I must admit that I actually starting my educational career as a K-12
art teacher. In my first job, I found myself in a very small school
that was also needing a school librarian. Since I had worked at Fort Hays
State University Forsyth Library during college, I decided to teach
both art and be the school librarian (this was a very, very small
school-only 140 students). I was a "conditional" librarian and worked very
hard to obtain my degree and advance my career. I did not see anything
wrong with "conditional" librarian's and would agree that some of the
best librarians do not start out as trained media specialist with a MLS.
(I have also seen some really bad "conditional" librarians and
excellent MLS graduate students right out of school.)
However, later on in my career, I was noticing that in the state of
Kansas, many librarians who were retired where either not being replaced
or were being replaced by unqualified personel. It wasn't that there
were not any qualified people interested in the positions, but rather a
combination of thinking "anyone could be a librarian" and "we need to
cut a position anyway" by the school administration. In fact, I had
applied for a job that was given to a part-time physical education
instructor with no background in media or library because of those same
reasons. I worry that the more "conditional" librarians the school's hire,
the more we have a problem addressing issues concerning respect for our
profession and the job we do. It is also a little alarming for me to hear
people discussing that there is no difference between someone with a
degree and someone without. I use both my undergraduate degree in
education and my graduate degree in library everyday. Things I learned as a
classroom-teacher is invaluable with working at a school. Likewise,
how could I adequately run a school library without knowing the
fundamentals of librarianship. This leaves me with a few questions.... Why
put in the work if no one sees a difference? Why spend the money and time
acquiring a degree in library media when people think a "conditional"
librarian is just as good?
Brenda Lemon
District Librarian
Chapman School District
Chapman Kansas
blemon@473mail.net
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