Brother sewing machine

What an amazing gift! One of my colleagues at Bellview school gave me a Brother sewing machine as a goodbye present. The timing was perfect, as I’d just disposed of two machines no longer fit for service.

Plenty of school spirit with this newsboy hat

I managed to create one final hat before packing up my sewing supplies for the move back to northern California. With the black-and-white brocade patterning of its brim and quartered panels, this newsboy hat is just the thing to wear with the school colors for Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. And as is often the case with my unique constructions, this hat is entirely assembled from repurposed garments. The patterned pieces come from a thrift-store jacket. The green solid was repurposed from a man's work shirt and the blue comes from a skirt.

Volunteer library-book courier

Walked downtown to return a book after work, to the Sonoma County Library. The book had been in Lost-and-Found at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.

I regularly brought back public-library books when I worked in Bellview Elementary School library. I also retrieved books brought in error to the public library. With both systems automated and relying on book barcoding, the chief difference was a matter of barcode placement when telling each system's books apart.

My one request to patrons was to tell me right away, without embarrassment, if a book was brought to the wrong library.

As part of my ongoing customer-service commitment to the people who rely on our libraries, I gladly volunteer to take on the role of school-to-library courier.

Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts

SRCSA’s ‘Narwhal’ logo

On May 12, 2017, I began work at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. Its mission is to provide K-8 students from Santa Rosa, California and beyond with “an innovative, high quality education that focuses on the arts through a challenging, integrated, standards-based academic program.”

Tarjeta de la biblioteca del condado de Sonoma

Mi tarjeta de la biblioteca del condado de Sonoma

(En español / In Spanish)
Tengo una tarjeta de la biblioteca del condado de Sonoma. Puedo usar la tarjeta en cualquier biblioteca de la condado. Puedo pedir libros en el catálogo automatizado y tenerlos en la biblioteca para mí, y puedo descargar libros digitales.

(In English / En inglés)
I have a Sonoma County Library card. I can use the card at any county library. I can request books in the automated catalog and have them held at the library for me, and I can download digital books.

Last day of work in Bellview library

This assortment of cards make wonderful keepsakes for my time in Bellview Elementary School library. During my final day at work, groups of students, individuals and classes, gave me these beautiful hand-made cards. Many of them depict scenes in the library: reading, finding and checking out books, while hand-written notes address what I hope have been positive contributions. School staff also signed a copy of teacher-librarian Matt Damon's book, The Fall of General Custard, or, The Overthrow of a Leftover. I will bring wonderful memories with me to the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.

Sonoma County Libraries to reopen Mondays

I’ll arrive back in Santa Rosa just in time to be able to go on Mondays to Sonoma County Library. Thanks to Measure Y, libraries across the system will be open again on Mondays for the first time in six years (as reported by Christi Warren for the Press Democrat).

Oregon Reader’s Choice Award winner is El Deafo

Winning titles in the 2017 Oregon Reader’s Choice Award were announced during the Oregon Library Association/Oregon Association of School Libraries conference in Salem.

I’ve promoted reader’s choice awards every year that I have been in Bellview Elementary School library, and wanted to report this final election result before leaving to begin my new position.

In the upper-elementary category, the winner was El Deafo by Cece Bell. Here’s the publisher’s summary for a book I read and enjoyed.