Library Media Specialist-Where Do They Come From,

[Kathy Hooper <hoopsone@NY.FRONTIERCOMM.NET>]

    The different stories of how we came to librarianship are interesting, here's 
my story:
When I graduated with my undergraduate degree in elem. ed. (1974) jobs were rare as 
hen's teeth.  I took a job as a library aide in a middle school the year I 
graduated and really liked working there.  The problem was the only colleges 
offering an MLS were a 2 hour drive (one north and one south) and I was getting 
married so I took the easiest route and finished my graduate work in elem.ed.
     After 10 years in an insurance company I got back into education teaching 6th, 
7th and 8th grade social studies, science and health in a parochial school.  One 
year of that left me burned out and I did not return to that job.  My mother's 
neighbor worked for Greenwood Lake UFSD and mentioned that they needed a librarian. 
 I put in an application, with little hope, but was called on Labor Day weekend 
when they could not find a certified librarian.  As they put it, at least I could 
"find my way around the library."
In order to keep my job I had to finish my MLS (driving to those schools that were 
still 2 hours away), and do it with three children to care for.
     Needless to say I made it and it was worth the extra effort.  I love to read 
and try to impart that to my students.  I get great joy out of seeing the light go 
on above some head about how the Reader's Guide works, or receiving a completed 
report that shows all the effort has paid off.
     I guess like many, my future includes a certain amount of technology 
education.  We will be automating this fall and I'm still a novice on the Internet. 
 We have to keep moving with the times and destroy that glasses on a chain, shhing 
image that is so popular in the media.

Kathy Hooper
Greenwood Lake UFSD
Greenwood Lake, NY  10925
hoopsone @ny.frontiercomm.net