Fall Internship 2014 - Final Items

I can't believe I'm in the process of finishing out the semester! It seems like just yesterday I was scheduling all of the posts and such for the Tricycle Music Festival! During this final week, I will be completing my final 5 hours by doing/finishing the following projects:

• Continuing to update Pinterest: by the end of the week, I will have reached 300 pins between all of the boards. This was my goal for the end of the semester, and I am glad to have created this new social media platform so that other interns can continue to build it up. 
• Finishing a How-to sheet for the next intern: I was finally able to finish the How-To Sheet. I tried to be as specific as possible, and noted what to do for Pinterest, the Scavenger Book Hunt, and the Tricycle Music Festival, which also included how to promote events and activities through the SMCL. I also added examples of my work and the link to my blog, so that they can use that as a reference.
• Final blog post in regards to the Scavenger Hunt: I have finished the last blog post for the semester, which is about the Scavenger Book Hunt. I have noted that the post should not go up before the beginning of next year. I am going to ask my internship supervisor to finally approve the idea and the flyer, so that I can also schedule posts for the Bookmobile's social media. 
• Making 7 more clues for the Scavenger Hunt: the last part is making 7 more clues for the Scavenger Hunt. This is to make sure that there is a bunch of clues already done and that can be pulled from, starting next year. Can you guess the clue below?!

In addition to what I am completing above, I will be filling out my Site Evaluation and writing my Final Internship Report. 

Overall, this internship allowed me to learn more about the child services of the library. I was also able to hone my promotion skills and use them for the library functions and activities. I liked my site supervisor and the site itself. Even though I was a virtual intern, I felt as though I was a apart of the day-to-day operations of certain library aspects. I look forward to one day working for a library and continuing to learn these new skills. 

Thanks and I hope you have a great week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: December 1-7, 2014
Hours Completed: 5

Fall Internship 2014 - Just A Few Pins Here and There..

This week was a whirlwind of activity for me in my personal life. I was preparing for a wedding, as well as Thanksgiving, and a birthday party. Needless to say, due to the holiday, the internship hours were a little lacking this week. But, since I only have 7 hours (actually 5 when I include the 2 hours I was able to squeeze in this week) left, I think that next week will also be a whirlwind in my academic life as well.
This week, I was able to add another board that is geared toward young adults and reading, and added several pins to that board. My goal overall is to have 300 pins between all the boards.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: November 24-30, 2014
Hours Completed: 2

Fall Internship 2014 - Getting Down to the Wire!

I can't believe that the semester is almost over! There has been so many awesome projects that I have been apart of in regards to my internship. I finally received word from the Bookmobile staff, but I have not heard from my site supervisor yet. I think she may be overloaded with work, so I will wait until she has the time to return my emails.

Scavenger Book Hunt: This week, I created the first clue in regards to the Scavenger Book Hunt for the Bookmobile. I sent it to the Bookmobile staff, of which they told me that it might be a bit too difficult. I went back and fixed it and will send it back to the staff. Once that gets an approval, I will continue to create three more clues just so that the Bookmobile can pull from them even after my internship is over. Once I get an approval for the flyer from Ms. Risley and the Bookmobile staff, then I can finally post the flyer on their social media.

Pinterest: I added another board that is geared toward appropriate and popular books for middle school learners. Having 5 boards is a great start because it encompasses the majority of the children and older kids that use the Bookmobile. I also hope to start one more board that is geared toward  Finally, I posted the blog post for the Pinterest page on the SMCL's blog page (shown below) and also on the Bookmobile's Twitter and Facebook page. This will hopefully get some more followers on our boards.

I am still finishing up the how-to sheets because I always seem to find something else that is important to write about.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: November 17-23, 2014
Hours Completed: 5

Fall Internship 2014 - Another Board Is Up!

This week so far has been pretty quiet in regards to communitation. I have yet to hear back from Ms. Risley or the Bookmobile staff about the Scavenger Book Hunt flyer that I created last week, the blog posts, as well as the book list. I have emailed them both again, but to no avail. I think they both might be busy with other things, which I totally understand. However, this causes a hindrance in my work because I am not sure whether or not how I should proceed.

