Offering my Assistance. on Library

Librarian Amelle Nicchi

November 19, 2015 7:23 PM

Library Helpers Wanted! by Librarian Amelle Nicchi

Amelle’s summer had been wonderful, stressful at times, but wonderful. She had completed her degree in Counseling by completing her Internship. It was a degree that was only useful if she could find a job that was available to her. Those were limited. And, for the moment, she enjoyed her current position at Sonora. Even with the ridiculous hours, it was quiet and peaceful. At least completing her degree meant her parents would be off her back for a while.

On top of that, she spent her summer mostly in New Orleans with some of her old college friends. While there, she was able to perform with them on stage. It was so thrilling and it was definitely not something she ever thought she was capable of doing. At most, all she ever did was Karaoke with some of her close friends. And that was only a small part of her amazing summer. The rest wasn’t really something appropriate for her to discuss or really think about. Still, she held her smile for a while after the Welcoming Feast had finished.

Duties first before bed. Sign ups for her helpers definitely needed to be put up. The longer she waited on this, the longer her days were going to be. Thankfully, she only had to recycle her sign up from the prior year since nothing had changed.

The sign read:

Students are encouraged to help in the library during the school year. There are two roles that are available and two coveted roles that will be awarded to specified individuals (if the numbers allow for this).

Library Monitors (Intermediate and Advance Students may apply for this role)

The Monitors help to check books in and out of the library, organize the books in the stacks, answer any questions that fellow students may have, and complete occasional errands that may be needed.

Library Assistants (Beginner Years can only apply for this role, but all other years are also able to apply for this role)

This role has fewer responsibilities than the Monitor. Their role consists of returning books to their rightful place in the stacks and assist the Library Monitor with whatever duties that need to be filled.

The two coveted roles that will be elected to the individuals by the Librarian are the Head Monitor roles.

The two students who are granted this title will have the first choice in their work schedules and be Lead in deciding what duties each Monitor and Assistant will have for that day (should they so choose to do so), as well as other duties that may come about that the Librarian feels they are the best choice for.

Please note that only two Advanced students will be elected as Head Monitors and it will be based on their experience, responsibilities, and relationship with others. The Librarian will make the announcement to who was chosen when the final work schedule is posted.

If you are interested in either of these roles, please sign your name and the role that you are requesting. Prior experience will be considered for the role of Monitor. For any questions, please see Librarian Nicchi for assistance.

OOC: This sign up will be posted for 2 weeks RL time. After this time, a ‘work schedule’ post will go up with a list of what everyone is doing.

Subthreads:

Library Monitor by Lena Westley

Here to help! by Clark Dill

Signing up. by Ava Fletcher

Signing up. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

It's nice to be wanted. by John Umland

Either or. by Emrys Lucan

Here again. by Jack Spencer

Yeah I have problems, what of it? by Barnaby Pye

Offering my Assistance. by Gia Donovan

Me! by Laila Kennedy

Signing up by Chaslyn Brockert

Just in time! by Emilia-Louise Scott

6 Librarian Amelle Nicchi Library Helpers Wanted! 32 Librarian Amelle Nicchi 1 5

Lena Westley

November 19, 2015 8:41 PM

Library Monitor by Lena Westley

Deciding she wouldn’t be able to get much sleep anyway, Lena decided to stay in the library instead of head to her room. In all honesty she wasn’t in the mood for reading but that had that never stopped her before. If she could power through almanacs, she could distract herself with this light reading. She couldn’t mope about for the rest of her years here and she definitely couldn’t mope after they graduated. Moving on was the only thing she could do. In an attempt to distract herself she’d been reading for the past three hours. It hadn’t worked so far- maybe she needed something more challenging. After switching books she snuggled up even further into the big chair she now occupied and tried to keep her nose in the book this time.

Failing to do so she was about to retire to the common room when she noticed Ms. Nicchi had put up the library workers volunteer sheet. It had been a long time since she’d last helped in the library – officially- as she recalled her time spent as a Library Assistant. She’d skipped signing up last year, having felt incapable of anything at the beginning of fourth year and third year she’d been a basket case. Third year had nearly destroyed all the confidence she’d had in herself. Altogether speaking she wasn’t much better now but at least she was managing.

