Waiting three months for exam results wears hard on a soul. There is fretting; then trying not to think about it; all the while, biting your nails. And that is just from the teacher’s perspective! The students ought to receive some sort of award for the mental strength gained to forge through such suspense. Perhaps an adhesive gold star is in order.

All Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) students in Indore, from four schools of various sizes, write standard final examinations and final practical examinations through D.E.V.I. University in Indore, India. These examinations are in English. There are 12 exams for our 1^st year post-basic BScN students, and 8 exams for our 2^nd year students.

For all the BScN students and tutors in Indore the wait is over! I am very pleased and extraordinarily proud to say M.I.B.E. Graduate School for Nurses students have done well and made a new record.

Nineteen of our twenty 1^st year students passed all their examinations. A hardy congratulations goes out to Meena, who is the top 1^st year student in all of Indore!

Twenty of twenty-one 2^nd year students have passed all their university examinations. Congratulations is given to Sweta the second placed 2^nd year student, and to Mickal the first placed 2^nd year student in all of Indore!

As for the new record made at M.I.B.E. Graduate School for Nurses, congratulations are shared with all of the 2^nd year students. This was the first occurrence of a full class passing one course with first level distinction. The diligent hard work and persistence of my community health nursing class has made me a very proud teacher.

To My Students:

Congratulations to each and every one of you for your great accomplishments! I still firmly believe you are India’s nursing leaders, in whichever capacity you nurse. I would be honoured to hear about the progression of your careers. So keep me updated!

Many well wishes and blessings,

Ms. Michelle

The Society of Midwives India (SOMI), Indore chapter hosted the “Journey of the Lamp” event this past week.

The SOMI lamp for safe motherhood, a traditional lamp with the SOMI emblem, travels across India, being passed from state to state.  While the lamp is in a state, special activities take place to raise awareness and improvement in quality of mother and child services.  SOMI states “there is a close link between the terms of motherhood, women-hood and midwifery.  Women need midwives, and midwives are themselves women.”

Over fours various educational events took place, including a poster and debate competition.  Two nursing students from every college in Indore were invited to participate in each of the competitions.  Rashmi (2^nd year) and Karin (1^st year) participated in the poster competition themed “Healthy Mother – A Key to Future.” 

The debate theme was “Utilization of National Health Schemes for the Welfare of Mother and Child.”   Two 2^nd year students, Sweta arguing for and Paulen arguing against, represented MIBE Graduate School for Nurses. Competing against 14 other contestants Sweta placed 3^rd and Paulen placed 1^st.  When receiving congratulations from staff and students, these women explained how events like this enhances their learning and “motivates nurses to use their skills for their country’s benefit.”   Although they took opposing stances, they agree the national maternal and child health schemes are good.  Though poor maternal and infant mortality rates persist, “these programs should not be stopped.  We should make improvements to them and keep striving to raise the standard of the mother and child,” by providing quality services.

Get in on the debate, by reading their statements…

FOR:

About three quarters of the world’s population lives in developing countries.  In the terms of population USA ranks third in the word after India, there is gaining gap of 836 million, between the populations of the world.  India accounts for 17.56% of the world’s population and 80% of the Indian population live in rural areas, and 59% of India’s population is pregnant women.

The Alma Ata declaration, in 1978, emphasized “Health for All.”  That means health is the right of each and every person in the world.  All the national health schemes attempt to provide accessible, affordable, accountable, effective and reliable primary health care.

The children are the most vulnerable group and liable to get various diseases and disabilities which may lead to high mortality rate in this age group.  It is, therefore, very important to provide comprehensive health care services to children from conception to childhood to promote their health.

The health of children is also very important not only because they are an asset and the future of their families and nation, but also because health status, health behaviour and lifestyle formed during childhood determine quality of life during the following year of life.

Mothers and pregnant women are a more dependant and vulnerable member of society.  They are at high risk of morbidity and mortality.  It is also observed that the death of mothers and children are major contributors to mortality in any community in India.

