My Short Life (so far) as a Librarian

...or "Keys, Lasers, and Fifth Graders."

I usually avoid personal posts on this blog, or should I say I try to avoid making posts simply about experiences in my life.  This is a change from olden days, but that's a choice I made.  Boring as it may be...  But in this case, I know my experiences of the week (and most particularly of today) would be of interest to some of the followers of this blog, and have decided to write a quick entry on the subject.

I must confess, I have always loved libraries.  Actually, I love anyplace where there are a large collection of books, whether that be a book store, a library, an archive, a repository...  ok, I'm just pulling words out now, as I can only think of two places I have commonly been where there were a large amount of books.  Book stores and libraries.  But I do love them both.

And so it may be no surprise that I would jump at the chance to become a librarian - err, excuse me, a library staff assistant - at a local elementary school.  Wait, did he just say elementary school?  Yes indeed.  I have aspired to be a secondary or higher-level educator, but the opportunity to take a part time position with an elementary school came available, and I jumped at it.  Beggars can't be choosers, after all.

And this week I began my new job.  It has been an interesting, and in some way exhausting, but thoroughly satisfying week.

"Mark my words, some day they will have books on zombies and nerdy kids who fight them in our public school libraries, Vivian."  I actually saw one book today come through circulation that wasn't "pop" kid fiction.  But hey, at least they are reading!  Oh, and for the sake of argument, Google "school librarian" and look through the images that come up.  If you spot a male librarian in the first fifty pictures, you've got better eyes than I do. / Source: FlavorWire.com

Monday I woke up a bit earlier than I have been inclined to (9:30 - which for someone who is used to being to bed at 4 AM after work... well that's too dang early to be awake, I think), but I knew the principal of the school would want to know when I could come in and begin my training.  I drug my heels a bit, to be honest, as I was so very nervous. Would this job be something I could do?  Would I like it?  Would they get a look at me as I came in and say: "Hey, wait a sec, you're not the guy we hired!  Get outta here, ya bum!"

But things went pretty well.  I was given the whirlwind tour, then set down to learn my duties with my fellow library staff assistant (names in this post are withheld for privacy sake  - both for me and for the people/places involved), who has been in the education system for some time.  He is quite experienced, both at the librarian thing, and also in teaching.  And he is quite a character to boot.

So this past week, I have been getting up to speed on my duties.  I am responsible for being available to help students and faculty in the library as needed, as well as checking in/out books in what is known as "Open Checkout" (two or three times a day, for about fifteen minutes or so, kids come down to the library as a class and check in their books, then check out something if they wish).

Fifteen minutes seems pretty quick to me, and it goes by pretty fast.  This leads to my reference above about lasers.  Yesterday, I took the duty of running the circulation desk for the first time during one of the third grade class's open checkouts.  And I discovered the joys of using a barcode laser scanner.  I was going along just fine, checking kid's books back in, when I missed an error message that came up when I scanned in one student's book.  I was too busy talking to the kids and handling the books, and just flat-out missed it.  So three or four transactions did not get entered into the system before I noticed my mistake.

This one could have come straight from my library training meeting I attended today. / Source: MzzColby.blogspot.com

Luckily, the kids were still in the library, so me and my co-worker called them back over and got things sorted out.  But I will have to remember to be more careful with that darn laser in the future.  Or as various members of my family would say as I was growing up (paraphrased, as it applies to just about any sort of technology/mechanical device or equipage): "You gotta be smarter than the laser."

Another fun thing for the job: I get keys to the library.  I have power!  I can lock the doors.  I can unlock the doors.  I can lock one and leave the other one unlocked.  I can lock the back room.  I can unlock the back room.  I can even get into the DVD/Video cabinets!  I have custody of the library.  I'm a key-carrying, book-shelving (boy do I love the Dewey Decimal System), barcode-scanning, all-around super-duper librarian-type guy.

The downside to all that power?  I walked off this morning and forgot my keys at home.  I live fairly close to the school in which I work, and so I walk there and back (haven't decided about how to handle the sure-to-come inclement weather issue).  And so I was 10 minutes down the road and realized --- no keys!  And since today was my first day solo-ing in the afternoon (I've been trainee shadowing my co-library staff assistant guy since Monday and so have been getting up at what for me is an unholy early hour - 7 AM), I had to go back.  I had to have those keys in order to lock up the library for the day.

So I turned around and went home to get them.  And had to ride my bike in order to get to work/school on time.  I thus discovered that it is a bit uphill going from my house to the school.  In fact, it is is funny how you never notice something is a slight incline when you are in a car, but you sure notice when you are trying desperately to get there on time when riding a bike!

Needless to say, I did make it on time, but only just barely.  I will have to get myself a lanyard to hang my keys around my neck, as well as my ID badge when I finally get that.  And make sure every day, in addition to getting out slacks and a button up shirt for my work apparel, I set my keys out with them so I don't forget again.

