October 27, 2015

 Today we had our lockdown drill. The one where we pretend there is a threat in the building and we hide. I had a second grade class in the lab this morning that was supposed to be there when the drill started but they had a substitute so the librarian had them come to the library early so she could discuss the whole process with them. The past few years I have gone to the library during the drills because I don't have a key to lock the computer lab. This morning, however, I didn't actually unlock the computer lab doors. I just propped them open. I was still planning on heading down to the library but just in case I didn't want to unlock the doors. Which ended up being a good thing because I wasn't going to be stuck with twenty-five second graders in the library. Especially this years second graders. I ended up closing the computer lab doors and then going into the back room. That door locks but again, I don't have a key, so I just closed it and turned the lights off. It isn't the best place because it had giant windows to the playground (covered with blinds) and a big window looking out over the computer lab. That window also has a shade on it but it is in the computer lab, not the small room, so if someone is in the computer lab they can easily lift the shade and see in the small room. Because of this I ended up piling a couple boxes in front of it and when I heard the pounding on the computer lab door I laid down on my side in front of the counter below the window, which is about the only spot in the whole room that isn't visible from the computer lab window. That turned out to be unnecessary because the cops doing the door pounding and shouting didn't come to the back room.

I spent my alone time in the back room reading an article on my phone about a school librarian using Minecraft to teach digital citizenship to students. It was a pretty interesting idea and I ended up sending the article to our school librarian. She's not a big video game fan or a fan of the fact that so many kids are obsessed with Minecraft so we ended up sending a few emails back and forth joking about it. I still think the kids would like it, maybe a little too much though.

Throughout the day I found several more articles for my research paper and now I'm up to at least thirty, probably more. That's more than enough in my opinion but I'll probably keep looking until I actually start writing the paper. I haven't actually read any of the articles just abstracts and findings, and some of them probably won't end up working out, so it won't hurt to keep searching. I'm beginning to get a better idea of how I want to research paper to be laid out and that helps a lot.

This afternoon one of the kindergarten teachers asked me about editing a couple of his vacation pictures. He had two shots of his family on the beach. One had the whole beach but one of his daughters was standing weird. The other had a better shot of the family but most of the beach was cropped out. He wanted to know if I could put the two together. I said I would give it a shot. It ended up being a little more worth than originally anticipated but it kind of turned out alright. If you didn't know that it had been altered, meaning you weren't looking for discrepancies, you probably would think it looks like a nice family portrait. But if you look closely you can tell the family is slightly blurrier than the rest of the picture because the second picture was quite a bit blurrier than the first picture. Just don't look too closely.

Tonight I eventually got around to watching and summarizing the webinar on the art of scanning. It was actually kind of interesting, and entertaining because the presenter had a good sense of humor. I learned some things, too. I had been avoiding it mostly because of the summarizing thing, and then having to relate it to academic libraries, but I powered through. Now I just have to comment on other posts throughout the week. Piece of cake. I could even start working on my research paper. But I probably won't.

Now it is after 11:30PM and I am tired. I got a lot of sleep last night but I am not that lucky tonight. Hopefully I will make it through the work day without falling asleep at my desk.