The healthy life of any county depends on the health of child and mother.  They are the basic unit of health country.  Most of the national schemes are mainly focussing on women and children’s health, such as, ASHA, NRHM, Janani Suraksha Yogna, prophylaxis against nutrition anaemia, special nutrition program, Integrated Child Development Services, Mid-Day Meal Program, and maternal & child Health Program, Child Survival and Safe Motherhood, etc.

Mother and child health refers to a package of comprehensive health care services, which are developed to meet promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative needs of pregnant women before, during and after delivery, and infant and preschool children from birth to five years.  These services are rendered as mother-baby package because mother and baby are considered as one unit.

As many are raising questions about utilization of these programs and they are focussing on maternal mortality rates (MMR) of 2010, i.e. 450 maternal deaths per 100,000, I agree there is a decline in the statistics.  But we have also had good results from 1997 to 2006.  As the MMR in 1997 was 408 per 100,000; 2003 was 301 deaths per 100,000; and 2006 was 254 deaths per 100,000.

I do favour these programs, but we need to do some correction to have good results.  The MMR of 2010 also denotes that there are many institutional deliveries, women are crossing the customs and boundaries of their home and may be good counting measures of people.

For the bad result we cannot blame the national schemes, but we need to have proper guidance, supervision and also motivate people to utilize the benefits.  We need to put out full effort to make it successful. It is our responsibility as health personnel.

The schemes run by the government are excellent.  We need to promote the utilization and also do correction to our fault.

“Where there is a will, there is a way.”

AGAINST:

There are several programs which the government has implemented for the welfare of the child and mother like:

-Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Program

- Vande Matran Scheme

- Janani Suraksha Yogna

and many more, but how much are they being utilized?

Approximately 80% of Indian’s population live in rural areas, where there is a lack of health care infrastructure, trained health care workers, drugs, etc.  Often only Traditional Birth Attendants are available and they may not be well trained.

The main causes of maternal deaths are severe bleeding and unsafe abortion.  It can be seen in the MMR according to

                         1997 = 408 deaths per 100,000 live births

                2001-2003 = 301deaths per 100,000 live births

                2004-2006 = 254 deaths per 100,000 live births

                         2010 = 450 deaths per 100,000 live births

The 1997 MMR, which is 408 per 100,0000 live birth, which means that around 125,000 women die each year due to pregnancy related causes.  Now, i.e. 2010’s MMR has increased to 450 per 100,000 live births, which clearly shows that there is not much utilization of the national schemes.

“Health for All” has been declared the standard for all United Nations countries at Alma Ata.  But is every child able to attain it?

Globally and nationally the most common problem is low birth weight (LBW).  About 50% of all perinatal mortality, 33% of all infant mortality and morbidity are due to LBW.

Infants who survive the perinatal period encounter other easily preventable life threatening challenges.  Thirty thousand children under 5 years die due to unsafe drinking water and malnutrition in the state of Madhya Pradesh annually.

This reveals that mothers and their children are unable to utilize the government schemes.

A test of national development is the measure of consideration of the utilization of the facilities.

Debaters, Sweta and Paulen

 Congratulations Sweta and Paulen for your thought provoking statements!

To welcome the first day of spring at MIBE the students put together a program and activities to celebrate in a Hindu style. Vasant Panchami is a traditional celebration to mark the beginning of spring. Dressed in festive yellow, devotees worship the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts, Saraswati. Our students and faculty dressed in the trational yellow to celebrate the beginning of spring and to mark another beginning.

My community health class begins new project on the school grounds. The Healing Garden Project turns my students into community health nurses for the community of MIBE Graduate School for Nurses. Split into five groups, the students will focus on environmentally related health issues.

Healing Herb, Plant & Tree Garden Group

India’s bountiful variety of nutritious and healing plants, will be harnessed when the students consider the health needs of a community and plan a garden which produces a multitude of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. They will use the knowledge of conventional dietetics and traditional remedies to guide the creation of a community garden. This garden should be able to prevent nutrition related health problems, and provide minimal curative treatments at low or no-cost, as well as meet the growth and developmental needs of all community members.

