Maggie the Librarian

I've been doing my new job for a few weeks now, as the high school librarian at Alcatraz. I like it.

It's a lot less stress than being a high school English teacher. I have no lesson plans and no papers to grade. I have no students I have to manage. About 90% of the time a student spends in the library is with their classroom teacher so I don't have to be in charge of them. The other 10%, the kids are on a time limit from a teacher, who has called me to get permission to send a kid to me for 5 minutes or less. There are three English teachers in the building and they bring their classes in all on Mondays and Tuesdays so kids only come in at random the rest of the week.

I get to be with lots of books all day long. And we all know I love books. I'll save the bibliophile speech for another day because we already know how much I love books. Not only do I get to be with the books, but I'm also in charge of ordering new books. Yes, I get to buy books with someone else's money. And I get paid to read. Seriously. How cool is that?

It's quiet. I listen to the radio softly while I work. There aren't many people who come in and out so I get to work at my speed, on any project I chose, for as long or as little as I want. There is very little I have to do in a day that's required. I have to put out the newspapers. If I get a new magazine, I have to put it out and get rid of the old. I have to check in and out books and put them away as necessary. I have to help students. Otherwise, I can do things the way I want and on my own time schedule.

The previous librarian ordered about 200 books right before she left and it's my responsibility to process them- covers, spine labels, card catalog labels, AR labels, Dewy Decimal, check out slips and register them in the computer. Other than a wonky computer problem that customer service at the software office is trying to help me fix over the phone, it's like I've done this job forever.

I learned all the software programs enough that I can do the basics and a little more. I know how to do new student intakes (which is part of my job, though I have no idea why, but it is). I know how to shelf books, and process them. It's awesome.

It's a really good fit for me. It makes me happy. My first "real" job (I don't count being a car hop, paper route or babysitting) was working in the public library as a student assistant. I did that for all of high school and all of college. Now here I'm back in the librarian. Full circle... maybe I should get my Masters of Library Science rather than teaching? I thought at one time in life I wanted to do that and how here I am, so maybe it's fate?

Maggie

And in honor of librarians everywhere, I present...