As part of the Walk in My Shoes program, I had the pleasure of spending some time this week with the Springvale Library Team. This initiative allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the vital roles our library staff play in serving our community. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Brad and Andrea for their guidance and support throughout the day.
My day began with handling reservations. I was tasked with locating reserved books on the shelves, which proved to be more challenging than anticipated. Some of the books were in languages I couldn't read, such as Chinese, making the task even more complex. Following this, we managed reservations that had not been collected. This involved either reintegrating the stock back into our library or sending them to other libraries within our borrowing cooperative, such as Buloke Library.
At 10am, I joined Andrea for Story Time, a highlight of my day. We had about 40 attendees, including parents, carers and many enthusiastic children. I was introduced to Rainbow Teddy, a beloved character among the kids. We read Rainbowsaurus and My Friends Are All Different, and I learned the importance of sitting, listening and turning off our phones during storytime.
Story Time is an incredibly active and skillful job. It requires singing, dancing, improvisation and even bubble distribution over the heads of excited toddlers and children. I found myself singing and dancing to the Hokey Pokey along with the Wiggles, and it was a delightful reminder of the value of nursery rhymes and actions like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."
After all the singing, fun and activity, I was quite exhausted and had to retreat to the quiet of my CEO office. I am immensely grateful to Brad and Andrea for taking the time to assist me. You both do a phenomenal job in our libraries, which are so well appreciated by our community.
Thank you once again for this enlightening experience.
Jacqui Weatherill, Chief Executive Officer