GEN: Librarians/Aides

[LSMant <LSMant@AOL.COM>]

I am a 15 hours per week Library Aide who is completely responsible for
running the library at my K-5 school. I am paid the same as an instructional
aide who walks in, does what the teacher asks, and walks out, never putting in
more than 15 hours per week. This is not the way it should be but it is
reality in many many districts in California. There is not even a real
librarian at the district office level. When my kids were in this district (at
a different school) there wasn't even an aide. Teachers simply took, or didn't
take, their kids to the library. No one maintained it. No one purchased books
for it. The only new books that went into that library in the time my kids
were there were from our family. I managed a children's bookstore at that time
and always donated copies of the books signed by authors who visited our
store.

So the situation now is a step up. At least there is someone keeping the
library open part time in every school. At least every child has the
opportunity to choose books every week. Since I have been working at this
school, I have been trying to convince the district that they need to 1) have
real librarians, 2) keep the libraries open more than 15 hours a week, 3) that
they are depriving their students of a very important part of their education,
4) that they could at least raise my job classification to the level of the
computer aides (about 50 cents more an hour) and/or hire me for longer hours.
I have dealt with everyone from the principal to the classified employees
union to the superintendent. I have gotten absolutely nowhere.

I can't possibly run a program like a professional would. However, my library
is hugely improved over what it was when I took the job 4 years age. Up to
that time, a parent had done it and no one had lasted more than 2 years. None
had any training in library work or working with children or with children's
literature. Thanks to my experience as a nursery school teacher, classroom
aide, children's bookstore manager, lover of books and kids, and listservs
such as lm_net and child_lit, among others, I have been able to improve the
inventory, the facility, and the program tremendously. Still, it is far from
what it should be.

If I were to quit my job, which I frequently threaten to do, the next person
hired would undoubtedly be a parent from the school and gradually the library
would revert to its old state. So who loses if I refuse to do this job? Who
loses if people on this list decide that only real librarians can be on the
list or participate on the list? Obviously it's the children.

If any of you out there can change the situation in my district, please do.
I'll be the first to quit or go back to school to get an LMS degree.
Meanwhile, please don't throw out those of us who are "just" aides. Most of us
are simply doing the best we can in much less than ideal circumstances.

Thanks for listening.

Laura Manthey, Library Aide
Alta Vista Elementary School
Los Gatos, CA
lsmant@aol.com

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