Whew! A Day in Review

Solo today! For anyone who has lingering doubts about what really happens in a high school library, today was a nail-biter. It's not just finding the right book for a student, nor is it just about checking out 36 copies of The House of the Scorpion in 5 minutes flat, it's about responding to every student's needs. Sometimes those needs are simple to meet; do we have XYZ author or book? will you be here after school? and can I print this? but others require a little more effort. Computer literacy skills lacking, many rely on me to help with wikis, blogs, noodletools, capturing video into a video editing software program, formatting a Word document or printing PowerPoint slides in Notes format and oh so much more. Information literacy skills a bit weak or missing?, then I step up and guide them through the process of finding a resource, citing it and how to synthesize the essence into their work. When Pam is here, it goes so much more smoothly because we can tag team. One of us helps at the counter and the other goes out into the library to help. I can conduct patron interviews to really dig at what he/she needs for research. I can sit down and really demonstrate the value of using a database rather than just googling a string of keywords. Essentially, when both of us are here, I can teach really effectively; give that one student my full attention.
I apologize to all those students who felt that I didn't give you the time you needed today. I am sorry you had to come back after school to get that question answered. It's the challenge of the solo show.