Comments on: "get out of my profession" http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/ A School Library Journal Blog Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:58:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Davida Grudzinski http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-60666 Davida Grudzinski Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:43:09 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-60666 Simply profound. I had no idea. Simply profound. I had no idea.

]]> By: authortobe http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-51934 authortobe Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:56:00 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-51934 As a writer, substitute teacher, parent, and concerned vocal citizen, I am heartened by the proactive attitudes and approaches expressed here. I have experienced the nay-sayers and, given my druthers, would limit their access to children. No job in education is easy: nothing worth doing is. Thank you all for your committment. As a writer, substitute teacher, parent, and concerned vocal citizen, I am heartened by the proactive attitudes and approaches expressed here. I have experienced the nay-sayers and, given my druthers, would limit their access to children. No job in education is easy: nothing worth doing is. Thank you all for your committment.

]]> By: Response to “get out of my profession” | tasmaniacal http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-41369 Response to “get out of my profession” | tasmaniacal Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:55:33 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-41369 [...] http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/ [...] [...] http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/ [...]

]]> By: “Get out of my profession” « Y's Guide: SLMPS http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-16121 “Get out of my profession” « Y's Guide: SLMPS Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:46:36 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-16121 [...] [...] [...] [...]

]]> By: Angela S http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-14019 Angela S Wed, 29 Dec 2010 02:14:57 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-14019 I agree it is frustrating and often totally disheartening to always be trying to fit all we want to into our working hours - and have to admit a lot of my life-learning process goes on outside of my part time paid hours as a librarian in a primary school in New Zealand - years 0-6 . Some things I have learned are: - to build alliances and common interests and have discussions with whoever will listen! Eventually something new or positive comes out of it. I don't have a plan for this- it just happens when an appropriate moment arrives or someone asks a question or I am burning with resolve to get something sorted. We used to have a library committee of interested teachers which met every 3 months which is no more - one of my aims is to reestablish this. - think about strategies and plans and communicate them to the Principal and other administrators even if they don't ask for them, and ask for their advice sometimes when you are stuck. Don't expect them to come up with anything revolutionary as they are horribly busy already with their own preoccupations and changes, but appreciate that they make the effort - you are probably way ahead of them with web 2.0 and technology - ask to speak and collaborate at Professional development days[we commonly call these teacher only days, they should be 'staff only days' and include concerns for non-teaching staff.] Now that is hard going but this year I joined in with an evening on planning special topics - SOLO taxonomy - which was very useful - try and find out what is planned and what is happening in the school before it happens - try and pick one biggish project per year and as many subsidiary ones as you can handle, analyse , don't overdo it. e.g. this year my big project was Book Week celebration and my smaller one was educating myself about e-books [we are a few years behind you in provision of e-readers and in access to lending schemes- companies like Overdrive are not used in schools yet], - another year it was applying for a grant from a charity and remodeling the library space - show you are 100% interested in what you do and offer any service which would/could be useful - they won't all be seen as useful at first - show you enjoy your job most of the time but it's fair enough to be disgruntled now and then, - bite your tongue a fair bit when you think their or the student's behaviour in your workspace is out of order or you are not considered or informed about certain things but do keep some consistent standards , e.g. appropriate uses for the library - not for any old thing that couldn't be fitted into another room or time slot. From my point of view I am not hired or paid to carry out information literacy teaching but I can be informed, seek out resources and discuss what might work best -technology is supposed to be your slave, not the other way round, so seek solutions to make it work for your situation. And the issue of school librarians losing jobs and libraries being pretty much closed down - too late by the time it happens; sometimes it depends on the way the school is run - if it is largely autocratic with one person making or being the driver of all the big decisions then there is usually no way of stopping it. If the school has some measure of shared decision making and the library's role is always seen as important /relevant, etc then usually funding continues. Keep networking! I agree it is frustrating and often totally disheartening to always be trying to fit all we want to into our working hours – and have to admit a lot of my life-learning process goes on outside of my part time paid hours as a librarian in a primary school in New Zealand – years 0-6 .
Some things I have learned are:
- to build alliances and common interests and have discussions with whoever will listen! Eventually something new or positive comes out of it. I don’t have a plan for this- it just happens when an appropriate moment arrives or someone asks a question or I am burning with resolve to get something sorted. We used to have a library committee of interested teachers which met every 3 months which is no more – one of my aims is to reestablish this.
- think about strategies and plans and communicate them to the Principal and other administrators even if they don’t ask for them, and ask for their advice sometimes when you are stuck.
Don’t expect them to come up with anything revolutionary as they are horribly busy already with their own preoccupations and changes, but appreciate that they make the effort
- you are probably way ahead of them with web 2.0 and technology
- ask to speak and collaborate at Professional development days[we commonly call these teacher only days, they should be 'staff only days' and include concerns for non-teaching staff.] Now that is hard going but this year I joined in with an evening on planning special topics – SOLO taxonomy – which was very useful
- try and find out what is planned and what is happening in the school before it happens
- try and pick one biggish project per year and as many subsidiary ones as you can handle, analyse , don’t overdo it. e.g. this year my big project was Book Week celebration and my smaller one was educating myself about e-books [we are a few years behind you in provision of e-readers and in access to lending schemes- companies like Overdrive are not used in schools yet],
- another year it was applying for a grant from a charity and remodeling the library space
- show you are 100% interested in what you do and offer any service which would/could be useful – they won’t all be seen as useful at first
- show you enjoy your job most of the time but it’s fair enough to be disgruntled now and then,
- bite your tongue a fair bit when you think their or the student’s behaviour in your workspace is out of order or you are not considered or informed about certain things
but do keep some consistent standards , e.g. appropriate uses for the library – not for any old thing that couldn’t be fitted into another room or time slot.
From my point of view I am not hired or paid to carry out information literacy teaching but I can be informed, seek out resources and discuss what might work best
-technology is supposed to be your slave, not the other way round, so seek solutions to make it work for your situation.
And the issue of school librarians losing jobs and libraries being pretty much closed down – too late by the time it happens; sometimes it depends on the way the school is run – if it is largely autocratic with one person making or being the driver of all the big decisions then there is usually no way of stopping it. If the school has some measure of shared decision making and the library’s role is always seen as important /relevant, etc then usually funding continues. Keep networking!

