Misperceptions

I have just read the Hartzell pieces today, and found them very accessible.  It got me thinking about my own school experience, and my own thoughts about What A Librarian Is Like.

In my primary school, there was no librarian.  I went to a one teacher school in the middle of nowhere, the "library" was in a corridor, and we went through it to get out the back door.  The other end of the corridor held an art supplies cupboard, and along the opposite wall to the cupboard we left our little school ports lined up in a neat row.  There were shelves and shelves of books, no catalogue system, and no-one to guide us in what was a good read, other than the classroom teacher, who filled every role in the school, including all the admin, playground duties.

In High School, our librarian wore glasses and said shush a lot.  She really did.  I always thought of her as fairly formidable, and if I wanted to know anything, I'd blunder around on my own looking for it rather than bother her while she was carrying out important tasks like covering books, and writing down on students cards what they were taking out of the library, or fixing the date stamp.  Eventually, the library got one computer.  In the librarian's office.  Behind a locked door.

And I still want to BE a librarian?  Yes.  Yes I do.  I have to admit though, that the readings I have done so far, and it is only week 2, have given me much to think about. The role is so much bigger than I envisioned, so much more.

I was on another forum, a completely separate from the University, non-academic, "women's interest" forum, and I was sharing my excitement about being back at uni.  Another poster asked me why I needed a Masters to run a library?  The implication being that shelving books surely didn't require such a high level of education and training.  Sound familiar?

Anyway, it made me think about why I am doing this course, and what I want to achieve.  Articulating it to this random online person helped me clear it up in my own head.  I don't want to just be the "putting the books away" person.  Or the person who covers the books.  Or the person who says shush all the time.  I want to make a difference in the school.  I want to be a part of the learning process still - I like teaching, so that still needs to be a part of my role.  I want to be in charge.  And I want to know how to fulfil the role effectively.