Day 11, 5 hours

I have a total of 55 hours so far here at Brewer-Porch Children's Center. By the time I have the required 150, it'll be the week of graduation, so I am happy that I will be able to finish on time.
Today I labeled the shelves with a label-maker, and I asked about getting contact paper to cover the books to protect them. The majority of the chapter books in the collection are paperback, and because they were old before they came here, the are taking a beating getting checked out and read over and over. Hopefully covering them in plastic will protect them a little better. It should be here later this week.
One thing that I find is frustrating here is the fact that there are still books missing. Often the children know where the books are that are checked out in their name (I had a discussion with an uncooperative girl today about Matilda) but they can't get to them. If the books are in a previous classroom (such as one from last year) they cannot get them back because of the strict schedule the students are kept on. They often do not talk to previous teachers.
Though I emailed Pam about this and gave her a list of books that are missing, the OCD part of me is frustrated that there are STILL books missing. I think I will make a list and print out several copies of it, and hang it around the school, asking for teachers and students both to look for the missing books.

Day 10, 5 hours

The other day Pam, the director of the school, came to me and asked if there was anything I needed. I asked for a label maker, because I've organized the books by genre and haven't been able to label the shelves properly. She also asked if there were any books I needed. Are there ever!! The kids are constantly asking for Artemis Fowl, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Twilight, among other random books. I put together a short Amazon wishlist of the books that I would like to get for the library and sent it to her, but I haven't heard anything since. I am hoping that they will be able to buy at least a few of them because new books would be preferable, and especially books the kids are asking for.

Day 7, 5 hours

I think I've finally gotten into a routine here at the BPCC library. I have had several classes of varying ages come in to visit. Though the classes are small, I quickly discovered that book talking any books took too much time. The first day I tried to discuss several different types of books: fantasy, scary stories and general fiction. The students seemed to like the books I discussed and a few were selected as their books for the week, but it took too much time away from their browsing time.
I am trying to get a feel for what types of books the kids are interested in, but it's difficult. It's also difficult to recommend another book that they might like if we don't have one they do want. One of the problems I'm running into is that I don't know what books are in the library.
Another issue I'm noticing is that some of the students are interested in books like Hannah Montana, or High School Musical, or Babysitter's Club. While I would like to get them reading books that are a little better quality, I suppose I should settle with being glad that they are reading at all.

35 hours total.