MONDAY -- At 4pm, I was rushing out of my law firm job to catch the 4:33pm train out of L.A. Union Station. It takes 10 minutes between stations and another 5-7 minutes to get to the library. I need to be at the public library by 5pm and I still have to find a parking spot. I realized then that for the next couple of months, at 4 hours per day/night this will be my routine so I need to get used to it.
I parked at the parking structure across from the library. The library validates for three hours so either I leave the car in the parking structure and pay $1.50 for the extra hour or take it out and park on the streets around 7:30pm. I'm a cheapskate so I decided that I will have to take a break and park on the streets. I have to save money because I need to shell out $7K out of pocket for tuition this summer semester. Every penny counts!!!
I got to the library on time and I met Halla the assistant children's librarian. I sat at the reference desk with Arpine and Cecil, the reference librarians for the night. I spent the night shadowing them and learned the other little tasks involved in running a children's library like printing for the children using the computer terminals and working the cash register.
During downtime, I walked through the stacks or read children's books. Tonight, I read a fairytale recipe book: Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers And Eaters. It was interesting because other than the stories, there were recipes that children could try at home, like Very French Toast. The book was peppered with various trivial facts that would catch children's attention. Because the recipes are kid-friendly, a lot of them are simple no-meat offerings. Since it's Lent and I gave up meat for the season, I am going to try some of these recipes.
It was mostly shadowing the librarians today and observing the patrons. So far, I am enjoying this internship. Perhaps, it is because it is so much different from what I am exposed to day in and day out at the law firm. The main reason I looked into doing this internship was because of that...the marked difference from my job. What sold me into actually doing it was what Teresa, the library manager, told me when I first met with her. She said that if I learn to do reference interview with children, I can do reference interview for any age group. I think that is true because I noticed that many of the children who come in, especially the little ones, have no clue as to what they are looking for. Imagine a child saying I need to write a paper about space...do they mean physical space or outer space?
I am liking this internship, I just need to get over some of my quirkiness about certain things...I'm sure I'll tell all as the days go by:o)
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2 comments:
Amazingly we sometimes take simple questions and make it more complex than it should. It's refreshing when a kid puts it in perspective and the simple answer makes more sense than the complex shades-of-gray. Space ... variations of it in our mind and yet to a kid may just be the solar system. ;-) BTW, sad to see Pluto get knocked out of its planet status. But Lowell Obserservatory will remain where it was found.
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