schoolers attend! Yee ha! That's a very good turnout for a teen program. Of course, having the English teacher give extra credit points to those who attended and participated, certainly helped. But they had fun and shared some poems, drank coffee, hung out in the public library for a change.

Okay, so I'm just barely recovered from that, the next day I set up for our library's monthly kids' chess club meeting. No biggie, just time involved in getting snacks and setting up tables and chairs and chess sets. Then taking it all down afterwards. But it was the very next night! THEN, the next night after that (Wed. for those keeping track), I set up a library reception for a local author of middle school books, Shelley Pearsall. I wasn't expecting a huge crowd, we never get really big audiences for my authors unless they're very well known. (Shelley's books are so good, she deserves to be much better known; esp. after winning the Scott O' Dell award for her first novel!) But, 31 people from age 3 to senior citizen came out to meet her and hear her talk about her new book. Fantastic! I had just enough cookies. :-) They also bought some of her books from our local independent bookstore to get signed, so that was a good thing. The next day (Thursday!) Shelley was the featured author for the Reading and Writing Festival that's held every year for local 7th and 8th graders. This is one of the highlights of my year because I present a session on fantasy literature for teens, and I get to gab about cool books for a couple of hours with very bright enthusiastic middle schoolers who are big readers. It's fun. This year I jazzed up my session by giving away a free fantasy novel to every kid who came to my session! Granted, some of the books were classics like The Hobbit or Artemis Fowl, not the new shiny titles that they hadn't already read a dozen times, but it was still a surprise for them and I think they were impressed. I had been hoarding for months any donations of teen fantasy books that came my way at the library or through my book review and book group sources, and it was amazing that I had over 50 books to give away. At any rate, the festival ran all day, and then that night I did get to unwind while still on KSU's campus, at their library school Alumni and Awards dinner. I enjoy those for reconnecting with some of my library school colleagues, but it made for a 4th late night out in a row. Whew! Why do these things all happen practically at once?! But these are all reasons why I love my job. It's not just about the reference questions. :-D

You may be wondering--why, there are no photos in this entry! I must be slipping! No, I do have lots of photos of all of my events, but decided to spare you that here. I did put a few from Virginia Hamilton on my flickr page, with more coming soon, but the teen events I don't post there. They may pop up on our library webpage someday.