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Dear Betty et al,

An interesting thread is developing here - what attracts people to school
librarianship.

With a Masters degree in English/Education and six years teaching
experience at high school, I took ten years off to "mommy" my three children.
With my brain turning to mush and my speech to Sesame Street length
sentences, I decided to prepare for returning to education as soon as my
youngest was in first grade.  I could not see a return to high school
English without sacrificing either my family or my students. (It was the
mounds of student writing that smothered my evenings and weekends)
Colorado University had just begun a graduate program in school
librarianship and it seemed like the perfect compromise.  As a school
librarian I would be around books (my love) and students (also my love)
and would not have any take home work (o.k., so two out of three were true)

What is attractive about school librarianship is:
         -being able to work with all students
        -working with all curriculum
        -working with all staff
        -researching, finding stuff (I was a Nancy Drew reader  in my early days)
        -the work is always changing
        -you can design a program around your strengths
        -you can be creative
        -you can still teach up a storm
        -having access to scads and scads of magazines without personal
         subscriptions (I am a confessed magazine junkie)
        -computers have taken care of the tedious work (like filing
        catalog cards and searching checkout cards for the student who is moving)
        -being a safe adult for students to talk to-making a difference
        -it's a great place to share my passion for reading

Although I am now in library administration, I miss my days of working
with students in a school library.  My list for what is attractive about
library administration is a lot shorter.

Roberta Ponis
Library Services
Jefferson County Public Schools
Golden, Colorado
rponis@jeffco.k12.co.us.


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