Our Culture - Hear it from our workers
A Day in the life of...
Children’s Librarian
8 am – the start of my day. I have a special breakfast of three weetabix as lots of energy is needed for a day of working with little monsters! Who am I and what do I do? My name is Heather French and I am a children’s librarian at Scarborough Library and Information Centre.
Some readers may think that I spend most of my day selecting new books and arranging these on the shelves in a silent environment. Actually I am relieved to tell you that my job is nothing like that. My job varies from day to day and my colleagues will tell you that I find it incredibly difficult to stay quiet for longer than five minutes!
The “new look – no shush” image of the North Yorkshire Library Service coupled with the bright new decor of the refurbished centres create a welcome space for families and is a perfect work environment.
My first port of call is a visit to a local primary school where I am promoting a poetry competition to coincide with World Book Day on March 1st. I take part in both infant and junior assemblies to tell the children what the library has to offer and to invite them to write a poem. The entries will be displayed in Scarborough Library and made into a book for families to view. I read them a few funny poems to give them a few ideas and hope this will fire their imaginations.
On returning to Scarborough Library I prepare for a visit from a special school. The children who attend this school love coming to the library. I always make their sessions interactive as they enjoy joining in and often sing me songs they have learnt at school. They enjoy craft activities and browsing amongst the books and audio visual stands to see what we have to offer. I show them how the library works and how to use the computers. One funny incident occurred when a pupil made me sit on the cushions and listen to him telling the story. He mimicked me perfectly and had everyone smiling!
My afternoon begins with a storytime for pre-school children. This free event is held every Monday from 1.30 pm to 2.30pm and combines stories, songs and crafts. We run storytimes and activities throughout the school holidays too. We often theme the sessions and we have covered various topics from a teddy bears’ picnic to bedtime stories (when we wore pyjamas and brought in a fold up bed and read stories from under the duvet!)
I have a short breather and then prepare for the Chatterbooks Readers Group which I run for children aged 9 years. This club meets after school and encourages young people to chat confidently about their favourite reads. We also use the computers and do online book reviews, write poems and play games on www.storiesfromtheweb.org which is a fantastic online resource offered throughout North Yorkshire Libraries. The main objective of the club is to promote the love of reading for pleasure and encourage a welcome environment for the members.
My last job of the day is to put up a display. Today I am alerting families to ‘Bookstart’, which is a brilliant national programme to encourage parents and carers to read to children from a very early age. There are free ‘Bookstart’ and ‘Bookstart Plus’ Packs containing books for babies and toddlers available through libraries and health visitos. We change the displays frequently to maintain interest in our stock and to remind customers what our libraries now have to offer.
Pop down to your local library soon and see how we can help you!
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