16 May 2018 (Wednesday), 1:30-4:00

Hours completed: 2.5

Accumulated on-site hours completed: 2.5

Today was my first day at Barberton Public Library! I met with Sarah
Granville, who works as the teen services librarian. She gave me a tour of the
library and introduced me to the staff, and she took extra time in showing me
the teen and children’s areas, as that is where I will be spending a great deal of
my time this summer. Sarah works with the teens and comes up with programs
for them in the library and at Barberton High School. She also does the
collection maintenance, weeding, and collection development for the teen
department. To me this is especially interesting because the library where I am
employed has a department that does the collection development for the entire
system, so I am very excited to help Sarah with ordering teen materials this
summer. One of my goals for this practicum is to learn about Barberton’s
collection through collection maintenance and development, so getting hands
on experience in this area will be very beneficial, and I know that Sarah has a
lot to teach me!
I was shown the reference desk, which is another place where I will be
spending a great deal of time. Sarah and the reference librarians told me a little
about common questions that are asked at the desk, specifically ones regarding
Barberton’s history and the Barber Mansion. It was very interesting to see a
city so interested and passionate in its history.
Finally, Sarah had me sit in on her teen Writers’ Club program. Another one of
my goals is to plan a program and learn about the process that goes into putting
one together. The Writers’ Club allows teens to meet and come up with
different stories together. They use Rory’s Story Cubes as inspiration for their
stories, which Sarah got from Amazon.com through the library. At this
program, only one teen showed up. Although we did not write, the teen told me
about some of the stories they have come up with, and then we all discussed
and debated different books. At the end, Sarah reminded me that even having
one teen show up to a program is good, which is something she (and I) both
learned from having Professor Nichols at Kent State.

18 May 2018 (Friday), 10-5

Hours completed:6.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 9

Today was spent primarily at the reference desk. Unlike Fairlawn-Bath

(where I am employed), Barberton Public Library has two desks - one for
circulation and one for reference. At the reference desk, Sarah showed me their
reference materials that patrons can use in-house, explained the different kinds
of questions they often get (computer, local information, and questions
regarding the layout of the library), and she showed me their catalog system
and gave me a tutorial of it. Although I did not get much hands on experience
with the catalog today, I was able to answer a few reference questions, mostly
directional, for new patrons.
Barberton uses Dynix (which is called Work Flows on the staff side) as their
catalog. I am familiar with Millenium and Sierra, but Work Flows was very
different to me, so I am looking forward to getting more practice with it. I also
learned that Barberton rents out headphones, rather than selling them, to
patrons. They also use a program called Cassie for their computer reservation
needs, such as giving patrons extra time or ending sessions if patrons are not
adhering to the computer policy.
Sarah further explained Barberton’s history to me, as many patrons had
questions about it. She also showed me their local history room and how to use
the microfiche, as many patrons often inquire about it. I was introduced to more
staff, including Barberton’s director. Working at a branch, I only interact with
my immediate coworkers as our director and other members of administration
are located at our Main library. To me, it was very interesting to know that the
small staff at Barberton is with their director daily. The entire staff was very
friendly, welcoming, and open to my many questions about the library.
Finally, Sarah and I discussed a couple of my upcoming projects in greater
detail. First, collection development will be part of my experience, so she
showed me how to catalog magazines. She said that she does not catalog
everything in the teen section, but she has a few materials that she does herself
- magazines being one of them. Having no cataloging experience, this was very
interesting and helpful to me. She also presented me with the weeding list that
was sent by ClevNet. Weeding the teen section is one of my projects, and one
that I am especially excited about because I do not have experience with
weeding. We will focusing on that further next week as I am going to be at the
library almost every day.