Aside for the ongoing problem with Olivier which, she reminded herself, she was determined not to think about, fourth year had gone rather well. She had made a new friend, Aiden O’Neil, who’d introduced her to archery, a much needed past time and more active than her others. She’d joined the archery club second semester, as well as the science club Clark Dill created. She was practically a social butterfly. Having been able to balance her club practices and her studies, which she was now fully caught up on, she figured one more thing to distract her from her immoral daydreams was welcome.

Library Monitor, Lena Westley she wrote, noting that she’d only had one year of experience but was adept at all things library. If she was an assistant again that’d be all right, but she would prefer to work reception at some point. She dropped the attached quill and headed off to her chair again. Hopefully she'd be distracted this time.

7 Lena Westley Library Monitor 279 Lena Westley 0 5

Clark Dill

November 19, 2015 9:01 PM

Here to help! by Clark Dill

Clark loved the library. Being an assistant here had been the first thing he'd signed up for at the school. Well, maybe it had been Quidditch. It might have been Quidditch. By, at most, a few days, possibly hours. He couldn't really remember. But anyway, he loved working at the library and he had done it since he was eleven years old. Now fifteen, he was no less entranced by Sonora's great library, and he was just as eager to help keep it running smoothly. No other badges or club presidency could keep him from this, his first love: books.

While he might have joined a few things last year solely for the purpose of getting noticed as a potential prefect, being part of the library helpers had only ever been because he wanted to be there. This year was no different.

While he had so far only been selected to be a Library Assistant, last year he had chosen to sign-up for Monitor, and this year he felt even more confident in offering to take that role. He was a fifth year now; he was going to be spending most of his waking hours in the library getting ready for his CATS anyway. Organizing the books or helping people check out would be a welcome distraction from the constant studying. Besides, the usual library crew had graduated three seventh years last year. He was getting to be one of the old hands now. He added his name to the list, right after Lena's, feeling pleased to see his House and Year mate was back on the team again this year.

Clark Dill, Monitor

1 Clark Dill Here to help! 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Ava Fletcher

November 22, 2015 4:05 PM

Signing up. by Ava Fletcher

Ava hadn’t been sure if she wanted to work in the library again that year. She had survived the previous year juggling the position, her school work, and the SAT prep (which had included books on things that Muggles were learning in high school), and even though she didn’t have to take another SAT test for the rest of her life (thank goodness!) Papa had still asked her to go over the Muggle review books and Ava thought that she kind of wanted a relaxed year. She was already taking all the Advanced classes aside from Care of Magical Creatures which she had replaced with an independent study in Herbology, a requirement for Healer school.

However, as she walked by the sign-ups on the way to her breakfast the first day of classes, she felt a pull towards the sheet. She walked over and noted that only two students had signed up as of yet—both Aladrens, which made sense since the sheet had not even been up for a day yet and it was right outside the Aladren common room. Ava hesitated before reaching in her bag to pull out her quill. Part of her wanted to wait until the first day of classes were over so that she could gage how the year would go, but she had been in Advanced classes the year before. She would just need to budget her time wisely, turn hang out sessions into study and homework sessions with her friends so that they could work together—maybe bridge the gap she was sure would start to form due to the head boy situation.

But after a split second she whipped out her quill and did it anyway—she was going to make the most out of her last year at Sonora even if it meant spending a lot of her free time studying:

Ava Fletcher, 7th year, Monitor

10 Ava Fletcher Signing up. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

November 22, 2015 4:26 PM

Signing up. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

No one had bothered to come see how he was doing after he left the Hall the night before after the Head Boy announcements. No one. Last year, Emery had comforted Ava when she had been feeling low and Emery had always been there for Emrys whenever he was feeling insecure about something. And where the hell was Chloe? She was always supposed to have his back with things. That’s what siblings were meant to do. But she never appeared either. Some group of friends. His lowest moment at school and no one bothered to see if he was okay. Now he knew where they all stood.

Emery had ended up in his dorm room by himself for the majority of the evening. When he heard people coming into the common rooms, he climbed into bed and closed all the curtains around his bed, essentially, shutting out the world around him, including his roommates. He just couldn’t stand to see or hear anyone at the moment.

