May 25th: Training on the Bookmobile
Let's start by talking about how cute the Lake Travis bookmobile is! My hometown library growing up did not have a mobile library or library vehicle, so I relish in the fact that this summer I get to spend the majority of my time on this little book bus. Bookmobiles are such a great way to reach other members of the community especially youth populations as they have no way of accessing a library without the help of others. However, bookmobiles are a lot of work as I discovered today. This morning I spent a good two hours learning the in's and out's of this little bus. My supervisor started by showing me which keys belonged to the bookmobile, then out of those five keys on the chain which key opened which lock. I practiced unlocking the doors and latching them open with a little metal hook that enables the doors to stay open and steady. I was shown where all the various supplies where kept such as the first aid kit, the checkout computers (and back up computer), roll out rugs, cart straps, extra craft supplies, bookmobile stop files, etc. From there, I took notes on the small collections within the bus regarding how and where each mini collection is housed. The bookmobile keeps a small collection of adult books, young adult books, movies, family movies, audio books, Spanish books, Children's books (chapter, beginning readers, picture, and toddler), as well as large print books and a free book collection. Additionally, I learned the do's and don't's of the generator and inner basic bus functions. Most importantly, I learned that you do not turn on both AC units at the same time or it could cause the generate to malfunction. This was super helpful as Texas summers lead many, like myself, to turn on all the AC units as fast as one can, so that little tip was extremely helpful.
After, our training time on the bookmobile my supervisor and I reviewed the craft packet I made on Tuesday for all the youth stops this summer. We sorted what materials we already had in the library, what we should ask for as donations from library volunteers, and what to order. I even got to talk with the children's librarian as well about my crafts, as we stopped by her desk to ask about bubbles for the bookmobile. There she asked me about what other crafts I planned and gave me some tips on each one. We ended the last hour of training working on reviewing all the enrollment excel files sent from the LTISD Summer Squires supervisor. The plan was to use those enrollment information sheets to figure out which kids had library accounts so that we could check them out books each time we visited, while giving free books to the children without library cards. We organized them and determined it was best to create one spreadsheet with all the children from each week and add their library card information. My supervisor, Ms. Karen B., suggested that I could continue working on the spreadsheet for my planning time that next Tuesday. Since excel and the files could both by a little tricky, I was told to get as far as I could in that allotted time and to email her any questions if I had any. My favorite thing she told me was "do not suffer in silence." That little phrase was a reminder how for public libraries no one is alone but every staff member, volunteer, and intern was a part of a team that supports each other so we can all better serve the community.