Water Security Group

“Increasingly variable rainfall patterns are likely to affect the supply of fresh water. A lack of safe water can compromise hygiene and increase the risk of diarrhoeal disease, which kills 2.2 million people every year. In extreme cases, water scarcity leads to drought and famine. By the 2090s, climate change is likely to widen the area affected by drought, double the frequency of extreme droughts and increase their average duration six-fold” (World Health Organization, 2010).

A community health nurse understands the importance of ensuring water security for her community. A group of students will assess MIBE as a community to identify measures taken and possible further measures to implement to ensure water security. Through this, the students will also review techniques for safe water storage and water treatment.

Composting Group

Rich soil allows us to produce nutrient rich foods. The students will learn low or no-cost methods for ensuring the soil will continue to produce. They will assess and create a plan for implementation of composting at MIBE. This will help to reduce the Graduate School’s waste, and the need to dispose of this waste, be it through paying for the trash to go to a landfill or by burning, which has harmful effects on the respiratory system.

Green Space Group

Stress, or mental tension, reduces productively, increases the likelihood of illness, and prevents one from living to their full potential. Combined with other health conditions, stress can be very dangerous to one’s health and life. Creating an outdoor environment which helps to promote wellness and decrease stress, will be led by a group of students. Using the principles of health promotion and creative ingenuity, the students will harness the effects of sunlight and a serene green environment to create a space for every member of the community.

This group will also consider that noise pollution decreases productivity up to one third. They will determine how the street noise can be dampened through the use of green space.

Income Generation Group

Income status strongly determines the health status of many. In both the urban and rural practical experiences, the students encountered families whose health was adversely affected by their low income status. The work of a community health nurse is to encourage and support families to increase their monthly income in practical ways. In Jobat, the students participated in an informative income generation workshop. They will apply that knowledge to determine ways the school’s property can produce materials for income generation. This will allow for income generation workshops to be conducted at MIBE Graduate School for Nurses.

For the Healing Garden Project to be successful it will have to be an on-going project, passed from year to year. The principal sees great potentional for this project to be educational for our students and other teachers or students who come to visit from the other 30 schools in the MIBE network. This is something to be celebrated!

A school health nurse who ventures beyond the topic of hand washing in India can be up against a lot of criticism.  Teaching taboo topics which promote safe healthy growth and development may be over looked by some school health nurses.  When I assigned a group of my students to educate students on maturation, puberty and developing into responsible citizens (I call it ‘maturation education’ because you sure are NOT to say the “S-word” here), they were very hesitant.  These women are experienced nurses, many of whom have been working on maternity units. One is a nurse anaesthetist.  I was a little surprised.  I thought, surely as nurses these women know the value of people being well informed and able to care for their own bodies.  

After much insistence and support, my nursing students conducted health education at Masihi High School.  Due to the unusual cold weather, students across India had a week off school.  Only the 9^th and 10^th standard students were attending school in preparation for their approaching exams.  According to the literature, these students should have had maturation education 4 or 5 years earlier.  They had not.  So on this cold Thursday morning they did.

My nursing students began with health education for both the boys and girls on prevention of tobacco use.  Chewing tobacco is an all too common past-time in this part of India.  Oral cancer patients can be found in nearly every hospital.  While staying in Jobat, on the hill in the bungalow which overlooks the school grounds, daily we observed students, both male and female, chewing tobacco.

When purchasing supplies for the teaching session with my students the evening before, I was stunned to find out that one pack of chewing tobacco, a package of cigarettes, a handful of beedies, and some other tobacco products came to a total of 4 rupees.  Ten cents Canadian!

The prevention of tobacco use education broke the ice with the students.  Afterwards the girls went to the next room and maturation education was taught simultaneously.

~ ~ ~

This first experience with school health teaching left room for improvement, but it changed attitudes among my students.  They were very proud of themselves for having professionally taught on such an important and challenging topic.  Glad to see this, I let this group of 4 students know they will have the opportunity to conduct this education for students in standards 5, 6 and 7 at the government school on Monday.  They are to lead their peers through school health nursing on the same topics using more interactive teaching methods.