21 May 2018 (Monday), 9:30-5:00

Hours completed: 7.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 16.5
Today, Sarah and I went to the Community Health Library (CHL), which is
located on the first floor of the Summa Hospital and is considered to be a
“branch” of the Barberton Public Library. CHL is very small and mostly
contains health related materials and some entertainment materials for people
(such as hospital employees, patients, and family of patients) to check out.
Despite the lack of room, there are many materials for people to check out,
such as magazines, books, and DVDs. CHL also has its own bookdrop, which
Sarah and I emptied as we completed the opening procedures. The branch is
open for 5 hours (10-3) Monday through Friday, and the Barberton Public
Library staff alternate working at the location.
While at CHL, I was able to begin the weeding list (about 20 pages, front
and back) that Sarah printed out for me. She encouraged
me to use a book she brought called Senior High Core
Collection to locate materials from the list that were also in
the book to highlight them. The book features young adults
books that are considered to be important to a collection, so
they will be evaluated differently when it comes time to
actually weed the materials. As we discussed weeding,
Sarah offered a great deal of advice that made the idea of it
much less intimidating. She reminded me that sometimes
getting rid of a book provides an opportunity to get the
same book in better condition, and that it important to
consider how relevant the book is and the kind of wear and
tear it has.
We took a break from the weeding list so that Sarah could show me another
feature of CHL that was special to the hospital - Born to Read Bags. The Born
to Read Bags have a board book and information about reading to babies and
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. We took a few bags to the maternity ward
where the staff provide the bags to newborn babies and their families. Finally,
we ended the day at Barberton where we worked at the reference desk for the
last hour and a half. While we were there, we discussed collection development
policy, and Sarah showed me Barberton’s policy. We also talked about
handling situations where materials are challenged by patrons, and Sarah told
me about a few instances where that happened at the library, which was a good
reminder for me in how to handle those situations and the fact that they will
eventually come up.

22 May 2018 (Tuesday) 12:30-7

Hours completed: 6.5
Accumulated onsite hours: 23
At the reference desk today, I learned more about the internal parts of
Barberton Public Library, specifically the IT Department. What I found out
from Sarah is that Barberton does not have an in-house IT department, and that
theirs is part of ClevNet, which is outsourced in Wadsworth. Because of this,
Barberton has one IT person who comes in a couple days a week to review
tickets for problems that staff leave for him. Major Internet issues are handled
by placing a ticket through ClevNet. This was all very different from what I
knew about IT, since Akron-Summit County Public Library has an IT
department, located in the Main building, and we call them for just about any
tech-related question.
I learned more about the self-checkout machine that is available for patron
use at the circulation desk. This machine allows patrons to check out their own
books and audio materials, but DVDs have to be checked out with a staff
member at the desk because of their security features. The machine is touch
screen and very user friendly, and because it is at the circulation desk, patrons
can ask questions if they need further clarification. Sarah told me that this
service was great for people who just wanted to pick up holds, and we talked
about how it could be beneficial to patrons who want more privacy in their
check out experience. My library does not have self-checkout machines, but at
least once a week a patron will inquire about them.
I learned more about the tech coaching services the library offers, and how to
sign patrons up for this service. Tech coaching is Barberton’s replacement to
traditional computer classes. The coaching is one-on-one, which patrons found
to be more comfortable, they last one hour, and they provide specific
instruction to what the patron is interested in (such as learning how to set up
their phone’s voicemail or learning basic Excel formulas).
Today, a patron was acting in violation of the library’s patron conduct
policies, so I learned more about how Barberton deals with unruly patrons and
what their process is for incident reports.
Finally, while at the reference desk I finished highlighting my teen fiction
weeding list. I also answered a reference question on the phone - which was
great! It definitely helped me build confidence in answering reference questions
for the community.
A little before 6, Sarah and I went to the library’s larger meeting room to get
ready for a poetry program she was putting on. I was able to stay and observe
the teen/adult program where there was a great deal of open discussion about
writing processes, and the poet was shared and explained some of his poems.

