Starting to settle in

Day 78

Inventory. Ever since the family's one-time awful store inventory, that word can't help but take on a negative connotation for me. But I understand how needful it is. Especially when you inherit a children's room/department that has seen 4 children's librarians in the last 2 years and there is a lot of disorganization here and there right before your first children's summer reading program (quite different from adult and teen programs).

With no budget to purchase any prizes for the kids, we have to go on leftovers. And there is a decent amount of leftovers, but I still need to know what is there, and exactly how much is there so I can separate it among 3 library branches. Five very large cabinets in the kitchen act as our overflow. Each one containing about 6-8 bags and boxes filled with prizes. My goal was to go through one a week, after we'd finished all the stuff lying around in 4 cabinets in the children's room itself.

So finishing the room and getting through two cabinets by the lunch hour today was absolutely amazing and I am so grateful for the progress we're making. Items counted, numbers recorded, items bagged if needed, and each container of prizes having a note added of what prizes and how much of them are inside.

Every week I feel more and more that the room really is becoming my room. And I'm grateful for that and for the staff who help me every day with that.