The Library Life

This job gave me the opportunity to finally live the life of a full-time library employee.

Organizing the library shelves was one of my favorite activities.

And we finally got around to discarding the outdated library books (some were literally been there longer than I've been alive, and I was born 1980). New nonfiction were FINALLY added, addressing the concerns of today's youth. 

I helped the students learn about the various resources within the library! The resources included (but not limited to) fiction books, nonfiction books, reference (ie atlases, dictionaries, encyclopedias),  magazines, graphic novels, biographies and Hawaiiana.

In the era of Google and Wikipedia, I remember when a student had her first exposure to a print encyclopedia, something I took for granted growing up in a home with encyclopedia set before Google or Wikipedia existed. 

The library itself is larger than other middle school libraries in the Honolulu District. Lots of room not only for bookshelves, but also for tables (enough for all teachers at faculty meetings), couches, and a computer lab. 

The library hosted afterschool tutoring, in which our wonderful EA's (Educational Assistants) monitored  & tutored the students. This allowed the students the opportunity to complete their assignments before going home. The library's computer labs were also open afterschool, giving an opportunity for the students who didn't have computers at home.

The Library Staff also organized the incoming books headed for the classrooms, and we were in charge of keeping track of all the barcoded books in the classrooms. I taught the new teachers how to do the inventory of their classroom books. They really appreciated my help. 



The Student Helpers

We had a dedicated group of student volunteers who assisted with circulation duties before & after school hours as well as during morning & lunch recess!

They were (usually) well-behaved students who knew how to have fun in an appropriate way. I wish I was more like them when I was their age. 

They all had their different personalities and preferences. Some loved to organize things, others preferred to do check-ins & check-outs at the circulation. 

I also learned from them the life of a middle schooler in this era, as well as what really goes on in their classes that their teachers may want hidden from admin and the public. 

Being that the school year was interrupted by the coronavirus crisis, I never had the chance to say goodbye to them in person.  I  miss them more than anything else about the job. 


The Other Students Too
 Don't let the stereotypes of the surrounding community fool you, there are a lot of great students at Kalākaua Middle School.  Many are on the road to success. Even for the ones who aren't as dedicated as they should be, many of them have a good heart! 

The few really bad students couldn't destroy my appreciation for the majority of the students on campus. 



Wonderful Staff (well, most of them)
Even though I had troubled relations with the head librarian, I did have great relations with the majority of the staff members of the school. Being that I left during the coronavirus crisis, I never really had the chance to say my farewells in person. I do keep in contact with a few on social media. 


The Physical Layout of the campus
It's a nice campus. It is very spread out with lots of open space.
 
Mostly flat surface, so you don't have to walk up hills.

The benches outside were wonderful places to chill during my breaktime.

We receive a great amount of trade winds. 

The walkways were renovated during my time there, to make them ADA accessible.

The only thing that could be improved is that the buildings are old, unable to support air conditioning for all classrooms, and there are no elevators (try walking up with boxes of books like I had to do during summer break).