25 May 2018 (Friday) 9:30-6:15

Hours completed: 8.75
Accumulated onsite hours: 31.75
Today was another CHL day until 3. I was able to help with the opening
procedures by emptying the bookdrop and unlocking the DVD cabinet. During
my time at CHL, I began working on the teen nonfiction weeding list by
comparing the list to the Senior High Core Collection and highlighting books
that were present in the collection and on the weeding list. While doing this,
Sarah and I discussed how weeding nonfiction can be different than fiction.
One thing she pointed out to me was that some nonfiction books may not
circulate well, but be used in-house more often due to their subject matter,
which means that those books will require additional consideration when it
comes time to weed.
We also reviewed program planning, and Sarah showed me the Excel file she
created to keep track of the many steps (such as requesting funds, reserving the
room, etc.) that go into each program. From there, she showed me what
Barberton’s publicity request form looks like and how to fill one out. The sheet
provides many options, such as the format of the item (poster, postcard,
standard flyer, etc.) and requires that whoever wants to advertise something
provide great detail about the program and what they want to see on the flyer.
Back at Barberton, I helped Sarah move “old” teen books out of the new
section and into the regular teen section in order to make room for more new
books. We worked on the fiction and nonfiction, and as we worked, Sarah
explained why it is important of having a variety of nonfiction topics and
formats (such as informational, memoirs, etc.). After this, we sat at the
reference desk to assist patrons. Sarah provided me with a Kirkus
Magazine and had me read reviews on the teen books and highlight the ones
that I thought would be beneficial to Barberton’s collection. We discussed as
many highlighted books as we could based on the reviews and what we knew
about them in general. As one of my goals was to obtain experience in
collection development, this was a great exercise for me. Finally, I was able to
witness Barnerton’s closing procedures when the day came to an end. They
were very similar to what I am used to at Fairlawn-Bath, but it was still great to
see it.

29 May 2018 (Tuesday), 11-5

Hours completed:6
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 37.75
I went to Barberton Middle School with Sarah during the lunch
periods(11:30-12:45) to help promote the library’s summer programs. While
the children ate lunch, they were able to come to our table and pick up flyers
about programs and ask questions. It was a good experience in seeing a little bit
of outreach and also seeing more of the Barberton community through its
schools.
When we got back to the library, Sarah and I worked at the reference desk. It
was pretty quiet, so I used the downtime to familiarize myself with Dynix
(Work Flows). Although it’s taking some time to get used to, I’m feeling much
more confident about placing holds for patrons with Work Flows and searching
for in-house items. Sarah and I also reviewed the items I had highlighted in
the Kirkus Magazine. We finished discussing the items I thought would be
beneficial to the teen collection, and in the end, we decided all but 2 or 3 of the
selected books would be good. This ended up being 17 books (1 nonfiction and
16 fiction). Sarah then showed me the Excel sheet she uses to place orders for
books and had me include my selections in this sheet (see screenshot in
Projects). To place the orders, I included the author’s last name, the title of the
book, the ISBN, and the number of copies I wanted to order in individual cells
of the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is in a shared folder so that the cataloging
librarian can see the new books added to the list and order them from the
vendors.
Finally, Sarah and I discussed different resources that are useful in helping to
decide which books should be ordered for the collection. We specifically
looked at Amazon.com and indibound.org, as both websites provide lists of
specific books that are well thought out and organized. We also talked about
other review journals, and the importance of ordering multiple genres of books
to keep the collection balanced.

30 May 2018 (Wednesday), 9:30-4

Hours completed:6.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 44.25
In the morning I learned more about Barberton’s donation procedures,
including handling donation receipts, the free book table, and the ongoing book
sale. Sarah and I also reviewed the daily tally sheet, which helps the library
staff keep track of the reference questions they answer while at the desk. Since
we spent the morning at the reference desk, I got practice with keeping track of
my reference questions as well as using WorkFlow independently. Sarah
assisted me in answering more difficult reference questions, and I learned more
about navigating government websites.
I also began weeding the teen fiction section today. This consisted of taking
a cart to the teen section and pulling the non-highlighed books from my
weeding list. If one of the books was part of a series, Sarah had me pull the
remaining books in the series to be considered for weeding. I’ll be pulling the
highlighted books another day so Sarah and I can look more closely at them,
since they are considered to be “excellent” teen books. After I filled the cart
with books, Sarah and I checked how much they had circulated, and discussed
whether or not they should be discarded, replaced, or kept on the shelf. There
were a handful of books that we decided to keep/replace, but the majority of the
cart was to be discarded. I spent the remainder of my shift discarding the books
by checking them out into WorkFlows “discard” feature.