This morning he had woken up and left the dorm room as early as possible in order to avoid seeing anyone. After he had showered and dressed, he had hung out in the common room until the library was opened and then he left the confines of the Aladren walls without running into anyone he wasn’t currently looking to see.

He was tired of this school favoring Purebloods. He wanted to double check on a few things but he was almost certain that nine times out of ten, the Head Students of this school were Pureblood, even if there were better options out there. He only assumed that Wendy happened to get it over Effie because no one liked Effie, including the Purebloods (he didn’t personally know her, but that was all he could conclude from that). This cycle was never going to change because as long as there were more Purebloods in this school were always going to win student votes because Purebloods stuck with Purebloods and the rest of the school had no chance of winning. To say that Arnold had more scholastic experience, more peer involvement, or more genuine relationships with the student body over Emery was ridiculous. Emery had six years over Arnold with being involved. SIX YEARS! But Arnold had the connections because he was a Pureblood and that was really the only thing that mattered. Case and point was Emrys’s Prefect badge (Emrys had even admitted it strange that he had received it over Emery). Emrys was a Pureblood. Emrys has the badge.

Emery was done with it.

First thing first though was that he would need to do some research and the best way to do that was spend his time in the library. Easiest way to do that, was continue on as being a Helper. So, that morning, he quickly signed his name before he headed to the Hall for an early breakfast, alone.

Emery Kijewski-Jareau, 7th Year, Library Monitor

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau Signing up. 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

John Umland

November 23, 2015 12:42 PM

It's nice to be wanted. by John Umland

One thing John had to grant the school was that it was efficient. He still had his pen in his hand from signing up for Quidditch when he walked into the library and found something else to sign back up for before he could make it to the corridor. Breakfast hadn’t been on the table an hour, but there was no doubt that school was back in session for the year. John approved.

He had thought about whether to stay an assistant or ask for a promotion at work this year over the summer and had finally settled on waiting to see who got prefect and how the list looked. Three of last year’s five monitors had graduated, but he expected three of the new fifth years to replace Julian and Keme and Willow, plus there was the off chance Emrys Lucan would get promoted too. Oliver Ferguson becoming prefect would have added all kinds of impractical factors to his decision-making process, but since Oliver Ferguson had not become prefect, his main concern as he read over the list was with those numbers, which were already off to a good start. If the list had as many older would-be monitors as he thought it would, he wasn’t even going to try it.

The list looked fairly full of ambitious older types. Clark, Lena (why, he wondered, had it never ever occurred to him that she might be the new prefect? She should have at least occurred to him as a compromise candidate, someone who would pacify the parties who only wanted purebloods to have badges but would be more acceptable to everyone else than Oliver Ferguson because at least she wasn't a pureblood male, but he’d hoped for Clark and assumed Ferguson the whole summer), Ava, and Emery all wanted the title. Unless the entire Beginner class signed up, they were well on their way to having too many kings and queens for one little land, especially since Chaslyn hadn’t even gotten here yet. He still considered signing up as monitor for a minute just so he wouldn’t be the first guy to volunteer for a lower rank, but then reminded himself not to be stupid.

John Umland, Assistant

Satisfied, he proceeded to breakfast, making a mental note to tell his brother about the sheet. Whether or not Joe would join the library helpers was still up in the air – Joe had never hung out at the library at home as much as John and Julian had, so John imagined the part of the job he’d be best at would be taking Julian’s place as the person who took John’s candy during the Sunday night card games – but it couldn’t hurt to point it out, not least because it would give him a good excuse to check up on Joe without it looking like he was checking up on him….

16 John Umland It's nice to be wanted. 285 John Umland 0 5

Emrys Lucan

November 25, 2015 5:01 AM

Either or. by Emrys Lucan

It had been a rough night. Emery had left the Opening Feast early after Arnold had been announced to be Head Boy and by the time Emrys had gone to check on him, he had already gotten into bed with the curtains shut so Emrys had returned to Cascade Hall to let Ava and Arnold know and to see if Charlotte was still there so that they could finish their meal together. He hadn’t wanted to bother Emery if perhaps he had only been upset about some sort of family news he had gotten and wanted to be left alone to mourn—Emrys knew that Emery and Chloe’s brother was sick.