]]> By: Kelly Smith http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-12899 Kelly Smith Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:33:47 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-12899 Way to go Diane! I've alwyas had so much respect for all your hard work to create better school libraries across the country. Courage is definitley needed to speak our minds on issues that are important to all of us in this fulfilling profession. As I read about school libraries being closed across the country, I wonder what could have prevented this from happening. It makes me strive towards always learning, trying new stuff, building relationships, and being the one stop place for everything in my middle school. Do I always succeed? No! I've had many failures. But you know, my teachers have never been distressed with the failures when they feel like we're working together to do the best we can for students. Isn't this the purpose of all educators? Boy, I LOVE my job! It's the hardest challenge I've ever taken on. Thanks for reminding me to keep going in new directions even when they don't go as planned. Many times they'll lead me to something even better than I could imagine! Way to go Diane! I’ve alwyas had so much respect for all your hard work to create better school libraries across the country. Courage is definitley needed to speak our minds on issues that are important to all of us in this fulfilling profession. As I read about school libraries being closed across the country, I wonder what could have prevented this from happening. It makes me strive towards always learning, trying new stuff, building relationships, and being the one stop place for everything in my middle school. Do I always succeed? No! I’ve had many failures. But you know, my teachers have never been distressed with the failures when they feel like we’re working together to do the best we can for students. Isn’t this the purpose of all educators?

Boy, I LOVE my job! It’s the hardest challenge I’ve ever taken on. Thanks for reminding me to keep going in new directions even when they don’t go as planned. Many times they’ll lead me to something even better than I could imagine!

]]> By: MsReason http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-105 MsReason Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:01:19 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-105 Also, I think we are getting a bit hysterical about our peers who "don't keep up." We are so paranoid about how others perceive us! The sad truth is, other educators really aren't considering the library and the librarian much at all. We are scapegoating people in our own profession because we feel insecure in general. This is why I feel we need to focus on advocacy reaching out to our non-librarian colleagues. Beyond that, we can only do the best we can as individuals and network with like-minded librarians. We can't waste energy getting worked up about librarians that don't pass our constantly changing test of currency. Also, I think we are getting a bit hysterical about our peers who “don’t keep up.” We are so paranoid about how others perceive us! The sad truth is, other educators really aren’t considering the library and the librarian much at all. We are scapegoating people in our own profession because we feel insecure in general.

This is why I feel we need to focus on advocacy reaching out to our non-librarian colleagues. Beyond that, we can only do the best we can as individuals and network with like-minded librarians. We can’t waste energy getting worked up about librarians that don’t pass our constantly changing test of currency.

]]> By: MsReason http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-106 MsReason Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:54:06 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-106 I would say a couple of things about a comment like that from the principal. One is that there is "deadwood" in every profession and within education at every level, yes, even (gasp)at the administrator's level. This does not excuse the "old school" librarian who refuses to try anything new. The point is, this is a supervision issue. It may be extra visible if the librarian is behaving in this way because there is ONLY ONE per building, usually. This means the position is very important, not something to be dissed. How about finding out why the librarian isn't doing those things and providing the necessary support to make it happen? Is it a training issue? Is he/she overwhelmed with the never-ending paperwork required by bean counters and secretaries? Do study halls dump their students in the library? Is the librarian's schedule already full providing prep time for others? Has the library budget been cut repeatedly? Is the librarian given opportunity to get out of the library and network with teachers in curriculum and planning meetings? Chances are, the librarian isn't dusting the shelves and reading mystery novels in place of podcasting and blogging. One thing I think it's important to acknowledge is that all these new technologies have become and add-on to all the other library duties. Some of them make our jobs easier or more effective, but honestly some of them simply expand the number of things we need to be doing. I'm new at all this but I feel certain librarians were plenty busy before web 2.0 burst onto the scene. A smart administrator would empower the librarian (and the teachers struggle with this too) to let go of some of those older practices where they can, in order to adopt some of the new ones that will enrich their work. I would say a couple of things about a comment like that from the principal. One is that there is “deadwood” in every profession and within education at every level, yes, even (gasp)at the administrator’s level. This does not excuse the “old school” librarian who refuses to try anything new. The point is, this is a supervision issue.