That about sums it up.  / Source: nhslma.org

The last detail, and I'll conclude this entry.  Fifth graders (cue dramatic music - dum dum dummmm!!!).  In the afternoons, I am in charge of taking a class and teaching them for approximately forty minutes on some subject from the library curriculum.  You didn't know school libraries had curriculum, you say?  Neither did I.  But yes, in this school district, we do.  You know, life was so much simpler when I was these kids' age.  We just went to school.  Now they have early out days for this and for that, and they pull kids out of class to do this and to do that.  How do the teachers ever get anything done, I wonder?  But I digress.

Anyway, I wasn't supposed to teach until Monday, and so I was feeling pretty relaxed about the subject of having to teach a class full of elementary school kids.  After all, I reasoned, even though I'd be solo-ing today, I'd have a quiet afternoon to get used to the library being under my sole jurisdiction...  Yeah, right.  As soon as I got in, I had training from the district office "teacher-librarians" (former school full-time librarians who are now district coordinators and who go around and make sure we library staff assistants know what the heck we are doing), which was planned yesterday.  This I could handle.  It was more of a formality than anything else.  Didn't learn too much that I hadn't already by shadowing my more experienced co-librarian.

But I was also informed that I would be teaching the former librarian's fifth grade class (former, since last year she was the librarian and was only moved to be a full-time teacher when the district decided that putting under-trained and un-benefitted library staff assistants in was the best use of their resources... but hey - it got me a job, so...  cool!!) as well.

Now the one thing I have been most nervous about in this job, so far, has been the responsibility of teaching the kids.  The curriculum tells you what you should cover, but how to do it?  Not so much.  And my background, as I mentioned, was geared toward teaching older kids and - preferably - college-level students.  So teaching little children?  I was scared.  And I'm not afraid to admit it.

So it was with trepidation that I awaited my first teaching assignment, scheduled to arrive at 2 PM.  I had watched my co-worker teach the kindergarten, first and second graders, but that seemed easy enough.  I even got to help yesterday, reading the book "Too Many Toys" to a fairly attentive kindergarten class.  But older kids?  As my co-worker quipped, he'd rather deal with boogers than hormones.  And I confess, I see the line of reasoning.

If you know the 1960s version of Batman (the TV series), and you read this one carefully, you'll get it.  For me...  I loved it.  Perfect fit after a week of getting used to being on the other end of the book shelving game. / Source: WeKnowMemes.com

So I sat as the kids entered, thinking over what I was going to do.  My co-worker had suggested using the "My Favorite Book" sheet he had used before (or tried to, with fairly poor results) with a second grade class.  I would introduce myself, hand out the sheet and explain how I wanted them to proceed, then they'd do the work, and to conclude, I'd have several kids tell about their favorite book...  what could go wrong?

I decided from the start to have fun with the kids.  This may have been an error.  The class quickly devolved into a zoo of noisy boys, chattering girls, and some quiet and attentive faces who waited for the others to be still so I could get my point across.  I didn't crash, but it was obviously a strain.  One young lady, who kept politely raising her hand, at one point asked me if I could use some help.  I laughingly quipped back: "do I look like I need it?"  She gravely replied, "Yes, you do."

But then a ray of sunshine, in the form of a black cloud.  Kids were throwing questions and requests at me so quickly, I could barely keep up.  I made them wait, and handled one at a time, but the others who were not getting my direct attention were getting restless.  Somebody asked if they could read a book while waiting for the rest of the class to finish their assignment, and being a "library staff assistant," I jumped on that.  "Sure," I said.  Moments later, I saw two boys chasing each other through the stacks, one brandishing a book as a weapon.

Here came the big mean grown up voice.  "You and you," I said loudly and sternly.  "Over here.  Now."  Not shouting, but loud enough that nobody in the room or even down the hall a bit could mistake my intent.  I said something to the effect that I was an easy-going guy to be sure, but that they would show respect for the library, and chasing each other with books was not an acceptable behavior.  I then took a helpful passing teacher's advice (one of the teachers had poked a head in as they were passing earlier and made this suggestion) and took them down the hall to the place where their regular teacher was in her meeting.  I quickly explained that these two boys were chasing each other with books as weapons in the library, and they needed some dealing with when she (the teacher) felt appropriate. She informed them that they'd be dealt with on Monday.  Needless to say, both were pretty cowed.

And the best part?  When I returned to the library, even though all the kids were still chattering, they were under control.  I guess that old martial theme of making an example out of somebody does work at this age level.  The rest of the day was still busy, but everybody was in their seats and the chaos level was mush more manageable.  I suppose I managed to forestall the "substitute teacher mentality" a bit with my disciplinary actions.

This one is dumb, but I thought to myself: "how many times will I be able to put 'Conan the Librarian' in a blog post?"  Oh, and if you are curious where the quote (humorously paraphrased) comes from, check out this YouTube link  /  Source: plpinfo.org

Sadly, I did get the kids out to their line for dismissal late, and was a bit threadbare by the time I finally locked up the library for the day.  But I learned some things. And had a good time doing it.  I will get better at this job.  And I will love this librarian thing; I can already tell.  It isn't a "dream job" by any means, but I think I will hate to leave when summer finally rolls around again.


The parting comment:

Source: LolSnaps.com

They are a clever bunch, I must admit.