It's Wednesday! What's happening in the AME Library?

What's happening in the AME Library?  Well, this week includes rescheduled checkouts for our Thursday and Friday visitors--the library is in use for STAAR testing on Thursday, and we have staff development on Friday.  So everyone was invited for a quick checkout from Monday through Wednesday.

And Ms Margocs wasn't here today--she's been at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in downtown Austin all day!  A big thank you to Ms Dancer for subbing and to Ms Moss for keeping those books circulating today.

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As I promised my staff--here's what I did and learned today at TLA:

I drove to the Park 'n' Ride and took the 6:56 train to downtown Austin.  

Once I arrived at the Austin Convention Center, I went to a registration kiosk and got my badge.

After chatting a bit with another district librarian, I took some selfies

and then headed upstairs to my first session, "Toddler Storytime: Beyond the Read-Aloud".  I learned a lot!  The presenter shared many interactive activities tied to picture books that we already have in our library.  I went to this session to get more ideas for working with our PreK class...but walked out wondering if there was any way I could incorporate a toddler session on our campus, too.  I'll be getting in touch with our family support and engagement specialists to ask for their guidance with that suggestion.

I had a quick taco lunch with a couple of our district librarians...and then it was off to "Speed Dating the Bluebonnets"!  We had eleven rounds of either activities connected to the Bluebonnet Award Nominees or visits from the authors themselves!  Then we waited in long lines for chances at getting a free signed book by the authors.

We tried to go to a couple more learning sessions after this, but the rooms were full.  We spent the hour talking about work instead--changes the district is making in staffing, and changes the legislature is proposing that will directly affect our work.

And then...it was time for the exhibit hall to open!  We got to the hall early, and there was already a crowd waiting to get in.  I sometimes forget that the library conference is for ALL Texas librarians--school, public, academic, and other special libraries are represented in our group.  There are a LOT of us!

I walked the exhibit hall floor for about a half an hour, collecting books and posters and buying some scented bookmarks for the library (I know you love those, Dillo Readers!).  My one bag had turned into two, loaded with books, so I said goodbye to my coworkers and headed back northbound on the train.

Here's my book stash from day 1!  Most are advanced reader copies, so they will be given away to our students.  There's a book light to give away, too.

The conference hasn't even really begun yet!  Tomorrow, we have an opening keynote from Gretchen Rubin, and then it's on to learn more about collection curation, get some books signed, have lunch with authors, get tips on serving bilingual learners, and then try to decide between concurrent sessions that all sound relevant to our AME Library.  I'll be catching the train home a bit later tomorrow, I think!

Thanks for sharing my first day back at TLA with me, Dillo Readers!