2 June 2018 (Saturday), 9:30-5

Hours completed:7.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 51.75
I continued discarding books through WorkFlows today. Once the books
were all processed as discarded, I stamped the inside of each book with a
“discard” stamp and crossed out the barcode with a Sharpie. I assisted in
answering reference questions, and Sarah and I discussed the upcoming display
for the teen section, which is for Pride Month. After we decided that the display
needed a mix of fiction and nonfiction, I began researching different books that
were ideal for Pride Month. I used websites like Bookriot and YALSA to find
books, and then searched WorkFlows to find out what Barberton had. After I
had a list of books, I pulled 8 from the shelves to start the display.
Sarah also told me more about Barberton’s social media presence and had
me help her make book spine poetry with different teen books. We then took
pictures of our poems to post to social media. Finally, since there were many
donations that came in, I got to see Barberton’s donation room and learn more
about how they handle book sales and donations.

Completed Pride display.

4 June 2018 (Monday), 12-5
Hours completed: 5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 56.75
I began the day at the reference desk and was helped by the other reference
librarians in answering questions. After some time at the desk, I went to do the
second part of my teen fiction weeding. I pulled the books on my own and then
looked over them with Sarah. Once we determined what was to be discarded
and replaced, I got to work crossing out the barcodes and stamping the inside
covers with the “discard” stamp. I also learned about taking items out of
display status, which was a different process than what I have been used to with
Sierra. While working on the process of discarding, I was able to talk to another
librarian about how she made her selections for collection development. She
told me that since she is incharge of the audio and visual items, she uses patron
recommendations and Amazon for assistance in her selections.

5 June 2018 (Tuesday), 12:30-5

Hours completed: 4.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 61.25
I started today at the reference desk where I assisted in answering various
questions. Now that I am getting used to being on a reference desk with a
different cataloging system, I am starting to understand just how important it is
for a librarian to understand the catalog and their library. It definitely takes me
longer to find items in the catalog compared to the Barberton staff, but I am
happy to see that I am slowly getting better at navigating Work Flows. I
finished discarding the teen fiction books, which is one project that is now
completed. I also helped Sarah with determining which recently donated books
would go to the donation room for Barberton’s Friends Group and which would
be discarded.

8 June 2018 (Friday), 9:30-5

Hours completed: 7.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 68.75
I spent the first part of my shift weeding what remained of my fiction list.
The last books were the ones noted from Senior High Core Collection as
important books to have in a teen section. After I pulled the books, Sarah and I
discussed them further, noting which were Printz winners and how important
they were to Barberton’s collection. After that, I began researching different
display ideas for my July theme and ended up selecting “Fandom Obsession”,
which will feature books about popular fandoms (such as Supernatural) and
books and graphic novels in which characters are obsessed with their own
fandoms. I determined what books would go on the display, and then I made a
booklist to send to Barberton’s PR department so they can turn it into
bookmarks for the teens to take while they browse. I also did a PR request for a
sign for the display, so I gained some experience in filling out basic paperwork
for a request. Finally, I went through my weeding list for teen fiction and
changed the items that I could not locate into “missing” status in WorkFlows.
As I did this, Sarah told me more about Barberton’s teen volunteer
opportunities, and how teens from Barberton and Norton high schools
volunteer for mandatory hours, and that sometimes there are students who serve
hours through the police department.

11 June 2018 (Monday), 9:30-5

Hours completed: 7.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 76.25
Today Sarah had me go through the first part (A-M) of the teen fiction
section and pull out books that were in poor condition or had multiple copies so
we could evaluate whether to discard them, reorder them, or keep them. I
specifically looked to see if the books had liquid damage or if their spines were
broken or if they were otherwise too worn to be checked out. Of the cart of
books I pulled, we discarded most of them because they were not fit to be on
the shelves, but Sarah also reordered some of the books because they were
important for the collection. This exercise was one I found to be very beneficial
because it emphasized Sarah’s earlier lessons on knowing one’s collection,
especially when it comes time to determine if something needs to be reordered.
Next I helped with recent donations by counting them and deciding which
ones could be saved for library use and which needed to be recycled because
they were not in good shape. I also completed my PR requests for my
upcoming display “Fandom Obsession”. I was glad to get the practice in
completing these forms and giving them to Barberton’s PR person. When she
completes the bookmark and display sign, I will look them over before putting
them out. I also spent a good part of the day at the reference desk. I’m feeling
much more confident about answering questions and using WorkFlows to look
up books.

