Just What Does a School Librarian Do?

My students are often surprised to find out that there is more to being a librarian than reading and checking out books. This discussion usually arises when a new shipment of books arrives and they discover that I bought them. After dispelling the notion that I purchased them with my own money, we talk about what it takes to be a school librarian. I'll share some of the highlights of these discussions here.

1) First, I am a teacher. A properly certified school librarian must have a teaching degree and an up-to-date license. In my case, I was originally trained to be an English/Language Arts teacher with a Communications minor. The requirements for becoming a school librarian when I began that training included having at least 7 years of successful teaching experience; I taught in the regular classroom for 9 years. This experience has been invaluable to me, as it is my responsibility to teach Information Literacy Skills (finding and using information in all its possible formats) to students and to teach integration of these skills and technology to teachers. In an average week, I spend just over 50% of my time teaching students.

2) Second, I am a manager. It is my job to run the physical area that is the Library Media Center (LMC). This means that I organize, arrange, and inventory all the materials; that I select and purchase the materials; that I promote reading and research in all its forms; that I manage the budget and oversee any staff; and that I schedule the usage and plan for future growth. With two collections under my management that total over 20,000 materials, this could be a full time job itself!

3) Third, I am a curriculum partner. This means that part of my time needs to be spent working with teachers, assisting them with their planning, and providing them with resources and materials that support the instruction they do with students. This would include keeping current on new technology and supporting teachers as they try to use these new tools. Some times, this means being away from the LMC to help a teacher plan or to work with a class in a lab or a classroom. Some times, this means troubleshooting equipment.

4) Fourth, I am an information specialist. This means I need to keep current on web sites, educational trends, and search strategies and share this information with students and staff. Where is the best place to find historical photographs? What are some resources to use with small groups of readers? How can I motivate my students to do more independent research? Would it be better to have my students create a blog or a web page? These are just some of the types of questions that arise as I go through an ordinary day.

It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but my days fly by. I am always busy and never bored, and I truly enjoy what I do. There is always work to be done, so if you are looking for a place to volunteer, feel free to stop by. I am sure there will be something you can do!

New Year, New Books!

Welcome to 2009! We are celebrating the new year in the Intermediate LMC with new books that arrived just before the Christmas break. Mrs. Berz and I are working very hard to get these processed and ready for students to check out. We will have multiple copies of all the Golden Archer nominated titles (mentioned in a previous post) plus many new fiction additions. Among the new titles are such long-awaited sequels as Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer, and I am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos. All new books can be found in our InfoCentre catalog by choosing Visual Search and clicking on the button labeled "New Books". The link to our catalog can be found in the column on the right side of this page. Parents are also welcome to stop in and check books out; it only takes a couple of minutes for us to enter your name into our database. Happy reading!