Librarian - week 1

I am born to be a librarian. OK, I was born to be a teacher, too, but being a librarian sure comes naturally.

As many of you know, I am addicted to 2 things: chocolate and books. So letting me loose in a library is like letting me loose in a chocolate store. (I couldn't go to Powell's Books in Portland without spending $100) So here I am all day, surrounded by books. As I process the returns, I eye each one and think "Ooh I'd like to read that." As I choose a few books for display, I think "I want to read that one." I easily find 20 books a day that I want to read, but sadly I don't have time to read 20 books a day. If only I did! I love to organise books, to line them all up evenly on the shelf, and to recommend reading ideas for both students and teachers. I am in charge of book talks for each class that comes weekly to borrow books, which is one of my strengths. I love to promote books.

Working at a library has a totally different pace to it than teaching. First of all, there's the luxury of being a trainee and operating at only 50% for the first few weeks. In teaching, you are 100% responsible for everything the first day school starts. I've never been in a job where you had time to learn, time to rummage around and find out where things are, time to explore, and people to guide you. It's strange to have time to acclimate and discover at my own pace; it's amazingly foreign to me.

The people I work with are amazing. They're patient. They explain things without making it seem like I should already know. Nobody has a prickly personality. Everyone is fun and funny. There's 5 of us librarian ladies and we're all the literate type (naturally) without being a library dragonlady who shushes kids all day and wears their hair in a tight grey bun. No, we got the giggles on Friday and couldn't stop laughing.

Besides laughing too much, we also had a balanced discussion on Friday about the merits of purchasing a book on Paris Hilton, Confessions of an Heiress. Students asked for more biographies of celebrities so the head librarians had purchased this one about Paris Hilton. The book will be popular, no doubt. The girls can't wait to read it. Does it send the wrong message to young girls? Absolutely. And here's what our debate was about: Is it the library's job to decide which messages to send? Ultimately it was decided to keep the book, but not before flipping through its pages and getting a few handy tips on how to be an heiress ("If you expect people to do everything for you, they will. It works for me.") If only there was a genre label we could affix that said IRONY instead of BIOGRAPHY.

This school is also well-funded. There's no rationing of copy paper, and the book budget is huge! Besides, the girls are exceptionally well behaved. It's such a difference compared to my last school. I recently went back and read my diary about the first week of my teaching job. Oh my. I was in tears by the 3rd day. Compared to my last experience, this place is absolute heaven! I feel like I belong here.