3 of me – OR, how I don’t know how anyone runs a school library by themselves

I think there needs to be at least 3 of me for my library. One of me to take care of the basic library day-to-day including the ordering, processing, checkouts, etc, one of me to take care of social media, internet, apps, how-to videos, and the other “techie” stuff I want to do, and one of me to take care of the teacher collaboration piece for my school, to make sure my teachers are really getting the full benefit of a teacher-librarian.

I have a school of around 450 kids. MO DESE recommendation is such that:

1.0 full-time librarian assigned full time to a library in a school* with a student population of
1-750
1.5 full-time librarians assigned full time to a library in a school* with a student population of
751-1,500
2.0 full-time librarians assigned full time to a library in a school* with a student population
exceeding 1,500 (DESE 2019)

So, yeah. It’s gonna just be me for quite a while. I know 3 librarians is a total pipe dream anyhow. But, really, I think in this day and age, to do anything well these days, you need another person.

This is really true when I look at how much of my time is spent with Chromebooks. Now, to be fair, this year isn’t as bad as most, since I’m not doing dayloaners. But, if I counted dayloaners in this, I would say at least 30-50% of my day every day would be spent dealing with Chromebooks and Chromebook issues. Now it’s more like 10-15% most days, which isn’t nearly as bad, but still more than I like.

What is the rest of my time spent on then?

I tried to tally up my time once. Between time I was interrupted by teachers asking me questions or coming in to talk to me (some reasonable, some inane), students needing assistance (usually with the printer – I have it down to a science for the most part – tap card, hit print all, hit ok, hit log out), and misc emails, well, that takes up about 40-50% of my day. The other 45, 50, 55%+? That is when I try to get my work done. That is where I try to get the ordering, processing, checking in, collection development, weeding, emails to vendors (I don’t call people), cleaning, organizing, displays, social media, tech how to’s, collaboration discussions, etc. all in.

And when I get home? I sit and do more stuff. Currently I’m in between reading research on independent reading and looking at non-fiction collection organization (ditching or reorganizing Dewey.) Oh, and I also am the assistant Color Guard and WinterGuard instructor, I play oboe for the local community college concert band, I am the sponsor for the library club, I am stepping up to co-coach the scholar bowl team, I’m going to be the official timer for the track meets starting this spring, and I do have a family, where I take my kiddo to TaeKwonDo, and am involved with his BSA troop. Oh, and I might be starting my PhD program in the fall if I get into the program I applied for.

Needless to say, I don’t know how some of these super-librarians do it. I don’t know what sleep, what “other” things they sacrifice to be the amazing superstars they are. I want to be them, and I know someday I can and will. Until then, I’ll baby-step along, continue to do the best that I can for my school and my program, and know that I am continuing to build my dream program, piece by piece. “If you build it, they will come.” Right, Field of Dreams? That’s what that movie was all about… right?

Resources

DESE LIBRARY RECOGNITION SCORING GUIDE [PDF]. (2019). Jefferson City, MO: Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Helpers

I had some helpers as I was writing my review yesterday….

Proposal Writing

So, I did it.  I submitted my first solo conference proposal.  It isn’t the most elegant proposal ever, but I’m proud to say that I submitted it.  What’s the worst they can say?  No.

I’ve always said I want to be like amazing librarians like Nikki Robertson or Jen LaGarde.   I may or may not stalk their websites on and off, reading blog posts they post, and otherwise just wanting to be them.  Not because they lead glorious lives (maybe they do, I can’t truly say…) but because they stand up in front of people, possibly hundreds of people, and they don’t ever seem nervous, they don’t appear afraid.  They are out there, their words and ideas are being heard, and frankly I would like that too.

I have anxiety when it comes to speaking in front of my peers.  Now, this seems weird for a teacher who stands up and talks in front of students daily, but teaching and speaking in front of peers are really two different things.  I work with a group of high school color guard girls, and I’m perfectly fine.  But going in front of a crowd of librarians or tech people… shoot, that is just a lot.

Here’s the “but”.   But, I want to speak in front of people.  I want to be a google trainer someday.  And I know I have to start somewhere.  Everybody does, right?  This conference is a local conference – a google conference.  I figure, why the heck not start there?  So, I typed stuff up, submitted it, and yeah.   We will see.  I’m excited to just say, yes, I took that jump, and I submitted a proposal.  Go me.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

There have been a lot of changes for me in the month of March. First is that I got great news for my future. However, that I cannot announce just yet until a few more things get into place.  I promise a major reveal later. After the high came the low – I lost my 93-year-old grandpa. I miss him dearly, but grateful for the time I had with him, and of course the fact he got to hear my happiness. Then came the last- surgery.

Nurse Brid taking care of me

Now this was a very needed surgery for my ankle, removing a accessory bone in my foot and fixing my tendon.  So now I’m in a lovely boot wrap thingy and off school for several weeks.

Ok, Jamie, so what is your point?  I guess my point is that we deal with changes no matter what. We have gone through immense changes in education and in the library field.  My focus, of course is library.  When my older family look at me, they don’t get how my tech knowledge serves me well as a librarian.  They don’t realize that gone are the days where the librarian sits behind the desk, shushing students who are being even the least bit noisy.  Those libraries don’t get used.  Change is necessary

I’m proud to say that this year at my school I’ve managed to have open library time.  Now, I’m an elementary librarian on a fixed schedule.  I see 20 one-hour classes a week.  I also have several times a week where I’m at the cafe for duty.  This leaves not a ton of open library time.  So, I open my plan time to allow students, classes, and whomever wants into the library during that time.  I have seen a definite increase in usage of the library since I’ve opened it.  A lot seems to just want a bit of an escape for 5 min while checking out a new book, but if I’m that place to take a quick breath, I’m ok with it.  It’s a change I was willing to make and have seen some success.

I’ve also changed many staff opinions of a librarian.  They see me as a tech person, someone to help them when they have a question, no matter how small.  I love that.  They have really embraced me as their tech leader this year.   Sometimes I know their annoyed if I have to close the library to run and do something, but I have no choice without an aide.  But I want to help everyone, and if that means I have to step away from the library, so be it.  Most have come to understand this, luckily.  But, again, a change.

My point is that change is hard.  Changes are hard.  But with a little willingness, great things can happen with change.  Even if change isn’t what you want.