~ ~ ~

Monday we set out to the government school.  Upon arrival we found their students in military lines outside.  Once introductions were finished, we efficiently conducted a school health check-up for all the students.  Tobacco prevention education occurred outdoors.  Eagerly the students participated and gave answers.  My students improved their methods of teaching and reinforced the overall message to say no to tobacco.

After filing into two separate classrooms, we began maturation education.  I was attending the female maturation and menstrual hygiene education, having attended the male’s session on Thursday.  Using role play, actual items, and a variety of interactive teaching methods, my nursing students exuded an open attitude and professionalism.  The teachers attending the education also learned some new information.  The girls answered and asked questions.

Following the education, the head master invited all my students to share in some chai and a snack of two large green chilli peppers wrapped in a wheat blanket and deep fried.  He expressed his thanks to my students for conducting such important health education for his students.  He requested that we return every time we are in Jobat to teach at his school.  We certainly could not get a better compliment. We left beaming, me with a large piece of green chilli in my front teeth.

Occupational health nursing is one of the many jobs a community health nurse may have.   A group of four students had the opportunity to experience the work of an occupational health nurse during the rural community health practicum.  These students reviewed the hospital staff’s practice with sharps (needles, razor blades, broken ampoules and other sharp hospital paraphernalia).  They compared the staff’s practices with the best practice for use and disposal of sharps.  Following their assessment, they provided an informative educational in-service for the staff members.

Using role play and conventional teaching methods, the students explained what sharps are, the occupational hazards related to their use, how to safely use and dispose of sharps, and what to do in case of a needle-prick injury.  At the end of the session, questions arose about proper disposal of sharps and vaccinations that hospital staff should receive as a precaution/prevention measure. The staff members were unaware that they should maintain up-to- date vaccinations for hepatitis B; influenza; varicella (chickenpox); mumps, measles and rubella; tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis; and meningitis.  The hospital staff have asked the students to help to compose a letter to the hospital supervisor, requesting  provision or assistance to enable them to receive proper vaccination.

The lack of an occupational health nurse in this hospital clearly illustrated the worth of her role.

But not only did my students educate hospital staff.  They educated the auxiliary nurse midwife students who practice in this hospital.  These students and their teachers are also not vaccinated as health care workers should be.  Certainly there will be a letter in the mail to their principal.

“Aunty!! Aunty!! How are you?” six children on the hospital compound shriek after me. I have just finished chai and daily reflective evaluation with my students in the sun outside the bungalow. Heading from the bungalow to Pauline’s home on the other side of the compound, young children and their younger siblings are playing and can easily recognize me. These kids are probably between the ages of 3 to 6 years old.

I wave back “Mein theek hun. Aap kaise hai?” This reply produces roars of laughter among the kids. It doesn’t help that usually by the end of a long day of running around my sari loosens and tightens in the wrong spots.  I struggle to kick my foot forward, freeing my ankles where the sari has tightened. Another round of laughter ripples through the group. I join in.

Gladly I welcome these laughs and the laughter of the children during the under-5 year health clinic from earlier today. In Bilkheri village, this morning my students conducted maternal and child health activities. Everything from home antenatal check-ups in one-room houses with low ceilings and no windows, to family planning education occurred within three hours.

The under-5 years health clinic makes me ache the most to be able to fluently speak Hindi. Well, actually, I would need to be able to speak Bhili here.  Much can be done without words, sometimes it is much more fun that way, but I must remind myself I am the teacher, the students are to be taking the lead. Marine lines the children up in 5 straight lines. As soon as she is done and standing in front of the now wobbly lines, she begins playing a kind of counting jumping-jack game with the kids.

Tip number one while providing health education to young children: make it a fun game.

Kiranbala quietly takes one child from the game to get weighed and passes her off to Dipti who is measuring height, arm and chest circumference. Then the child is returned to the activities by Margdarshi. Marine does a wonderful job keeping the children busy before hand washing education at the Angawadi Centre.

Tip number two: Hand washing, hand washing, hand washing. Don’t forget to reinforce proper hand washing techniques for youngsters.