But, this does not mean that I do not have work to do! I have added more pins and another board to the Pinterest page! This new board is called "Reading-themed Snacks," which entails snacks that reinforce certain children's stories. Some of these snacks are super cute, and wouldn't mind making them if I had any children. I do have friends that have kids that would LOVE to make them, so I think maybe that could be a way for me to use these activities and snacks with kids.

I have also edited the blog posts, and since we have 4 boards on Pinterest, I think it would be alright if I post the Pinterest blog on the SMCL website, and post and tweet about it as well. I am excited that this plan is slowly coming to a head!

Another thing I will probably do this week is start on the How-To sheets for the next intern for the Millbrae Library. Of which, I hope they will be useful resources to those that are going to be interns.

Hope you are well and have a great week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: November 10-16, 2014
Hours Completed: 5

Fall 2014 Internship - Scavenger Hunts, Part Two!

The scavenger book hunts have started to take shape! I have been in contact with a staff person at the Bookmobile and she is going to give me a list of books that the Bookmibile has. This is to make sure I am not creating a clue for a book that isn't even on the Bookmobile, which would be futile! Once I receive that list, I will create my first series of hints. The first, I hope, will be a compilation of Emoji icons, and once put together, will tell the story that the patrons need to find.  Finally, I created a flyer for the scavenger hunt, which is posted below. I tried to be as clear as possible, so that the instructions are easy to follow. The last thing that is needed are people showing up to the Bookmobile and getting confused.

Our Pinterest page is growing. I added another board called "Book Activities," of which centers around activities that parents and guardians can do with their kids that reinforces the books they read together! A lot of the activities look like fun, and I hope that the followers will think so as well.

In addition to the scavenger hunt and the Pinterest page, I wrote blogs for both of the items. I will wait for approval from both Ms. Risley and the Bookmobile staff to post the scavenger hunt flyer and blog post, and will most likely post the Pinterest page blog by the end of this week.

Finally, I've compiled all of the responses from the TMF evaluation into one document and sent it back to Ms. Risley. I am hoping that these responses will help craft an even better TMF next year!

As a side note, its really exciting to see that the staff and my internship coordinator really like my ideas on how to reach more patrons of the SMCL. It really makes me fee like I am making a difference and am actually being an active member of the library, as opposed to just a "virtual intern."

Hope you are well and have a wonderful week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: November 3-9, 2014
Hours Completed: 6

Fall 2014 Internship - Scavenger Hunts!

Last week, I spoke about a new promotion that I wanted to do for the SMCL Bookmobile. I came up with a great idea that will not only gain foot traffic to the Bookmobile's social media, but also to the Bookmobile itself. I thought a scavenger hunt, where those who go to the Bookmobile have to find a particular item that it has, take a photo with it and with a staff member, and upload it to the Bookmobile's Facebook page. The first person to do that with the correct item wins a prize. As of now, I am in contact with the staff at the Bookmobile, who are really excited about the idea. My next step, is to receive a list of books and other items that the Bookmobile has, so that I can create clues for the first round of scavenger hunts. I hope that this promotion is well received, so that they can continue it well after my internship is over. I hope that by the end of the week, I will have a draft of the flyer ready for Ms. Risley and the Bookmobile's staff's review.

In regards to follow-up, the Tricycle Music Fests are officially over. I have reached out to the other I also had the time to finish editing the Media Guide, and sent it back to Ms. Risley. I have also continued to pin on Pinterest, as well as folllow other boards that have a very similar theme. As soon as I am done with the flyer for the scavenger hunt, that is when I will post a blog about our new Pinterest page.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: October 27 - November 2, 2014
Hours Completed: 6

Fall 2014 Internship - Pinning & Promotions

This week, I was fortunate enough to have a meeting with Ms. Risley about the internship, and update her in regards to what was going on on my end of things. It was a great meeting, and I left with a few more things that I wanted to get started on!

The first was following up with our promotions. There is a particular company that would be a great resource to tap into in regards to our Tricycle Music Festival. I had used our contact information for the company and sent them our press release, however, I hadn't heard back from them and were unable to get the word out about our event. After speaking about it to Ms. Risely, I have decided to contact the company to see if I could speak with their main promotions person. That way, the TMF will have a contact next year, and the event can be marketed more.