It may be extra visible if the librarian is behaving in this way because there is ONLY ONE per building, usually. This means the position is very important, not something to be dissed. How about finding out why the librarian isn’t doing those things and providing the necessary support to make it happen? Is it a training issue? Is he/she overwhelmed with the never-ending paperwork required by bean counters and secretaries? Do study halls dump their students in the library? Is the librarian’s schedule already full providing prep time for others? Has the library budget been cut repeatedly? Is the librarian given opportunity to get out of the library and network with teachers in curriculum and planning meetings? Chances are, the librarian isn’t dusting the shelves and reading mystery novels in place of podcasting and blogging.

One thing I think it’s important to acknowledge is that all these new technologies have become and add-on to all the other library duties. Some of them make our jobs easier or more effective, but honestly some of them simply expand the number of things we need to be doing. I’m new at all this but I feel certain librarians were plenty busy before web 2.0 burst onto the scene. A smart administrator would empower the librarian (and the teachers struggle with this too) to let go of some of those older practices where they can, in order to adopt some of the new ones that will enrich their work.

]]> By: Diane http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-107 Diane Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:06:19 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-107 MsReason, I absolutely believe in getting out there with administrators and teachers. What I have seen happening is one bad experience with a librarian who no longer wants to be there can taint all of us. Their principal tells others "My librarian won't do that or my librarian would never try that" and we are dismissed at the beginning. Excellent librarians and caring librarians, like yourself, work hard for our students and deserve higher status and authority. What would you say to the ones who give us a bad reputation? MsReason, I absolutely believe in getting out there with administrators and teachers. What I have seen happening is one bad experience with a librarian who no longer wants to be there can taint all of us. Their principal tells others “My librarian won’t do that or my librarian would never try that” and we are dismissed at the beginning.
Excellent librarians and caring librarians, like yourself, work hard for our students and deserve higher status and authority. What would you say to the ones who give us a bad reputation?

]]> By: MsReason http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-108 MsReason Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:22:50 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/practicallyparadise/2009/10/19/get-out-of-my-profession/#comment-108 I changed careers to get an MLS and become a school librarian at 35. It's a profession that I love yet after 5 years in a rural, high poverty, low-tech district, I have found the day to day realities to be a great disappointment. Education is going through a terrible period right now--the current system is outdated and no longer works, but we seem to be locked into just tinkering with it because we are too frightened to make the big changes we need. It is also very isolating working as a librarian in a school--you are a fish out of water and teachers and most administrators have generally misinformed views about your role, range of responsibility, and what you can offer beyond merely managing resources. We are still seen as the ladies who stamp and shelve books. I've done a lot to add technology, resources, tools, new reading choices and increased access to my library and I enjoy learning about new things and bringing them to my work. I try to offer collaborative opportunities but so far have had few takers. My teachers like to stay in their bunkers. What really stinks, though, is the feeling that what we do is never enough because the anointed "library gurus" are always telling us we need to do more. I don't think pointing fingers or creating a litmus test for "good librarians" is helpful. It would be better if the gurus would stop speaking to the choir and instead went to the national administrators' and teachers' conventions to tell them how awesome and important school librarians are and what we can really do. You have a certain status and authority--use it to make us look good and advocate for us, not to tear us down and flush out people you think are not up to snuff. I changed careers to get an MLS and become a school librarian at 35. It’s a profession that I love yet after 5 years in a rural, high poverty, low-tech district, I have found the day to day realities to be a great disappointment. Education is going through a terrible period right now–the current system is outdated and no longer works, but we seem to be locked into just tinkering with it because we are too frightened to make the big changes we need.

It is also very isolating working as a librarian in a school–you are a fish out of water and teachers and most administrators have generally misinformed views about your role, range of responsibility, and what you can offer beyond merely managing resources. We are still seen as the ladies who stamp and shelve books.

I’ve done a lot to add technology, resources, tools, new reading choices and increased access to my library and I enjoy learning about new things and bringing them to my work. I try to offer collaborative opportunities but so far have had few takers. My teachers like to stay in their bunkers.

What really stinks, though, is the feeling that what we do is never enough because the anointed “library gurus” are always telling us we need to do more. I don’t think pointing fingers or creating a litmus test for “good librarians” is helpful. It would be better if the gurus would stop speaking to the choir and instead went to the national administrators’ and teachers’ conventions to tell them how awesome and important school librarians are and what we can really do. You have a certain status and authority–use it to make us look good and advocate for us, not to tear us down and flush out people you think are not up to snuff.

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