I started my practicum on Monday, August 18th at 9 a.m. and I was definitely nervous, as most of my career has been in sales. This experience felt like a real shift in my identity and professional path. Our library is relatively small, since it is a Special District Library for Beaumont, which means staff and patrons work closely together in shared spaces. This created an easy and natural way for me to meet everyone on my very first day. At the library, I am primarily working with Kelly (District Librarian), along with Julia (Supervising Librarian), Tamara (Librarian II), Devon (Librarian I), and several associate librarians and part-time pages.
Kelly gave me a tour of the library, introduced me to staff members, and then met with me in her office to discuss the practicum schedule for the upcoming months. She was very detail-oriented in outlining what we would be doing each time I came in, which helps me know what to prepare for in advance. My typical schedule will consist of two four-hour shifts each week, though later in the semester there will be full weeks scheduled.
For the remainder of my first day, Kelly had me shadow the reference desk and encouraged me to ask questions as they came up. The main purpose of this shift was simply to meet people, observe, and get a feel for the library environment.
Image: Since our library serves a large number of juvenile patrons, I thought it would be wise to spend some time observing what books children were checking out most frequently. I wanted to get a sense of current trends in juvenile reading habits and also compare them to the kinds of books I enjoyed when I was younger. It was encouraging to see that the Goosebumps series is still very popular, even after so many years. Not only did this bring back personal memories of reading those same stories, but it also reminded me of the enduring appeal of series that combine suspense, humor, and age-appropriate thrills.
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