Weekly Wrap-Up

Each week, I will meet with my supervisor to make sure that we are staying on track, and then the two of us will phone into the program supervisor in Juneau. I think it will be helpful for everyone to make sure that we are going in the right direction, but it is also helpful to be able to step back and really look at the things that have been accomplished.

Things achieved this week:

• I met many of the volunteers as they have rotated through the library, and I have also begun to meet lots of people who live in town.
• I learned how to check books in and out using the computerized system. I also learned how to enter new books into the system, assign them a bar code, etc.
• I began to pick apart the steps needed to begin developing a plan for the needs assessment. (Note on this: about half of the town's population leaves for the winter, so embarking on the needs assessment during the winter will mean that fewer people are present to survey.)
• I participated in the OWL for early literacy with the other VISTAs and got some ideas for how to implement early literacy programs.
• I created a separate email address that can be passed on when my time here is done and have begun logging contacts.
• I created this blog to document progress.
• I enrolled in the VISTA Blend course on Volunteer Mobilization, which begins next week.

Plans for next week:

• Attend meeting at the school on Tuesday, make introductions.
• Attend city council meeting on Thursday, make introductions.
• Sit down with Lynn and compile a "dream list" of tasks that need to be accomplished in the library so that we can then prioritize them and make volunteer descriptions accordingly.
• Begin to craft/revamp volunteer manual.
• Get onto the library's facebook page and post upcoming events.  
• Look into the Center for Integrated Learning and Collaboration classes that can be offered over teleconference for kids or adults in the community.