June has been a roller coaster, for so many reasons. But today I’ll just talk a little about work. Today was my last day of school, and I packed up the last box in the library. It’s being renovated over the summer, and I’ve spent the entire month of June packing and prepping.

We had our spring book fair the week before Memorial Day, and as soon as we came back after the long weekend the packing began. It’s been a job, even though this is a small library. But I got it done, all 79 boxes worth of stuff. And I’m hoping the new space will be lovely for the kids. My classes were canceled for the last week so I could finish up, and the guys have already been dismantling the shelves and hauling them away. I’m just thrilled to be done with this project!

This was the library in September:

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The shelves were packed to bursting. I don’t think the previous administrations let the old librarian weed anything. I inherited hundreds of books that had already been deleted from the catalog but put back on the shelves; I think my predecessor tried.

So, my principal and I were both brand-new this year, and she supported overhauling the library. This school year, for me, has been about weeding the outdated books (we had several on Yugoslavia, and our entire space section was pre-1985). We have a small budget but get lots of donations, so I’ve also been working on building up the collection with materials the kids want to read. It’s been a year. After this renovation, the collection can grow from there.

But now it’s time to decompress.