Job satisfaction for school ibrarians?

[Michael Furlong <maf02e@GARNET.ACNS.FSU.EDU>]

              Hello,

              I am a graduate student finishing up my master’s degree,
and completing an internship in London.  I am contemplating returning to
the main campus to finish up my certification so that I can work as a
school librarian (likely in the Southeast, either Florida or Georgia.)
This would require approximately two extra semesters of full time study
(with the internship as one semester) to complete—so, a fair amount of
additional time after having already completed the basic MLS degree
requirements.
             Basically I would like to know how happy most of you have
been as school librarians in your chosen field, and if you had much
contrasted experience working in libraries other than school libraries to
compare/contrast your current employment to.  What was it that made you
want to work in a school library other than a public or academic library,
and what made you end up staying in a school library? (as opposed to
leaving for a different library environment).  Does quite a bit of your
time revolve around having to monitor the behaviour of and/or discipline
students who enter your library (or other places in the school that you’d
have to monitor as a teacher)?  I am thinking mostly in terms of high
school, or possibly middle school libraries as opposed to elementary
schools.  Is there a high quota of paperwork involved in your positions?
            I know that budget cuts are frustrating.  Also, it seems as
if in other sectors, most librarians (public, academic) often have a
supervisor that they report to who is a librarian as well.  My
understanding of school libraries, though, is that often you report to
someone who might not have a focused understanding about libraries, their
purposes, policies and procedures.
            Any comments that listserv members have, as to what new
professionals should expect in the field of school librarianship (both
positive and negative) would be helpful to me.  Also, I hope that
everyone who attended enjoyed the ALA conference.

            Best wishes,


            Michael Furlong
            FSU London Library intern
            London, England
             maf02e@garnet.acns.fsu.edu

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