Bittersweet Transition

Yesterday was officially my last day to do storytimes as the storytime librarian...at least for a couple years. In my library system, in order to provide opportunities to grow and have the ability to potentially be considered for management in the future, we rotate age groups every few years. I have been in my role for 2.5 years, so now it is time for me to work with a different age group and work with the teens and school-agers in my community.

Even though I am excited about doing something new, it was difficult to say goodbye to doing storytimes regularly. I genuinely love spending time with the little ones on a day-to-day basis. Storytime can be exhausting, especially if you do it 6+ times a week, but the kids make it worth it. I pulled some of my regulars aside so they could properly prepare their toddlers for the change. It was difficult, but I would prefer caregivers to not be surprised when they don't see Ms. Allison presenting storytime in the Spring.

That being said, even though it is incredibly sad to know I'm not going to be doing storytimes for all the little ones I've grown to know and love, I also know many of the teens and elementary-age kids. So I am excited to take on a new challenge. 

Speaking of a new challenge, each year our libraries do a Cookie House building program. Since we're in transition, I did not have a set group of teen volunteers to help. So, with over 150 people registered for our program that is tomorrow, I had to stuff a lot of the bags myself with some help from one of my Library Assistants.

Got my assembly-line going:

 Only a small glimpse of the amount of bags we put together:

Even MORE bags of treats:

Day 1 as a school-age librarian, so we'll see how it goes from here. Onward to the actual Cookie House program tomorrow, more planning for our Spring session, another huge event next week celebrating the 10th anniversary of our library, and training of the teens.