This was a pretty packed day and it involved 2 parts. The first being story time at the Beaumont community center led by Emily who is in charge of outreach. I took notes on how she started her program and the kids were very much engaged. She started out with puppets and just being goofy which got the kids following her. Then she did one story, the kids were engaged and they were on great behavior. After that, they went around playing music and following each other dancing in a line. The end of the activity involved a coloring activity which lasted about 30 minutes. 

My day was split into 2 parts working under the supervision of Kelly. The first day was working reference and handling all of the questions on my own having Kelly watching me of course. Most of the questions we get have to primarily do with tech, such as helping patrons print or log on the computers. The second thing is helping people find books, for the most part they have been very nice and patient if there is something we do not have in stock. 

Out of all the days so far, this one was mentally tough since my four-hour shift was split into two parts. The first two hours were spent on inventory, and the second part was at the reference desk.

Today I was under our supervising Librarian Julie who was a delight to work with. Kelly was gone and she sat down and spoke with me a while as she listened to my backround experiences and future goals. This day was split in half as the first part being research and ideas about our social media page and the second doing reference. 

Today was my first time shadowing the outreach team with our bookmobile. I went into the library from 10:00–11:00 a.m. to get a rundown on how things work, and then I drove back to Beaumont District Schools at 3:00 p.m. to help set up for the district’s back-to-school event. Setting up took about 15 minutes and included two desks, chairs, pamphlets, and a spinning wheel where kids could win prizes such as books, pencils, markers, and candy.

I started my practicum on Monday, August 18th at 9 a.m. and I was definitely nervous, as most of my career has been in sales. This experience felt like a real shift in my identity and professional path. Our library is relatively small, since it is a Special District Library for Beaumont, which means staff and patrons work closely together in shared spaces. This created an easy and natural way for me to meet everyone on my very first day. At the library, I am primarily working with Kelly (District Librarian), along with Julia (Supervising Librarian), Tamara (Librarian II), Devon (Librarian I), and several associate librarians and part-time pages.