However, that morning Emery had avoided both he and Arnold and snuck out before Emrys had even had a chance to get up and see how he was doing. As he got dressed, he frowned, frustrated with how the year had started. He tried to remind himself that he had seen this coming, that this was the reason he had hung out with both Arnold and Emery before the Opening Feast back when the badge hadn’t been given out yet but for some reason he had held on to some level of hope that things wouldn’t change. Nevertheless, he went down to Cascade Hall to see if he could find Emery there—skipping over the library sign-ups which had been his main priority in coming back to Sonora.

Yet upon his arrival he found Ava and Emery eating in separate locations, the former casting forlorn glances towards the latter who, Emrys was almost positive, didn’t realize the looks he was getting. Shaking his head he made his way over to the Crotalus table, after saying good morning to Ava and trying to catch Emery’s attention, to eat with Charlotte. By the time he had returned to the common room to collect his books for his first class he was feeling a bit better sine being around Charlotte always made him happy. On his way down to Potions he saw the sign-up sheet and went over.

Emrys wasn’t sure if he wanted to sign-up as a Monitor or an Assistant. On one hand he only had one year of experience working as a library helper. On the other he really did want to work with books once he graduated. He had already landed a part-time job at one of the book stores in Ekley fixing books over the summer and he had done so well they had asked him to work over the winter break too so getting the Monitor position would have been pretty nice. However he felt awkward asking to be a Monitor when he had only worked at the library for one year beforehand.

In the end, Emrys carefully extracted his quill and in his tight, cursive handwriting he scrawled his name and year on the sign-up sheet and went to class:

Emrys Lucan, 7th year, Monitor (unless you have too many, then Assistant)

It wasn’t that he wasn’t ambitious, but he also didn’t want to take the spot of someone who was more experienced, someone who deserved the role more than he did simply because he was older and he wanted to make that clear to Librarian Nicchi. Emrys wasn’t a naturally competitive person and after seventeen years of non-competition (for the most part) he wasn’t about to start now.

10 Emrys Lucan Either or. 260 Emrys Lucan 0 5

Jack Spencer

November 25, 2015 2:26 PM

Here again. by Jack Spencer

Over the summer Jack had been very active making friends and getting into shape. He'd started tossing Quaffles around with his best mate during the summer and ended up with an unofficial club of seven or eight lads. It was hard to part ways afterwards, but Jack was looking forward to winning the Quidditch Cup again. Winning the season against his brother's house last year had been sweet, though part of him felt a little sorry for ruining his brother's last year. But it wasn't like Adam's mind was mulling on it anyway with Ginny around.

Whilst the pitch was undoubtedly one of Jack's favourite places at Sonora, the other was the library. Being an active bookworm was characteristic of several of his house-mates and Jack fit the bill.

The library had a musky sort of feel to it and made him feel comfortable and relaxed. Spending the evenings reading or doing his homework here before going to bed was one of his favourite past-times. Last year he'd spent loads of time shelving books and assisting the monitors, but this year he wanted to do more work. He was a third year now and more comfortable with where things were in the library.

Already quite a few people had signed up and Jack quickly included his name on the list:

John Spencer, 3rd year, Library Monitor

40 Jack Spencer Here again. 299 Jack Spencer 0 5

Barnaby Pye

November 26, 2015 3:38 AM

Yeah I have problems, what of it? by Barnaby Pye

The library was Barnaby’s sanctuary. In his dorm he had Jax and Jack around. Even though Jax spent as much time as he could away from Barnaby it still was a shared space. But the library, though it was a public area, soothed Barnaby. It was, perhaps, his favourite place to be and as such he wanted to spend as much time as he had there, when he wasn’t following his furry roommate and his excitable sister around, that was.

That afternoon, as he walked back to the common room on his way back from classes, Barnaby made his way over to the library helpers sign-up list. He had seen the list earlier but for one reason or another hadn’t been able to put his name down. He was old enough to be a Library Monitor, but after having looked at the list and seeing that almost zero assistants had signed up including his roommate, Jack Spencer.