Pinning, pinning, and more pinning! My goal this week is to create another two boards - one for middle school learners and one for parents, and add pins to those as well. Pinterest is a great place where these wonderful learning ideas can be shared! So far, my Young Reader's board has 81 pins, and my Elementary Learner's board has 60, so it is certainly a great start! I am also in the process of writing a blog post, of which I will upload to the site once I have my four boards up!

Last thig, I came up with a great idea that would generate more traffic to our social media sites, of which I will work on next week!

Hope all of you are well!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: October 20 - 26, 2014
Hours Completed: 6

Fall 2014 Internship - Pinterest Crazy

So far, The Tricycle Music Fest is almost finished. There is one more group of performances next week, which will conclude the Fest for this year. My tasks this week for the event was to check in with the coordinators from the various libraries and make sure that they have turned in their evaluation form. There should only be two areas that are not turned in, since their events are next week, and as of today, that is true. I am thankful that these coordinators are timely with their responses!

Perhaps the best thing that happened this week in terms of the internship was that I was finally able to get the Pinterest board set up! I've been told by so many people that Pinterest is addicting so beware. I can certainly see how that is since many sites have the Pinterest pinning ability, which makes it easy to pin and do so for many hours. I began with the youngest group first, finding out educational and entertaining activities for the children. I found some really good ones that incorporate reading in an activity, such as making their own letter books. Some other pins were how to help young children to start to write s well as recognize colors and shapes. I also took the time to pin videos from our Tricycle Music Fest performers. These musicians are award winners and have great songs about bullying, and word play that are fun and would be great to pay while the little ones are learning about books and the library. I am going to continue to pin and hopefully find activities that will make learning AT the library much more fun. If you would like to follow our Pinterest, go to www.pinterest.com/smclbookmobile.

Hope you are having a great week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: October 13 - 19, 2014
Hours Completed: 6

Fall Internship 2014 - On To New Adventures

As the Tricycle Music Fests start winding down, I have decided to venture and start on some new projects. The first two relate to the TMFs, with one being finishing the blog posts, and the second being double checking and making sure that all of the TMF coordinators have filled out the evaluation form. Since I have received word from IT and have been approved to continue blogging and have seen my blog posts on the website, my goal for this week is to finish the rest and schedule them out for the end of October. You can see a screenshot of my blog post on the homepage below! The evaluation form is something that is important to the event overall. It has questions on what went well, what didn't, and what they did to promote the event. All of these answers help to shape the TMF in the future to be even better than this year! My goal is to continue to check and make sure that everyone fills out the questions, and tabulate, chart, and send the results to Ms. Risley. 

Lastly, the new adventure is working on the Pinterest boards. I have been talking about this for the past couple of weeks, however, after a bunch of research and looking at other websites, I have decided that the best Pinterest boards are a mixture of fun and learning. I hope that the boards for each of the age groups will be used by parents and patrons of the library to instigate and encourage reading and healthy habits at the library. 

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: October 6 - 12, 2014
Hours Completed: 6

Fall Internship 2014 - Effective Communication

In my last post, I had discussed some problems that I was having with the blogs for the SMCL. In the beginning of the internship, I was given some short clips to watch in regards to the blogs. When it was time to write my own blogs, I had followed the directions to a T, but was recently told by the IT people that I had done the blogs incorrectly. I was given a how to sheet directly from that department and was able to make a blog that correctly done. This brings me to my overall theme for this week, which is effective communication. Although technically I did everything correctly, there was still a part that was incorrect. What I have decided to do is to save this how to and place it in a virtual packet for the next intern. That way, he or she would use the clip and the sheet to refer to.

Also this week, I will be finishing up the marketing media guide, which listed all of the outlets I sent the press releases to. My goal is to not only update it, but also to edit it and add more outlets that will promote the Tricycle Music Fest for next year.

