Re[2]: TARGET: Library Media Specialists--Where Do They Come

[Bonnie Fulmer <GBF1@MARISTB.MARIST.EDU>]

     It's so neat to find out that many others have arrived
here in many of the same ways!  I, too, grew up loving books,
volunteering in our local public library as soon as they
would let me.  The years working there are what led me to
pursue a master's degree in English/education, so I could
share my love of reading with generations of teenagers to
come.   WRONG!  I spent ten years teaching English, and
I got tired of the groans every time I handed out a new
novel.  I got annoyed that most kids didn't love
reading the way I did, and often wouldn't read the
assignments.  I got frustrated trying to explain Twain's
humor to kids who just didn't get it, and I was
depressed at the mountain of papers that awaited every
evening, weekend, and holiday.  But what REALLY drove me
out was the perception that I was "the enemy."  ("If I
can just get past Fulmer, I'll graduate.")  I don't mean
to make it sound all negative; there WERE students who liked
my class and had fun, and I feel I made a real difference
for a number of kids.  But I still felt like the enemy for
most, and I knew the paperwork would only lessen if I
lowered my expectations, which I couldn't do in good conscience.
     So, I looked for other options, and thought school
librarianship looked attractive.  I could still work with
kids and books (in that order), but not the grading end of
research papers.  The nearest school was an hour and a
half commute one way, so in the Spring of 1988 I took a
class, planning on one a semester for 3 or 4 years because
that's all I could handle while teaching English full time.
Someday, WAY in the future, maybe I'd be able to make a
switch.  That very summer the librarian at my school
suddenly retired (after agreeing to supervise my student
teaching 2 years down the road; did I scare her out?  ;} )
I knew I wanted to stay in my district and there'd be no
opening in the foreseeable future, so I applied for her
position, and got it with the proviso I get my MLS during
that school year!  ACK!!!!  So I got thrown in the deep end
with only Information Science 601 under my belt ("The ancient
Babylonians were the first to establish libraries, using
papyrus scrolls"....etc.) and learned to swim fast or die.
I learned on the job and commuted for the classes to get
that second master's in ISP by September 1989.  It was the
most stressful year of my life, especially considering my
grandmother died and then my mother-in-law died the week my
thesis was due the August of my certification deadline.
(Suicidal? Who, me? ;)  I can remember sitting on the stepping
stool in my workroom that first week of school in tears,
wondering how I ever thought I could do this job with no
training, and there was no going back because I'd had to
resign my English position and lose my tenure to take the
job.  Now every time I step on that stool I smile to
myself and know it was the best decision I ever made.  I'm
no longer the enemy; the kids come to me for help battling
the enemy, and I give them insider's advice ("Pick the Joyce
Carol Oates novel for Stammer's paper...she LOVES Oates."  Or
"Talk about treatment of women in Shakespeare's times...
Ms. Humphrey's into that stuff!").  And then they come to
me for help and guidance throughout the whole process, finding
sources, looking for a thesis, struggling with organization, asking
me to read a paragraph they've written, and they know I'm their
ally.  When they run back to me smiling, waving their A papers and
saying "Thanks, you were right!" that's when I know I
made the best decision of my career.


                     ||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||
                     ||        Bonnie | Fulmer       ||
                     ||   Spackenkill | High School  ||
                     ||    112 Spack- | enkill Road  ||
                     || Poughkeepsie, | NY   12603   ||
                     ||  voice: (914) | 463-7810     ||
                     ||    fax: (914) | 463-7817     ||
                     ||   gbf1@maristb.marist.edu    ||
                     ||______________/\______________||