How many of you are experiencing the Summer Reading Rush? You know what I mean– madly running about printing booklets and fliers for schools, cutting paper, assembling prizes, calling last minute performers, making sure there are enough supplies for that fateful day in June\u2026.<\/p>\n
As Head of YS, I get to do most of my work before June arrives. I make lots of photocopies. I put together a kit of prizes, booklets, statistic sheets, and how-to guides for each branch. I get the website all geared up for the launch on June 15. I\u2019ve spent the last few months writing letters, making visits, and phoning businesses asking for money and donations. I\u2019ve sent thank-you letters and gotten jpeg files via email so I can add the sponsor logos to our booklets. I\u2019ve arranged to get SRP leaflets into report cards (and THAT means I have to assemble the leaflets for each school according to enrollment numbers). I\u2019ve become close friends with our photocopier and the local print shop owner. I praise the new folding machine daily. I have lots of tiny little post-it notes on my desk, reminding me of one more detail I must get covered. Order more bookmarks! Get prizes on website! Your paper is in at Integrity! Send PR to the newspaper!<\/p>\n
So I can take my holiday in June. But I\u2019ll be back in time for the official kick-off, and back in time to put out tiny fires, to answer those last-minute questions, to help do registration in the busiest branches, and to do orientation for the summer student workers.<\/p>\n
I have a committee who helps with design and who makes sure my ideas match with what is possible in our tiny, one-staff branches. It is those people who are the Heroes of Summer Reading– the front-line staff who answer the same question day after day, who can repeat the SRP mantra in their sleep. Summer Reading happens because those Heroes smile, help kids find books, award those little trinkets, and keep parents happy throughout the summer. And it happens because of the behind-the-scenes work done here at my office. True library teamwork!<\/p>\n
Many of you will agree that Summer Reading is probably the most visible program that public libraries offer. And you\u2019ll also agree it takes more work to pull off than anything else we do. To all the unsung heroes who are toiling away, right now, without time to read a blog, let alone write one, a round of applause. Take a deep breath, and remember how important you are. You\u2019ll need that boost of energy sometime in late July. Hip, Hip, Hooray to us all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How many of you are experiencing the Summer Reading Rush? You know what I mean– madly running about printing booklets and fliers for schools, cutting paper, assembling prizes, calling last minute performers, making sure there are enough supplies for that fateful day in June\u2026. As Head of YS, I get to do most of my work before June arrives. I make lots of photocopies. I put together a kit of prizes, booklets, statistic sheets, and how-to guides for each branch. I get the website all geared up for the launch on June 15. I\u2019ve spent the last few months writing letters, making visits, and phoning businesses asking for money and donations. I\u2019ve sent thank-you letters and gotten jpeg files via email so I can add the sponsor logos to our booklets. I\u2019ve arranged to get SRP leaflets into report cards (and THAT means I have to assemble the leaflets for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[66,14,38,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-angela-reynolds","category-mentoring","category-programming-ideas","category-slice-of-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}