Infants and children passing through the first five years of their lives are extremely vulnerable to stunting, disease and death; particularly in developing countries. The WHO states “early childhood is the most important phase for overall development throughout the lifespan”. An infant’s environment during these early years highly influences their biological and brain development, and their future health, economic and educational status. The WHO estimates “every year, more than 200 million children under five years old fail to reach their full cognitive and social potential.” Simple and effective methods, such as those the MIBE students are doing during their practicum, can ensure optimal development of children.

UNICEF states:

“Almost 11 million children, more than 29,000 a day, die before the age of five, mostly from preventable causes. Those that survive suffer other consequences: malnutrition leading to stunting and disability, a lack of access to health care and education, and an increased risk of suffering from exploitation, violence and HIV/AIDS.”

Here are some more interesting facts from the WHO:

• Around 70% of early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions.
• Leading causes of death in under-five children are pneumonia, diarrhoea and health problems during the first month of life.
• Over one third of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition.

If you would like to learn more about the state of the world’s children view UNICEF’s video, or if you are interested in maternal health view UNICEF’s video on maternal health in India.

Monday, January 10^th the rural community health nursing practicum began in Jobat with my class of 22 students.  Initially, we planned for 3 weeks of practical experience; however, 15 hours prior to leaving the Graduate School in Indore, I was told the practicum would be 13 days.  The schedule was rearranged with 99% of the activities remaining in the condensed timeframe.

Monday, our day of orientation, can be likened to a warm up before a marathon- no, a triathlon.  The class warmed-up for their practicum by touring the Jobat Community Health Centre, Jobat Christian Hospital, and Isobel McConnell Auxiliary Nurse Midwife School.

The students learned about the Community Health Centre’s objectives:

1. To develop community health programme in 3-5 miles of radius by working with community to help them assess felt needs and help to develop plan for improvement.
2. To train workers chosen by the village for public health work.
3. Improve the health of the community through following ways:

             i.      Health teaching and demonstration at Community Health Centre Jobat

            ii.      Home visits

           iii.      Men and women groups

           iv.      School health programme

            v.      To bring down birth rate and mortality rate

           vi.      Antenatal clinics at Centre and home

           vii.      Under 5 years clinics

          viii.      Nutrition programme

           ix.      Immunization: Polio, DPT, BCG & Cholera

            x.      Family planning

  4.      Minimal curative care.

  5.      Encourage the community to become more nation minded.

BANG!!  The triathlon’s starting signal might have been heard on Tuesday if the dholak drum at morning prayers wasn’t played so enthusiastically.  Regardless the race began.  Following prayers we piled into two vehicles and began the orientation to the community health network.

Jobat Community Health Centre is a primary health care centre that is part of a community health network covering 100 villages.  Another primary health centre in Mendha and two sub-centres in Amkhut and Sardi provide services to the majority of villages included in the community health network.

Our first destination was the Mendha Community Health Centre.  The energetic community health nurses, Mercy-Bhai, Janey-Bhai, and Bella-Bhai, greeted us warmly and sat down with the students to explain the Centre’s activities.  Home visiting, antenatal clinics, minimal curative care, referral to secondary health services, immunization, school health, kitchen gardens, encouraging village health counsels, and child health clinics are among a few of them.  After seeing the demonstration kitchen garden and the dispensary, we started out for Sardi Sub-Centre with Mercy-Bhai.

In Sardi, we were greeted by the Community Health Volunteers (CHVs).  Each village has one or two CHVs.  These are individuals selected by the community and nurses, who often were traditional birth attendants, to serve their community as a link to primary health care services.  A CHV receives on-going training through the community health centre and the government on a multitude of topics, from basic first aid to disease prevention and health promotion activities.  The community health nurses could not reach as many families without these women and men.  Many of the CHVs are illiterate, but they are certainly not stupid.  After 5 minutes of discussion with the CHVs (on topics from preeclampsia to anaemia), the students were marvelling at the level of knowledge of these people and their importance to the community health network.

