Check out my new digs!!!

Everything is ready for the kiddos! The books are on the shelves and ready to check out. Classes will start coming tomorrow. They came in today to see Ronald McDonald, and the kids were wide-eyed upon seeing the library. It was very cute!! Here are pictures of the greatest library in Virginia:

WE'RE IN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a heart-pounding week! On Friday morning, our book rep waited at the building to instantly find out the results of the inspectors' visits. The fire marshall approved the last thing with the sprinkler system, and then the building inspector did his duty, and WE GOT OCCUPANCY!! It's a good thing, too, because the books and the movers were on their way already. We got the OP at 10:30 and the books arrived at 11:15. Cutting it a little close, eh? There were 23 pallets of books that contained 424 boxes of books. Another box showed up later that day all on its own. We started shelving the books later Friday afternoon and continued on Saturday. We took today off because everything was moving along swimmingly. We will finish tomorrow. The library looks AWESOME. The books are just fantastic--clean, stiff, beautiful. We have found a couple of "oops" glitches in the order: my fault, I'm sure. We got 21 copies of two different books and 11 copies of a third. I am sure that I was clicking a little too fast and didn't catch the error. Oh, well. We'll send the copies along to other libraries in the county. These books won't go to waste, that's for sure! I am actually excited to go to work tomorrow.

Not so close...

Bad news. We can't get into the school tomorrow. We can't get in on Thursday. And Friday is looking iffy. I'm a little sad about it, but there's really nothing we can do until the county gets the occupancy permit. So far, no permit. So far, the fire marshall is being a stickler (which he should be!) and the school is not ready. I have become good at waiting. I can wait a few more days.

So Close!

Lots of last-minute details are being hammered out (literally) at the school. My boss and I met this afternoon to discuss the arrangement of the shelves and computer tables in the library. She made a little mock-up of the library with moveable shelves. Pretty funny. I think we have it worked out. We went to the school today to check on the progress since our last visit, but the foreman said we weren't allowed in because of an impending visit from the fire marshall. We thought this was a good sign that the fire marshall was inspecting the building. Since were away at our librarians' conference since last Wednesday, we feel really out of the loop with what's happening at the site. Hopefully, we'll be able to get in tomorrow and see if everything is really ready. The book rep called to say that we may have to delay the arrival of the collection until Thursday because of the weather forecast. They're calling for rain on Wednesday, and leaving the books out on the sidewalk during thunderstorms just wouldn't be a good idea. She's going to keep a close eye on the weather and let me know tomorrow. A lot depends on whether or not the moving company can delay shipment and delivery until Thursday. I'll keep us all informed.

good times ahead

Everything is on track for the collection to arrive next Wednesday. In just a week, the books will be at the school and we'll be putting them on the shelves. This is SO exciting. How beautiful is that photo? Everything bad that's happened at the 2nd-3rd grade site will be a bad memory in just another week, as we focus on our brand new facility... where I don't have to share anymore, or be painfully nice anymore, or try to get along anymore. I'll be in my place with my rules (which are much friendlier than SOME of the rules we've abided by lately) and we'll all be HAPPY. Gone to our state conference for a few days. Like there's not enough going on...

you should see my library!!!!

On Friday afternoon, I spoke with someone who had been in our new building. She said that I should stop by and see the library. I mentioned it to my principal, who said, "They'll turn you away! You can't just walk in there!" I told her I'd take my chances and leave if anyone said anything. So I walked right in. Walked into the cafeteria and through the halls and directly into the library. The beautiful library. The library with carpeting and shelves. I was so excited, I wanted to do a little dance. A man was still assembling the shelves, but he was almost done. He was very friendly, and I was just gushing over his fine craftmanship. It just made my weekend to see the awesome progress going on there at the school and in my library, in particular. The collection arrives on November 16. I will be there full-time at that point, organizing the books and equipment and AV stuff. Yikes. So much to do. I almost forgot to mention that the librarian at the other school and I had words last week. She is having a bookfair next week, and was quite eager to get the information to our students about visiting the bookfair. I said to her, "It seems that you're more than willing to have our students' money in your library, yet you do not actually want the students there." We discussed things tersely for a few minutes, and I could tell we were getting nowhere, so I ended the conversation by saying that we'd be out of her hair in a couple of weeks anyway. which is true. I can't wait.