Finally, I am doing some research into Pinterest and social media. I have noticed that with certain posts, they reach more people during certain times. For example, in the morning, most posts schedule between 7am and 8am get high visibility. This is most likely because it is when everyone checks their Facebook when the first wake up. I am going to continue to see if there is a trend in post reachabilty later on in the day. I am also browsing Pinterest boards from museums and children's libraries to get a grasp on what works and what doesn't in terms of popular board through their library. I hope that this formation compiled will also help me put together a virtual intern packet with I can give to Ms. Risley at the end so she can pass it on to the next intern.

Thanks and have a great week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: September 29-October 5, 2014
Hours Completed: 6

Fall Internship 2014 - Tying Up Loose Ends

Whenever I think of the term, "tying up loose ends," I always come up with the image of a captain on a ship that has several ropes just flapping in the wind. These ropes are the loose ends that need to be put away neatly, so that the sail or ship itself doesn't become damaged. It's probably not the way that this idiom came about, but it makes sense to me. For my internship, I may not be the actual captain of the ship, but I do consider myself as an integral part of the crew. And while the captain is taking care of other matters, I can go ahead and tie up these ropes that are flapping in the wind. 

This week for me has been a "tying up loose ends" and "cleaning house" week. There were some social media posts that I hadn't been able to get to that needed to be scheduled before the week is over. I made sure I took some time to get those scheduled and out of the way, so that I could clean up house a little bit more. I also had time this week to finish the blog posts that I had been meaning to get to for a while. These posts highlight the performers of the Tricycle Music Fest, some of which are award winners! What I have done is pulled information from interviews I did with each performer and added other information that I have found from each of their websites. I ended each one with a list of upcoming dates that people can go and see the performances at the various Tricycle Music Fests at local libraries. Each one of these artists are so talented that it would give families a great excuse to come out to the library! You can see an example of the blog postings below. 

Finally, I am going to start the Pinterest board for the SMCL. I haven't started pinning anything yet, but just knowing that I am registered and can easily log in and do so whenever I see something that would be useful to the public.  I also want to get in touch with some friends who are also teachers who might be able to point me in the direction of websites that would be useful for families. 

One problem that keeps coming up is the actual POSTING of my blogs. I have an account, and I created a blog about a week ago, but it for some reason has been removed from my account and the site itself. So, another thing I need to do is ask why this happened and ask those in charge to rectify the situation. 

It feels great knowing that all of those flapping ropes have been tied down, and the ship can sail safely onward! Hope all of you have a great week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: September 22-28 2014
Hours Completed: 7

Fall Internship 2014 - Constant Contact

For this week's blog, I'd like to start out with a quote: "Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success." Paul J. Meyer.
A lot of us are starting to have a game plan and settling into a routine in regards to each of our internships. But perhaps the one thing that we need to remind ourselves of is proper and prompt communication. This week's title is called "Constant Contact," which is interesting because there is an online newsletter program called the same thing. (Side note, I highly recommend said program because it allows you to easily compile newsletters and other online marketing with just a few clicks! Its a great way to reach those who do not have social media.)

For myself, I've found that having prompt communication with my internship supervisor is key. Sometimes, she will ask me to edit something I had sent her the previous day. And in some cases, she needs the aforementioned document as quickly as possible. However, there are times when the hard copy, or the editable file, is on my home computer, miles away from where I can access it. Therefore, this week I have decided to cover my basis by uploading these editable files on Google Drive, which Ms. Risley can access as well. If you have not heard of Google Drive, it is a program through Google where you can share documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc., and they are all accessible online. All you have to do is share the file with others through their email address. And example of Google Drive, of which I have shared with my internship supervisor is posted below. 

What made me come to this decision is that Ms. Risley asked me to put together "Performer Profiles" that we could send out to people in the community, so that they could understand what the Tricycle Music Fest was all about in one document. There were many edits that I needed to make, but I was at work and could not access it, which meant that I needed to wait until I got home before I could. Usually by that time, Ms. Risley had left for the day. Uploading the file on the Drive is much easier. Others may find using Dropbox or other online storage as a way to do this as well. 

I also believe this week I was very accomplished in sending out more TMF event logistics  answering emails, finishing up social media for the events. But perhaps the most interesting thing - which also ties into the communication theme for this post - is a survey or evaluation form I made through Google Docs. I received a request that we needed to gather information about the various events. I made one that could get all the information in one document and compile the information that way. I plan to send it out at the end of each event.