We arrived in the Valley of the Mangoes, Amkhut, after a forthy-five minute drive.  First we took our lunch on the steps of the Community Health Guest Bungalow on top of the eastern hill.  In the pleasant warmth of mid-afternoon, we toured the mission property with Bishi-Bhai as our guide.  Bishi-Bhai is the community health nurse who runs the Amkhut Community Health Centre.  She is an elegant, tall woman with a gentle nature.  Gliding through the Centre, she highlighted the income generating projects which the centre supports village women to engage in.  A necklace is 30 rupees (75 cents Canadian), a basket for 6o rupees ($1.50), a broom for 10 rupees (25 cents), or a cloth bag for 30 rupees (75 cents) can be purchased at the Centre.

The class sat down with Mrs. Julphna at 4pm under a mango tree to learn how to make brooms from palm leaves.  We enjoyed learning this skill and were pleased when Mrs. Julphna, Mercy-Bhai and Bishi-Bhai offered to run a workshop for the students the following week in Jobat on income generating projects.

With “bahut, bahut dhanyawaad” (thank you very, very much), the class waved goodbye to the nurses from the windows of our vehicles.  Back to Jobat, to rest-up for Wednesday when we would began the work of a community health nurse.

Recently on the news (Sorry I am in Jobat, where I cannot get an English newspaper to directly quote) outrageous inflation of onions has been front and center. Onions are a requirement for basic cooking in India. Everyone uses them daily, perhaps for every meal.

Last year onions were approximately 27 rupees per kilo. Three weeks ago onions were 54 rupees per kilo. In these past few weeks the prices have sky-rocketed to 80 rupees per kilo at the wholesale price. In the bazaar in Jobat, the price of onions was 100 rupees per kilo just before Christmas.

From what I have gathered, the increase in the price of onions is attributed to the flooding of many fields across the states of Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Despite the low supply of onions in the country, wholesalers continued to export onions to other countries, including Pakistan (which was always noted on the news stations).

Approximately 15 years ago, the national Congress party was ousted by the general public very swiftly when inflation of the cost of onions caused the average person to be unable to purchase a most necessary ingredient.

Politicians are aware the prices of onions today could leave them without a job tomorrow. In an effort to regulate onion prices politicians have banned the export of onions until the New Year. This move has not immediately dropped the price of onions. Wholesalers are hoarding onions causing an artificial shortage, so politicians are still crying over the prices of onions.

M.I.B.E. Graduate School for Nurses’ Christmas Program took place amid friends, cascades of Christmas lights, and the lowest temperatures Indore had seen in years (down to 7 degrees Celsius). The Christmas program this year, like last, included cultural dancing, singing of Christmas hymns and a dancing Santa Claus. Unlike last year, the program had a distinct focus, was less of a performance by students and more of an interactive worship service.

We Celebrated the Season of Advent, by lighting the five candles of Advent; Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Christ.  The program adapted Presbyterian World Service and Development’s Advent liturgies. PWS&D’s accompanying message was not used. Instead, five current issues in India were reflected on along with the candle lightings. Reflective messages on poverty, corruption, India’s disadvantaged girl child (feticide and gender-based discrimination), challenges in the health care structure (lack of personnel, commitment, and management), and natural and manmade disasters were given in Hindi by the students after a special guest lit an Advent candle.

The students danced and sang beautifully. Many special guests familiar with M.I.B.E. attended, and new relationships grew deeper through experiencing the celebration with guests who are not familiar with the school.  Rt. Rev. Mr. P.C. Singh, the new Bishop of the Bhopal Diocese, was not able to attend; however, he sent an excellent sermon which spoke frankly about the current challenges to be faced in 2011.  We closed the program singing Silent Night in the dark, as we all lit candles representing a new light brought to the world by the birth of Jesus Christ.

Following the Christmas program, we all moved outdoors to enjoy dinner under the stars and amongst the rows of Christmas lights.

If you weren’t here for me to say it to you in person, I’ll say it now:

I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. May the hope, peace, love, and joy of the season last you through the coming New Year!

