Day 18 - April 2, 2007

MONDAY -- I believe that having logged over 70 hours at the Children's Room, I am halfway through with the internship. I am getting a bit sad about being halfway through...I equate it to reading a book that you really like and you are getting to the last chapter and you don't want the story to end. Okay, let's put it this way since I am an avid Harry Potter fan...you know that the last book is coming out soon and I am excited to read it but I am sad that the series is about to end. The end of the internship signals the final chapter of my graduate program, it is exciting to know that I will finally graduate and yet I'm sad that the internship will be over soon.

Endings are like that...bittersweet with old doors closing and new ones opening. Talk about endings, I found out today that Hala is leaving. I knew when I started that she will be leaving soon to become a solo librarian at a new branch the city had just built. I just did not think that it will happen while I am there. She will still be coming to the Children's Room on some days but I will not see her as much as I did anymore because of the hours I work. I will miss Hala. In the last month I have been there, she was a fount of information. She had instant answers to my questions and if she did not, she tried to find them for me.

Seeing that this is like half-time for me, this is probably a good time for me to evaluate what I had learned in this internship. I learned many things. Since Theresa and Hala are my direct supervisors, much of what I now know of children's libraries I learned from them, from choosing books to read to children, to coming up with ideas about arts and crafts, reference interview to collection development. However I cannot discount what i have learned from the other staff members. Only a month into the internship and I learned a lot from them. All of them, Arpine, Cecile, Daisy, Evelyn and Rubina...and even the library pages all helped in giving me bits and pieces of information to help sthrengthen my skills as a reference librarian. The first few days shadowing them was beneficial but each day, I learn something new from each of them and I am grateful. I still falter with some questions but with their prompting, I learned to be confident as each day passes. There was never a time that I did not get help from them when I stumble with a question.

I am now able to help most patrons with their questions but I need more knowledge and courage in some areas. I need to learn reading levels. I usually get stumped when asked about which chapter books are for 3rd graders or 4th graders. I also need to get a bit more skilled with Horizon. I know the basics but I feel like I do not know the nuances of the program. In fact I tend to use the online catalog linked through the Children's Room web page more than I would use Horizon. I am sure that it is not the way to go so I need to work on that. As for courage, I need to gather more courage when telling patrons to use their cellphones out in the hallway or sending out rowdy kids. I've gotten better with clearing the computer room when time's up and saying no to patrons asking for staplers :o) I know now that I cannot show the kids any fear or else they will walk all over me. Like Cecile, I need to learn to be firm and yet gentle with reminders.

Before I end this, I have to recount a reference question I got today. A man came to the desk asking me about books on death penalty. I told him that I am almost sure that we do not have any in the children's room and that he has to go downstairs to the adult section. He said he saw the books there and they are too thick and he want a shorter book to read. I told him I could try and found him a book but it was in the teen section. The only other book I could find is "Furman v. Georgia : the death penalty case" but he chose the other book so I told him to go downstairs. I thought it was interesting to be asked about something as grave as the death penalty in a children's library. You just really don't know what kind of reference question will be put before you on any given day. I want to think that I handled that well enough.