Barnaby considered the options he had before him. On one hand he thought that perhaps as the most junior members of the group he and Jack would never make monitor and he didn’t really feel like making a fool of himself in front of a school that already didn’t like him. However, on the other hand, he didn’t want to to put himself down for assistant if his roommate insisted on a promotion—Barnaby didn’t really feel like being at a disadvantage in that manner even if he and Jack weren’t competing for anything.

His hand hesitated, quill poised just above the page. He wasn’t going to give into peer pressure, but he wasn’t willing to be shone up by his roommate and in that, he made his decision: Barnaby Pye, 3rd year, Monitor.

Barnaby put his quill away in his bag and headed up to his dorm room to brew himself a cup of tea to help wind down before dinner. He was going to need to be in a good place if he was going to survive the chaotic meals in Cascade Hall after he had become re-accustomed to the quiet meals he took alone in at home.

10 Barnaby Pye Yeah I have problems, what of it? 298 Barnaby Pye 0 5

Gia Donovan

November 26, 2015 10:50 AM

Offering my Assistance. by Gia Donovan

Gia was so excited to be back at Sonora. One reason is because she was getting to see her friends again after a long summer away from them and it meant that she wasn’t alone as much anymore (she probably could have had some friends in Seattle if Jax would let her. He was worried about everything and the more secluded they were as a family, the better he felt). Gia loved being a part of Pecari because it was always bustling with noise. But the other reason she was excited to return to Sonora was the fact that she was going to be in Intermediates this year.

It was going to be more work and everything, but it also meant more complicated spells and learning of darker creatures. Gia loved the dark arts. Not because she wanted to be a Dark Witch, but because knowing it, she could understand it better and protect her brother more. Werewolves were considered ‘dark’ creatures, right along with Vampires, but Gia didn’t believe that at all. They were people who had something different about them and nothing more. She wanted to learn what she could so that when the time came, she would have evidence to prove they weren’t bad at all.

One way she was able to access information was working in the library. It was an easy choice to make and Gia absolutely loved doing it the year prior. So, when the sign ups went up and she remembered to check, Gia found the sheet waiting for her and a few names already listed. What surprised her was that they were all for the monitor job. Even Jack and Barnaby. That didn’t seem very fair to the Librarian and Gia wondered where all the Beginner signups were.

Feeling like she needed to be fair and had several more years to make her way up the latter, Gia wrote her name down, deciding to stay an assistance, at least for another year.

Gia Donovan, Third Year, Library Assistant

6 Gia Donovan Offering my Assistance. 308 Gia Donovan 0 5

Laila Kennedy

November 27, 2015 9:56 PM

Me! by Laila Kennedy

Determined to make a completely fresh start that year (she had heard rumors of an older Crotalus student who had been very shy her first year but branched out after that) Laila had decided to join more activities than she was already signed up for. Last year she had been a part of the dance, baking, and book clubs and she had joined the concert with some of the other beginner girls and Professor Pye and she had helped Mr. Xavier the groundskeeper in the gardens. However, she still felt like something was missing in her life. In Turner’s Point she was very busy—she had school and church and choir, and she had piano lessons and she’d had ballet and there were the pre-cheerleading gymnastics classes and the junior cheerleading camps she and her friends had taken over the summer and of course there was hiking and going to the beach with her brother and Dusty and there were the choirs she and Gabe had to do around the house. But at Sonora though she did four extracurricular activities she still felt like she was missing out on something and so, that Wednesday, when she went to the library to do her daily studying, she signed herself up for the library helper program.

There were mostly Aladrens on the list (aside from Gia Donovan), she noted as she struggled with the quill pen—a year into using them and she still had issues handling the ridiculous objects and as a result, her usually neat hand-writing was peppered with streaks and ink blots. Nevertheless, when she left, a perfectly legible (for the most part) Laila Kennedy, 2nd year, Library Assistant was on the sign-up sheet after Gia’s.

10 Laila Kennedy Me! 318 Laila Kennedy 0 5

Chaslyn Brockert

November 28, 2015 12:59 PM

Signing up by Chaslyn Brockert

Not only had Father been extremely proud of Chaslyn for getting the prefect badge as any parent would normally be, but her grandparents were thrilled too, she was the first of their grandchildren to receive it. And Amity had sent her congratulations as well, her genuine happiness for her younger sister.

