Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

I haven’t done an SYP lately, so I thought I’d catch everyone up. Here’s my lists:

Accomplished:

• Weeded 2000+ books from the 11,000. (still waiting on the raw numbers since the “missing” titles still have yet to be removed. I’ll wait to run another coll. analysis when that is taken care of.
• Updated all the computers in the library to “new” at the suggestion of my principal–we had 40 come to the building, and I got 22 of them!
• Completed four pages of fixed asset disposals (roughly 20 lines each) of broken overheads, dot matrix printers, old overhead style LCD panels, about 100 computer mouses in a box (????), seven old, dated computers of various companies (all were running w98 and old, old, old!), a typewriter, record players, so much more–too much to list.
• Lined up this equipment in one location in the media center for pick up; lined up broken furniture and about fifty gazillion boxes, nicely broken down by me for disposals and removal
• Lined up boxes of discarded books for pick up. (Can you believe all these things (the above mentioned 2 and this one) get picked up by different folks?)
• Almost finished setting up vid production studio–the equipment just came in this week
• Administering MAP testing (still another week to go)
• Setting up very student in the building to have their own network log in–still haven’t disseminated though…
• Cleaned out library office (junked mega stuff–old manuals, etc.) Bookcases are finally clear and there is now room for my stuff!
• Cleaned out second office (where a teacher copier was placed new this year.) The assistant whose desk was in the video retrieval room has now relocated to this room. (Our school uses TechNet, a video retrieval system that also serves other functions, like scheduled bells, scrolling announcements, etc. The assistant’s desk has been near it to load the videos that teachers will call up with the phone system. It is a really expensive system that is used district wide, but it does a lot more than just play out videos. With the significant increase in the use of StreamlineSC –United Streaming portal–there was a significant decrease in the use of school owned videos. So we made the decision to relocate her out of that room. PLUS the school got a new server, and it was either go there where her desk was or out in the middle of the library floor.)
• Sink is finally spic and span–i scrubbed it myself today. It was really bad dirty.

Still needs to be done

• Orientation (hasn’t been done yet cuz MAP Testing takes priority)
• Rotating XP workstations that were in the library to classrooms that still have W98 running in them
• Fixing computer issues (like adding printers, finding network printers, troubleshooting logins, etc.) Only one so far has required a district work-order
• Formal introduction of myself to kids, a school blog, and promote SC Children’s Book and Junior Book Award program–will be planned this week in coll. meetings
• Finish cleaning out storage room number 1, and tackle storage room number 2
• Unpack my personal school belongings
• Assess the fifteen to twenty VCRs located in storage…do we need them…is there a better place for them?

Most interesting discoveries:

• Somebody before me had a weird fixation with boxes of any size. I have broken down many boxes today, and still did not make a dent in clearing them out. I’m all for saving a few–you never know when you’ll need them, but darn there are way too many. I would post a picture but I don’t want to publicize what we have/don’t have to invite thieves… But suffice it to say we could probably move four families with the number and size of the boxes we have. I will keep some, yes, but they will be broken down and sensibly stored. Sheepishly I think this is one of the reasons I’ve YET to unpack my personal belongings…they are still stacked in the library office–about fifteen medium sized boxes. I didn’t want to add to the pandemonium I inherited. I wanted to clear and clean. I’m ALMOST ready to unpack some of my personal belongings, I’m happy to report.
• A large quantity of broken material, stored from floor to ceiling in storage room number 2. We haven’t even made a dent in there yet…but slowly and surely you are now able to walk along a small path to the back.
• I had a really GROSS experience today, one bad enough for me to say okay, that’s enough for today. Storage room number 1 has shelves all along the walls. Some have equipment, some have back issues of magazines, and some have assorted other things. But here is also where i located all those boxes. Some big ones (Dell computer boxes) lined the top, and since they were empty, I simply tipped them off with my finger, allowing them to fall in front of me. The last one did fall over and down. I picked it up, hauled it out, opened the top (and got ready to turn it to cut tape and flatten) when something in the box caught my eye–it was brown and furry. Yes–a mouse. All I could think was that the way I was ever so NOT gently getting them down, that little rodent could have landed right on top of my head! It was enough to quit today. I stopped and went to do something else.
• Each day teachers come in and say how VASTLY improved in appearance the library is taking. I’m glad they can see it, b/c I can’t. And b/c we have been so focused on cleaning up and out, we have done NO decorating or making it kid friendly at all. No displays, no nothing. It’s almost embarrassing. But I’m on a mission to clear out the JUNK. And the assistant is DELIGHTED that I want to do that. I really was afraid she would be reluctant to get rid of things. (Secretly I have caught her holding onto some little things…but that’s okay. I know she’ll put them to good use.) OHH how I wish I could share a before and after picture of her new office space! She is even decorating her desk with her personal things. I hope to SOON unbox mine so i can personalize my space.

In closing, progress is slow but sure. I hope next time I report, I’ll have something STUDENT centered to discuss!