So, to conclude, communication is the key to personal and career success. I would also add to the phrase "internship" as well to that statement. Proper and prompt communication will allow your internship supervisor to remain confident in your work and your ability to do the work. Lack of such would not put you in a good light.

Hope you are well and have a great week!

Internship Site: Millbrae Library

Week: September 15-21 2014

Hours Completed: 7

Fall Internship 2014 - Work Smarter, Not Harder!

According to the last post, I got all my information together because being organized is a key part of any internship. This week, I put that to the test and started to schedule out the posts and tweets for the Tricycle Music Fest. The theme for this week for me is "work smarter, not harder." which means to me that if there is a way that I can consolidate all of my work into one program, I am going to utilize it to the best of my ability. Therefore, I have decided to use the program Hootsuite, which combines all of your social media into one, easy-to-use application. I've used Hootsuite in my past two jobs, where I've had to be in control of the department's social media. I love it because I can do everything I need to in once place. I can also schedule tweets and posts in advance, and edit them if needed, which is also great. To post to the Bookmobile's Twitter and Facebook account, all I have to do is log in once, and have access to all social media. This way, I can schedule everything in one place, instead of bouncing around from site to site. I have included a screenshot of the Hootsuite application below.

Another thing I am working on is creating blogs for the San Mateo County Library site. My goal this week is to write blogs on two of the artists and performers for the TMF, and get people to want to come out to these events. Each performer deals in "kindie" rock, which is music specifically geared toward children., Focusing on that and relying on some of the interview questions, as well as their Youtube performances, I hope I can garner some interest in this really neat program!

The last thing completed this week was to contact all of our TMF coordinators to get a dialogue going about how to increase the attendance to these performances. So far, mostly everyone has chimed in the email I have sent out, and many of them have had great ideas that have led to a successful turnout. Now, other areas can use these ideas and try to get more attendees to their shows!

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Mariea :)

Internship Site: Millbrae Library

Week: September 8-14, 2014

Hours Completed: 7

Fall 2014 Internship: Organization Is KEY!

I can't believe how time is flying by! This week, I am discussing perhaps the most important aspect of an internship - organization. I'm not sure if anyone out there is like me, but I like to have everything into nice, neat tables. Something I can glance at and immediately know what I need to do. Since my internship supervisor and I meet mostly via emails and chats, I get a lot of information at once. However, this is great because I can sort through it later on! On Wednesday of this week, I sat down and went through every single email I received from Ms. Risley, and made a spreadsheet on Google Drive. I did this so that I could share it with Ms. Risley, and she could see what I have planned out for every week. A screenshot of my efforts are below. Each performer is going to several different places, so I had to double check and make sure when I would upload our social media to make sure. The spreadsheet also has when and what I am uploading to social media, as well as contacts for each of the event coordinators.


I also updated all of the event logistics for each performer, of which will be sent out to each event coordinator. The event logistics also included an interview by me, asking the performers some questions about their art. Finally, I am also going to be posting a video link on our social media, that is supposed to be very inspirational to parents and getting their children to treasure reading. When I was done, this spreadsheet was very handy, especially when I had to go back and forth between the performers and my contacts.


I hope all of you will try and utilize your own way of getting organized for your own internship. Have a wonderful day!

Mariea :)



Internship Site: Millbrae Library
Week: September 1-7, 2014
Hours Completed: 8

Fall 2014 Internship - Focus on Your Strengths

   This is the first week of my internship, and it has certainly started off with a bang! After discussing my strengths with the internship supervisor, she suggested I tackle this event coming up with the library called Tricycle Music Fest. My tasks so far have been to come up with a social media plan, write and edit a press release, contact the performers for an interview, and send out the promotional graphics to all our local contacts. These all cater to my strengths because I used to work in a marketing & PR office as a Marketing Coordinator a couple years ago. So, to make an internship work with you, make sure there are tasks that you know you can do confidently. But also include some tasks that will challenge you. The latter will be discussed in a later post. Hope all of you are well! 

Internship Site: Millbrae Library

Week: August 25 - 31, 2014

Hours Completed: 8