Dear LM-Netters:
If my inbox is any indication, I know that there are many
of you out there that think that I am totally
“unprofessional” for allowing just anyone to come in and
run my library here. Therefore, let me just clarify a few
things.
First of all, I also have my Master’s Degree in library
science and have spent a lot of time and effort building
up this library. The administration and teaching staff
truly support me and I have absolutely no complaints about
how I am treated within the school. I am a professional
who is asked for advice on not only which books to read,
but also how to do research and how to teach students to
use the library better. I have the opportunity to see each
of our elementary classes twice a week—the first 30 minute
period is simply for teaching and library skills,
depending upon what is happening in the classrooms, while
the second one is more a time for reading stories and
checkout.
Because we are a mission school, none of us are paid by
the school per se. We are here with a mission and that is
how we are paid. This along with other concerns have
prohibited us from hiring a local librarian to come and
fill in for the year.
I have listed this position on the list serve several
times as an option for someone who is recently retired or
would like to just take a year off to see another part of
the world. I have not received a single reply to any of
those notes.
The teacher who will take over the library is an excellent
certified teacher whose main concern is that he really
doesn’t know enough about library science to teach it
well. His wife had been trained as a library “assistant”
before her baby and still comes in occasionally to help
with checkout since she knows my Follett system and also
shelves my books. Between the two of them, they would do a
good job and I am convinced of this. He is simply asking
for some guidance on what and how to teach the students
good library skills so that when I come back there will
not be confused kids who have spent the year coming in
only for library checkout with a mother managing the desk
which is the other option that seems to be open to us. He
is also volunteering for this since it seems we have
several people who are willing to come to teach at our
school next year, but no one who is willing to come be the
librarian.
I am not writing this to be nasty or to rant—I am simply
letting you all know my side of the story. Of course I
would love for a true librarian to come in here and take
over, but it has been my experience in the 20 years that I
have been doing library work overseas that this may not
happen. While we all know that the only true way to run a
good library is to have a trained and qualified librarian
in there at all times, sometimes we have to make
exceptions.
Thanks for taking the time to read all of this and Thanks
also to the one person who actually did send me some ideas
for a website.
Carol Van Brocklin
Librarian
Faith Academy-Mindanao
Davao City, Philippines
carolannvan@motimail.com
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