A Library of my Own...At Last!

So I have finally found a home of my own....

I have accepted a position close to home and will be school librarian in a 5/6 grade middle school with over 800 students.

The first interview I had, I could just feel everything clicking!  It was like I knew exactly what to say and how to answer the administrator's questions....I just knew that we were on the same page.  When the superintendent called back a week later and offered me the job ( saying that she was "excited about me leading her students into 21st Century Learning" :) ), I took it on the spot....and here is why...

The school has never had a MLS librarian and I will be the first one in the district.  Up till know, the staff of the library has been a clerk and an aide.  The collection was weeded for the first time ever just this past fall.  According to the school principle, the clerk has been ordering books that look good.  The library space has never been marketed and it has no programs to speak of.  I don't think there are any policies in place in terms of collections or challenges and classes have never been taught by any librarian ever in the space.  So why is this soooooo exciting?

Well, if you are a librarian, you know, but if you aren't, let me share!

1. This is a huge advocacy opportunity for school librarians within the district!  If I do a good job and show my value, school librarian positions will thrive in my district!  That is exciting!

2. I get to create a program of my own from scratch and make it what I make it without any preconceived notions.  Will it stay forever?  Maybe, maybe not, but I get to figure it out on my own....it is a win/win!

3.  I will get to build a program from start to finish and use just about everything I learned in library school!  While I was in school, I thought, I would probably never use creating a collection policy, or curriculum / collection mapping or arranging new contracts with vendors for databases or determine what kind of hardware would be best for catalog accesses in my space.

Maybe that was naive, but I figured I would be taking over someone else's library and most of this would already be done.  That I wouldn't have the opportunity to have a strong impact from the very beginning.  This is an amazing opportunity to impact student library use and learning right away!  Yay me!

So....  That is where I am starting!  I never had the second interview that I thought I would, so I am meeting with me new Principal this week to get a better idea of where things stand.  Next week I will post some pics of my new space and share more!

Thanks for reading.....Read On!