No Shhing Here

I have a habit of saying yes. It's almost a disease. Someone makes a suggestion or offers me an opportunity and my mouth just can't seem to form the letters n - o. My inability to decline usually equals lost sleep, increased stress, and a messy house. I'm blogging right now, at 6:55 AM because I got up forty-five minutes early -- and that was after going to bed an hour late. My stomach is nervous and churning. My house is a DISASTER -- I have not one, but TWO banana peels sitting next to the keyboard. It can only mean one thing -- I said yes. Today, I'm presenting at the School Library System's Fall Conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Syracuse, NY. It's not the biggest venue I've presented at, but it's still a venue. Venue's are scary. The keynote speaker is Ross Todd. In case you don't know, he's a BIG DEAL. Maybe he'll talk a really long time -- sooo long that I don't have to do my presentation. That'd be awesome. But unlikel...

The kids in our library can't get enough of Hunger Games -- our reserve list is miles long. Also, kids that loved the Hunger Games want to know what's next. The solution: Not that this is, by any means, the most amazing bulletin board you've ever seen, but hopefully it gets the job done! All the books pictured on the board are also displayed on a bookshelf with ample signage. If you're looking for a list of Hunger Games read-alikes, the Evanston Public Library has a great one here.

We're sooo lucky to have lots of cool technology donated to the library. Between iTouches and Kindles, we've got some of the latest and greatest tech toys. It's great that we've got the toys, but it'd be awesome if we also had money to buy fancy storage options to keep everything organized and secure. Unfortunately....we don't! So for now, we're coming up with creative ways to store our stuff. We started last year with three iTouches, and ended the year in June with just two. Our checkout procedure and storage obviously needed to be revamped. This year, we've gotten super-duper fancy. Meet our iTouch storage cart: Yup, it's totally what it looks like. We just stuck a locking file cabinet that we already owned underneath the circulation desk. The custodian drilled a hole in the side, which we wrapped with electrical tape to cover any jagged edges (the hole is circled in red at left). We have a USB hub to manage the multiple iTouches, so the power cord...