Wednesday, April 11, 2007

I have acquired myself a minion.

Every Thursday until the end of May I have a student coming to the library for a work experience program. He's in Grade 12, he's very intellectual, kinda geeky, a little weird. He writes odd little poems during his coffee breaks and wants to be a film director. Needless to say we get along great because we are similarly out of touch with reality.

Anyway, here's my problem: I don't know what to have him do. I've had him job shadow just about everyone. He's also done some weeding for me, some shifting of books for the pages, he's been with L a couple of times shifting gov docs and pulling old periodicals. But I don't think he's having a very good time. Cuz those jobs are boring, and I want to give him a better experience at the library. Something that might inspire him so that, if he doesn't become the next Steven Spielberg, he might consider a job at the library instead. He's just so smart and artistic, and here I have him pulling books off the shelf. Surely there is somewhere his talents could be put to better use??

Of course my other problem is that I am a *tiny* bit of a perfectionist/control freak, and I hate to delegate simply because I never believe that anyone else will do as good a job as I would have done.

So does anybody have any suggestions of any projects or jobs that my little minion could do that would befit his talents and at the same time not cause my punctilious personality pain?

1 comment:

LilyMab said...

I have multiple "minions" and often get stuck too. Some fun tips:

1. Reader's Advisory Pamphlets: get him to compile Read-Alikes or Books on a topic (ex: Animal Stories: Guardians of Gahool, Silverwing, Watership Down, yada yada yada)
2. Web Design: If he has some talent in this area and it is an option for your library, web design can be fun. Even if it is just updating a blog or compiling good links for parents/seniors/homework help on delicious.
3. Promotional Work: Got fun programs? Get him to develop brochures, posters, and the like

Those are a few of the ones that I use - creative and they can't get into too much trouble if you ensure that you proof them first. You can also actually use him to help out with programs too - Story Time, Teen Night, and the like.

Good luck!