The library changes have begun!  The books have been sorted through, separating the old ones from the new-ish ones.  The old ones (which are not primary or foundational material) were supposed to be sold or disposed of.  Once the pile of books dating back to the 1890s finished growing in the foyer, minds were changed.  “How could we get rid of some many books?”  The books were then moved into the storage room by the library (while I was away), but not onto bookshelves.  To say they were neatly stacked in the storage room is a gross inaccuracy.  It is like claiming a teenager’s room is spic and span.  I thought the storage room was at operational capacity before the books passed through the doors and onto the floor.

 The new-ish books were supposed to be sorted through by the faculty to determine if the material is outdated.  When considering nursing is the topic of focus at this institution, one does not want to see the consequences of learning outdated techniques in practice.  Perhaps I will be able to convince the teachers to thin these books closer to the end of the school year when their workload has decreased.

 The library software has been installed and I am beginning the enormous task of cataloguing the library’s books.  The books received into the library in the past ten years have not been catalogued.  So it is not a matter of copying the information into the computer by typing.  Someone has to have knowledge about classifying the books.

 I am going to start typing in “novice librarian’s language.” I should warn you this next bit might be confusing for the non-librarians out there. And it likely will be confusing to the actual librarians out there, because, after all, I am not a librarian. Please bear with me and forgive my ignorance.

 The library appears to have been set-up by an abridged Dewey Decimal Classification system.  I feel an abridged system is not the best for this library.  It is a smaller library (capacity for maybe 5,000 or more books), but the majority of books are focused on one topic: nursing.  The library used to be in a smaller space, before this building was constructed decades ago. By the abridged system all the nursing books (maybe nearly 90% of the books) are classified under 610.7 education, research, nursing and related topics.  The books are then arranged by author’s last name.  So, just about 90% of the library is arranged in alphabetical order by author’s last name.  This makes for a nearly useless classification system, when you are looking for community health nursing books or nursing foundations books.  This is what I call the 610.7 problem.

 Fortunately, a retired Canadian librarian has kindly been answering what questions she can of mine.  She has even gone as far as going to her local public library to issue the Dewey Decimal Classification books.  She then scanned the pages on 610.7 and emailed them to me.  I now know that community health nursing is classified as 610.7343.  Thank you Josie!

 I suspect I will continue to run into problems classifying the books.  If there is anyone who might be willing to go to their local public library to lug the big Dewey books home for me please let me know!  MIBE and I will be very thankful.

 I am coming across other problems besides ones like the 610.7 problem.  The only guidance I have besides my cyber librarian, Josie, are a small collection of library set-up books which are part of our library.  (Yes, I have searched online. The good stuff, not surprisingly, is not free).  Even with the help of these aged books, I do not know if journals should be kept together with all other periodicals (like newsletters or magazines, which are not necessarily scholarly) or if they should be organized separately.  I don’t know what the usual practice is for all non-journal periodicals.  Do libraries keep archived copies of newsletters?  The list of questions goes on.  If you think you may be able to help I would love to hear from you.

 Hey, how was my novice librarian? Could anyone understand me?

 Let’s head back to the storage room together.

After removing these old books from the shelves, naturally some bookshelves are empty.  I do not see this as a bad thing. My interpretation: books which are outdated will not be tempting students to study from them and there is room for the donated books from the year 2000 or greater coming from Victoria and Langley, B.C. Canada.  The school’s interpretation is from a different angle.  “Aah!! Where have all the books gone?” Okay, that is a little exaggerated.  The empty shelves appear to them as a poorly stocked library.  To me it is just as well stocked as when the old books where on the shelves.

 If you have followed me into the storage room, you will be finding it at operational capacity; not spilling out brittle old books when the door is opened.  Guess where you might find these old books “for the time being.”  Back on the bookshelves!  I have a map of the library’s bookcases in the librarian’s office, indicating the ones with books which should be sold or disposed of, books which need to be sorted through, and new books which rightfully occupy their shelves.  Change is a trying process!

 If there are no pictures posted when you are reading this, please drop by the site again.  I will be posting pictures shortly, but am not able to at the present time.