November 17

Work Placement Day 9

Monday 16th November 2020

8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00 2:00 3:30 5:00
Move & Groove Move & Groove Literacy Kits LUNCH Front Counter SRC School Visit Literacy Kits

Back to the beginning! Last week I missed Move & Groove because I was completing my induction. Each participant receives a scarf and an instrument, like a triangle, shaker, or xylophone. Then, just like Baby Bounce, the presenter follows a musical playlist, listening to the instructions and playing some games with the parachute. Once again, it was really cool to see all the big smiles on the children!

I spent forty minutes on the Literacy Kits before lunch, then went out for my next shift at the front desk with Matilda. When we started, she said how quiet it usually was from 1 o’clock onwards. Of course, there were lots of customers, and we even had to call the police when a young man with a disability refused to listen to his carer and threw a couple of things around the children’s cave. So much for a quiet shift!

After that, I went with Kelly and Terasa to their next Summer Reading Challenge school visit. We drove out to Mil Lel Primary School, a small school on the outskirts of town. With Terasa all dressed up as a fairy again, Kelly explained how the Summer Reading Challenge works, and I took some photos. It was a fun journey and interesting to see another Mount Gambier school.

At the end of the day, I had some more time to look at the Literacy Kits. I’m trying to find the contents for the kits but it is so easy to go down a rabbit hole searching for things that could go in!

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November 15

Work Placement Day 8

Sunday 15th November 2020

8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00
Returns & Re-shelving Returns & Re-shelving Returns & Re-shelving

Today I did 2.5 hours of returning and re-shelving. I even got to answer the phone twice!

As I don’t always get to re-shelve at school, I enjoyed the process. I got to see how the Mount Gambier Library categorises all of their resources. It was especially useful re-shelving in the children’s area.

I am wondering if I can change the fiction shelves in my library. At the moment, letters of the alphabet are broken down into mini sections, such as Ab – Al and Am – Az. This is not a flexible system, which is what I am aiming for. At the moment, if a shelf is full, books are going in the space at the top, which isn’t a good look. I am definitely going to get rid of the mini sections and try having A to Z. Of course, books will be in order within their letter, but it will be easier to move books around quickly if there is a unexpected influx of books at a certain letter, or during weeding processes.

I also liked how the library manages the books that have their cover facing out. I think this will work in my school library as well! I can’t wait to get back to school and get started!

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November 14

Work Placement Day 6

Friday 13th November 2020

8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00 2:00 3:30 5:00
Aged Care Delivery Aged Care Delivery Literacy Kits LUNCH Returns SRC School Assembly Visit Lego Club

Yep … it’s Friday the 13th!

Today was super busy, with 2 off-site adventures! I started the day helping with the library’s home deliveries. Today’s deliveries were for the many Aged Care homes in Mount Gambier. The residents provide the library with a list of their preferences and an automated system chooses resources for them. The librarian then collects the selected books from the shelves, packages them together, puts them into named bags and takes a government car to deliver them. With Covid, library staff no longer enter the homes to interact with the residents. They used to have a volunteer who spent all day reading and talking with them, which sounds nice.

Since we had 2 people on the job, we had time to cruise around town a bit. Danni showed me all of the tourist hot-spots, and offered some local knowledge about different buildings and locations. When we returned, I had an hour to work on the Literacy Kits.

After lunch, I was stationed on Returns by myself, as another staff member had gone home. This gave me a good opportunity to practice using the library’s system.

Then, we dressed Terasa up as a fairy and drove out to Melaleuca Park Primary School to appear as guests at their assembly. We were there to promote the Summer Reading Challenge, where children can read over summer to win prizes. It was really interesting to visit one of the primary schools and have a quick look at their library.

To finish off the day, I helped out with Lego Club.

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November 14

Work Placement Day 1

Sunday 8th November 2020

On Thursday, we got the keys to our brand new house in Morphettville. Three days later, I was leaving for my next adventure – a work placement in Mount Gambier!

After packing my slightly new Subaru Forester, I left Adelaide at about 9:30am. It was a lot faster driving up Cross Road instead of winding through the hills. I managed to reach Tailem Bend at 10:40am. Here, I pulled in for my first rest stop. I had a gigantic banana and some strawberries before setting off towards Meningie, which, by the way, was a beautiful town.

I’ve never driven along the Coorong, so this was a new experience for me. The road was very bumpy, but there was some interesting scenery. Meningie to Kingston S.E. is about 145km and there are no services in between. Lucky my trusty Subaru just kept roaring. There were a lot of bugs flying around. Lots of moths. There’s one stuck on the front of the car still.

I had lunch at Kingston – apple and blackcurrant juice, and a chicken and veg pie (which was amongst the top 3 best pies of all time). Then I kicked the soccer ball at the Lions park. The main street was a little plain but the foreshore was nice to drive along.

From here, I continued on to Millicent. This section of highway was much more smooth, but I was getting tired. I decided to stop again for a stretch at the Millicent town entrance.

Finally, I made it to Mount Gambier. I went to get supplies from the local Coles supermarket and settled into my cabin.

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