It seems appropriate to start my blog during School Library Month. If you are on the School Librarian’s Workshop Facebook page you have been seeing my re-posts of the great promo pieces being put out by AASL. I have been a champion of why every child deserves to have a school librarian in his or her life. Not surprising, like many of you I didn’t start out to be a librarian, but a fateful synergy propelled me into what has been the best career choice I could have made.
I was an undergraduate, planning to become a high school English teacher, and took a job as a page in a public library. As graduation approached, I was desperate to find a job within walking distance of a buses to New York City (where my soon-to-be husband worked) and applied for a teaching position in Fort Lee, NJ. On my application, I stated I was willing and able to cover when the librarian had lunch or a free period. The acting superintendent, called back from retirement when the current one had a heart attack, was eager to get all position filled and said if I got 6 credits over the summer, he would hire me as Teacher Librarian with emergency certification. The location was perfect. The director of the public library helped get me into Columbia University’s School of Library Science (now defunct) – with its Melvil Dewey Chair of Cataloging—and I completed my two courses the day before my wedding. My career as an accidental librarian began at the same time my marriage did. Both, I’m happy to report, have withstood the test of time.
So, how did you become a school librarian?