Unfortunately Mother's reaction had been...underwhelming. Of course, she hadn't seemed disappointed in the fifth year but she hadn't shown the excitement Chaslyn had hoped for. As wonderful as it felt to have everyone else happy with her, it was her mother's pride she craved, it was Mother who took the most to please and she could never do enough.

She supposed that she shouldn't have hoped for Mother to be more excited about it. Getting prefect was just what was expected of her. Chaslyn should just be glad she wasn't in trouble. It was stupid to think she'd get applauded for doing what she was supposed to do. She'd let everyone else's reactions get her hopes up for Mother's.

As it was, Chaslyn had to continue on with all her activities, signing up for everything at the school had to offer minus Quidditch and Science Club and practicing everything that she took at home, while trying to get perfect scores on her CATS and perfect scores on every test and assignment. Mother also thought that she should start a club-or continue with Dance Club now that Ginny Bellrose had graduated. Truthfully, her mother would prefer the former, but dance was something Chaslyn enjoyed and didn't really like the idea of the club no longer being around.

One of the things that the Crotalus did every year was help in the library. She looked at the list with a frown. She remembered the last few years, she'd gotten Assistant and Mother had been less than pleased. Though it was almost certainly because of the Monitor roles going to older students first, it was still seen as a personal failure on Chaslyn's part.

Nearly everyone had signed up for Monitor too, minus Laila Kennedy and Gia Donovan, the former of whom was too young. Certainly, the coveted Head Monitor positions would go to two of the seventh years, but it was likely the third one would also be made a Monitor and while none of the sixth years were on the list-yet-Clark and Lena were in the same year as her.

Still, Lena hadn't done it every year and Chaslyn had. That had to count for something, right? Plus Emrys Lucan's sign up suggested he was willing to take the Assistant position. Or maybe all four of them would get it. Either way, she knew what she had to write down.

Chaslyn Brockert, fifth year, Monitor .

11 Chaslyn Brockert Signing up 281 Chaslyn Brockert 0 5

Emilia-Louise Scott

December 03, 2015 10:03 AM

Just in time! by Emilia-Louise Scott

Having spent quite a long time in the library last term and being awarded the title of Class Bookworm in the yearbook, Emmy-Lou came to conclusion that this year she could not pass up the opportunity to be a Library Assistant which she appeared to have missed out on before.

Although she had already planned to put her name down on the sheet, she hadn’t actually been looking for it when she spotted it pinned up in the library. It was only the second day back and she’d had no clue how promptly it would be posted. She recalled having seen the Quidditch sign-up sheet already up in the common room so in all fairness she probably should have gathered this library sheet would be up at a similar time. Then again, Emmy didn’t pay a great deal of attention to the Quidditch sign-ups. She liked to support her house and classmates but wasn’t interesting in participating herself. It wasn’t because she didn’t like sport since she thoroughly enjoyed a wide range of sporting activities, it was just that she was completely terrified of heights so flying was not something she would ever choose to do for ‘fun’. Her old friend Joella, who was very into Quidditch, was always confused by the way Emmy was happy to get up on an size of horse and not be afraid but hate flying. Joella apparently thought that riding was a lot like flying sometimes. Of course, Emmy begged to differ.

Emmy-Lou withdrew a colourful quill from her school bag as she made her way over to the sign, reading all of the information written once she was close enough to do so.

Emilia-Louise Scott, Library Assistant

She wrote on the sheet in her neatest handwriting. Emmy wasn’t particularly fussed that she didn’t get the option of being a Library Monitor but she thought she’d probably apply for that next year. Head Library Monitor sounded pretty cool for a future position though, if she wasn’t already Head Girl by the time hat became an opportunity. She wasn’t power hungry or anything of the sort, she just had a lot of ideas about how she could make a positive difference and didn’t want a stuck-up prejudiced pureblood classmate to get the seventh year title. Although these weren’t things she was currently aiming for as her final year at Sonora was a long way off and what she would do once she reached that point was not one of her priorities at present.

8 Emilia-Louise Scott Just in time! 313 Emilia-Louise Scott 0 5