12 June 2018 (Tuesday), 12:30-8

Hours completed: 7.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 83.75
Today was a busy day at Barberton, as I got to assist with two programs and
discuss some future responsibilities with Sarah. Since Sarah will be on vacation
next week, she came up with a list of things for me to start while she is away
including: coming up with a ‘Wish List’ for Barberton’s future Bookstagram
page (Bookstagram is a community on the social media app Instagram in which
bookworms post various photos of books they are reading and reviewing.
Libraries also use it to promote their collections and encourage reading). I am
really excited about this project because I am a fairly active member of the
Bookstagram community, and I think it is a great way for Barberton to use
social media to reach their users.
The first program I helped with today was with the Children’s Department.
The program was a nature-themed event that took place in the Spilette Meeting
room in the basement. I helped one of the librarians with taking materials down
to the room, where we finished setting up. The program consisted of having the
children listen to a variety of bird songs, then they got to play a game where
they heard a song and matched it to the bird who sang it. Both parts of the
activity were done using a projector and a laptop so all the children could see.
After this, the children and caregivers were each given a card that had a picture
of a bird as well as the kind of song it sings (like ‘gobble, gobble’ for a turkey).
Everyone had to “sing” their song and match with the other people in their
group. The librarians and myself also participated in this activity. The next
activities were done in stations, so the children got to pick where they went
first. The stations including: planting flowers in pots to take home, making
“dirt” (a dessert with pudding, Oreos, and gummy worms), and making a wind
chime with recycled materials such as CDs, beads, old keys, etc. I mainly
assisted with the wind chime station and helped the children with tying the
different parts of their wind chimes together. The program lasted about two
hours, and I definitely learned more about interacting with children and their
caregivers. I also learned that it is important to be flexible in programs and
know that not everything will go exactly as planned. For example, the children
were not very engaged by the game where they had to sing bird songs, which
came as a surprise to the librarian, so the game was shortened and we moved on
to crafts.
In the evening, the teen program was writing group. This program has
already been established at the Barberton Public Library, but Sarah allowed me
to play a much larger role in this event. I helped set up for the writing group,
and I was also able to come up with the prompts for that night. To do this, I had
4 pages of Word Documents and wrote a series of random words on each. The
first page had a list of different adjectives, the second list consisted of various
people (some fictional and some real), the third list had places (some real and
some not), and the fourth list had various pop culture quotes and sayings. I
printed these lists out and then cut out each word individually. The words were
placed in separate bowls so each teen could draw 4 words/phrases to create a
prompt to write about. We had two teens show up for the program, and they
both enjoyed having randomized prompts that came from having to draw
random words.
 From both programs, I learned about being flexible and understanding that
things will not always go as planned. For the children’s program, the librarians
thought the game would be more fun for the kids, but they ended up not being
very interesting - so they cut the game short. In the teen program, I was
expecting more teens to show up instead of just two. I learned to work with
what was available and to keep things fun and interesting, despite the outcome
being different than anticipated.

16 June 2018 (Saturday), 9:30-5

Hours completed: 7.5
Accumulated on-site hours completed: 91.25
Today I began the process of weeding the teen nonfiction section. It did not
take as long as fiction and was able to finish the both parts of the list (books
that needed weeded and books from Senior High Core Collection). Sarah and I
looked at the nonfiction books a little differently, as we considered why these
books may not be circulating. In a few instances, we thought that the books,
while full of relevant information, were about sensitive topics that some teens
might not have felt comfortable taking home - so they may have been used in-
house rather than checked out. In other instances, the books had outdated
information, but still discussed important topics so we began to research more
updated books.
I also got a start on the teen ‘What to Read Next’ jar, which will be a jar full
of different books (genres will be categorized by color). Sarah provided me
with a list of genres she wanted featured in the jar and I began to research
appropriate titles. One of my goals for this project is to include teen books that
are not as “well known” in regards to their popularity. In order to best
determine what books to include in the jar, I can use various resources such as
bookriot, Amazon, and epicreads.