I’m going to start with the Ugly and work my way to the Good as I’d like to end on a positive note!

The Ugly

Due to the overwhelming budget shortfall in our State educational system, my district has initiated a furlough of five days for teachers & instructional staff and 10 days for everybody else.  But at least we all still have jobs – there wasn’t another reduction in force initiative passed.

The Bad

I’ve had a horrible headache for the past three days.  I love the changing of the seasons, but Spring and late Summer/Fall are extremely painful for me.  Add inconsistent air-conditioning in the library, and I’d really like to hibernate at home until the temperatures become constant.  I’m going to have to insist that the district folks come out and check the thermostat register/gauge.  I swear it isn’t accurately measuring the temperature.

The Good

1. I’ve got an LMS intern this fall who started yesterday.  It’s a good thing she and I have already met and have had some interaction before she came here for her first day.  I was so doped up and caffeinated to try and dull my migraine that I’m sure I came across as a hyper schizophrenic woman.  As it was, I know I overloaded her with details on her first day. Sigh.  But on the bright side, I have a nice new Banned Book Week bulletin board – she did an awesome job on it.  Will have to remember to snap a picture before we take it down.

2. Sony has FINALLY made eReader library software available for download on Macs.  Of course, ideally, I’d rather they provide an ONLINE library/store verses having to download it to our computers, but at least they are no longer discriminating against us Mac users.  I was able to search, download, and transfer books to my eReader from my Mac last night.  That was way cool!

3. Apple’s Snow Leopard releases Friday and if you pre-ordered it up through yesterday, you were promised to have it delivered to you on Friday.  We’ll see.  I’ve been reading up on it, and while it doesn’t seem to have too many new “Wow” perks, you can’t beat the price – under $30.

4. We finally received instructions for setting up PowerTeacher Gradebooks.  I’ve been bombarded by teachers asking when it will be ready – they’ve got grades piling up!  Now I just have to put together a training packet – I’m not pleased with the one the district posted – it leaves too much out and some things aren’t explained very well.  Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? Hmm, maybe this should go under the bad!

5. Speaking of this weekend, I’ll most likely be stopping by to see one of my cousins (more like a sister as we practically grew up in the same house) who just had twin boys this morning!  Can’t wait for the pictures.  I have GOT to get a new digital camera.  I keep missing out on photo opportunities.

Well, at least for now the Good outweighs the Bad & the Ugly.  Do any of you have some news to share?

Of course the year won’t really begin until next week when all the smiling and excited students join us, but today was the first day back for teachers in my district.  We spent the morning meeting new hires, catching up with summer adventures, and going over policies and procedures. The rest of this week will be full of more faculty meetings/training and teachers prepping their rooms.  Ahhhh, I love the smell of the laminator in the morning!  Uhm, yeah, that was a joke.  That thing is older than I am and it stinks!  Someone will invariably ask whats burning.  But that’s not what I wanted to write about.  Although, I have a guilty little secret to admit – the laminator is my friend and best collaboration tool.  I deliberately turn it off between use.  Did I mention it’s ancient?  It takes 15 minutes to heat back up, even if you’ve just turned it off!  Can we say captive audience!

The point of this post isn’t the laminiator, what I wanted was to take a moment to jot down some of the things I’m looking forward to for this upcoming year:

1. My first school library intern – Yikes!  Pressure, Pressure!  I SOOOO don’t do things like we’re taught in library school.  However, I’m really looking forward to having a fresh face and new idea sharing with her.
2. Collaborating with teachers.  I already have some new and exciting plans with our Freshman Academy English teachers and some ideas bouncing around with our wonderful new art teacher.  Did I mention that we now have a FULL TIME ART TEACHER.  Whoohoo!  And our literacy initiatives, part of High Schools That Work, more than likely mean I’ll be interacting with more than just the English teachers for supplemental reading materials.
3. Speaking of reading initiatives, I’m really looking forward to planning some Teen Read Week activities.  This year’s theme is “Read Beyond Reality” and I want to offer events during all of October based around Reality TV:  American Idol; So You Think You Can Dance; America’s Got Talent; Jeopardy (or other game show); etc.  Our students love to perform, and since karaoke is always such a big hit, I’m hoping the other themes will draw more of them to the library.  A couple of teachers have already agreed to help out.  Of course I’ll be creating displays, bulletin boards, and book lists for science fiction and fantasy titles, but I immediately thought of the reality tv rage when I heard of this year’s theme.
4. Being asked by the middle school principal to work with (vertical team) with their new library media specialist.  This was a “duh” moment for me.  I got to thinking if I went over there a few times a month, we (the middle school and elementary school librarians and I) could work together!  The middle and elementary school libraries are beside each other and share a workroom.
5. Re-starting the book club.  I’ve already purchased multiple copies of My Sister’s Keeper by Picoult for one of our meetings.  I’ve been wanting to use it since it originally came out, but couldn’t afford the hardcover or trade paperback prices.  I was jumping for joy when it came out in mass market paperback in May and then the movie came out this summer!
6. Giving 10 Minute Tech training during our faculty meetings.  Some topics I’m thinking of introducing are: Twitter, RSS, Creative Commons, Flickr, VoiceThread, Animoto, DISCUS, Inspiration, PhotoStory, Windows Movie Maker, and many more.  I’ll give out handouts with basic instructions and an invitation for teachers to sign up with me for more in-depth training on their own time.

These are just a few of the things I’m planning for this year both for my library program, teachers, students, and professionally.  What are some things you’re looking forward to this year?