A day in a School Library
I guess, well, someone has to open its doors. Check if all the (supposedly unused) books are in order. Maybe dust a bit the dusty shelves. I wear my fancy apron and take my rainbow feather duster and I start my cleaning duties.
Oh here is a boy.
- Good morning. Do you have the last book by Patrick Ness? The one about the whales?
- Hey. Don’t you have your Kindle with you? Can you not download it like everyone else?
- I don’t own one.
- Oh. Ok, sorry. Yeah, it’s there. I was just about to catalogue it. (Nervous smiles. We look at the rainbow duster, I throw it away).
I also remove my apron and very swiftly I take it out of the pile of books that have been catalogued but still need labelling. That is a matter of seconds. Big Happy Smile on the kid. I feel better.
Ok, no, I do not own a rainbow duster, I do not clean the shelves (well, sometimes I do). I do some tidy up, and other times I ask the kids for help.
And no, if you were wondering, I do something more than issuing books and putting labels. Maybe I can guide you through one of my days if you wouldn’t mind my company for a while.
If it helps, you can picture me wearing an apron, or not. With a rainbow duster in my hand or not. I do not mind. At work, I usually wear a shirt and some badges according to my mood, that is all my eccentricity. Oh, and incidentally, I love my job, and I love working with kids, so I want you to know what I do. Let me guide you through one of my days!
First thing, I meet with some colleagues, maybe a coffee and some crosswords. It’s always important to start the day with some smiles and some brain teasers to fully wake up. But this is pre-work.
I walk into the school and say hi to the janitors and the office people. They are always so nice, even if so busy from the start of the day. I walk to my floor and open the doors to the knowledge enshrined in my library. Lights turn on automatically and I open the careers office door as well, as an act of kindness. Turn the PC on. That takes from a minute to three minutes, so I start with that and then get off my coat and wear the staff badge. Some timid kids start entering the doors, some of them approach the desk, asking for a pencil, paper, printing something or maybe returning books or borrowing books.
For those that are not familiar with a school day, it is split into 6 periods of about 55 minutes, and every two, there is a break or the lunch break.
The challenge starts when I open Outlook and I start getting emails. School librarians live in different coexisting realities and describing the plethora of emails I receive could give you an idea.
Being part of the school system, we need to know what is happening to our kids, so I make sure to read the bulletin and take into consideration all the messages on behaviour and eventual issues regarding them. They are the reason we are here, and I feel that caring about their well being is more and more part of my job.
There are emails from the staff: is the library available period 3? Are we still taking part in the writing competition you were talking about last week? Do you have this book? Can you check the subscription to this magazine, I did not receive the last issue! Is there something wrong?
Then, there are the emails from the council: council-wide projects to run in the school libraries, internal CPD opportunities, the occasional Freedom Of Information request and the deadlines for presenting summer programmes, but this is not an exhaustive list.
After I deal with these emails, possibly in15 minutes, I get ready for the first class: during the first year we do information literacy, and today, in particular, we are going to explore the differences between different search engines, like Google, Ecosia and Duck Duck Go. The teacher will help me deliver the lesson, but yesterday I had to check and correct a couple of slides that needed changing.
After the class, a little bit of tidying up: yes, those famous chairs that need to be put back. Some chat with the regulars, mostly S5 and S6 that come to the library to study, sometimes with questions, sometimes in need of IT help, sometimes just because the library is a better place to study than the open plan space they have some floors below.
I also deal with the orders, that need to be put through the school ordering system which I am still not familiar with. And the deadline is tomorrow! Therefore, I take my time to learn the procedure, getting accustomed to the user interface, I call the accountant manager multiple times, (thank you, T) because the system is not so user-friendly. And it’s the end of the period and I barely managed to order some glue sticks and 33 books! Luckily, that is all that my budget can afford, so, happy times! Wait, not so lucky there, but I leave the rant for another time.
Finally, break time! I have some students in sometimes, and I do not mind getting a quick caffeine fix and come back to talk to them. They are looking forward to talking about their homework or play some quick board games, and I like being there for them if they want me to. But not today, today I can have my break with the English department, hearing eventual rants about homework not turned in, expectations not met and pupils talking over other people, but, luckily, also about the relaxing weekend they had, the beautiful dinner, the wonderful book and the interesting show on Netflix.
Another class after break, a second year this time, so I have to leave the staff room a little bit earlier. Set up the big screen, fire up the power point, distribute computers, folders with the working sheet, ask for jotters, pay attention, please, and talk through the content of the lesson: information literacy, CRAAP test and analysis of different websites. I chose a controversial topic because I love being the controversial librarian: Are there relationships between veganism and climate change? I give them three sources, and we talk about fake news, Wikipedia, biases. And I hope that by the end of the lesson I leave an important mark on them. They say Thank you, Mr F, when they leave. At least, they look happy. And the teacher is also interested and intervene during the lesson with questions and comments. Did I tell you I love this job?
I have to finish the order as soon as they leave, during the following period. More phone calls but we get it done! Which is also one day in advance, for the eventual mistakes to be found and be corrected. I am always a bit paranoid, so better be prepared. And then a small interruption from a member of staff, but I always have time for them. She needs some books for the History project she is doing with her Higher class, and she adds a little be of niceties, which I like. The school librarian job can be lonely sometimes and I appreciate some distractions… until they end and I have less time to finish the things I have to do, plus the new one! Well done you! But I will make a teacher and her student happy, they are going to have fantastic resources in a week time, which I am going to provide, and they will be able to produce an amazing project!
This should also be my lunch break, so I quickly grab my sandwich and pack of crisps, which I quickly munch before lunchtime.
Because then it is lunchtime.
The Kids Are Coming. All the laptops are used: some kids do homework, some watch videos or play online games, others have a look at the books and take them out, and others play board games. Even if we have a board games club after school, the kids are so busy with so many activities, that I prefer to be as flexible as possible! If they want to play, I let them.
After reminding the kids to tidy up after themselves, usually with a very positive result - here the kids are really well behaved - I have to push the chairs back (deja-vu anyone?) and go back to my desk. Sort out the papers that accumulated through the day. Oh, another subscription letter? But I spent all my budget! Phone the supplier, see if we can delay the payment, the financial year is at its end, so have to wait for the new budget, and that is sorted.
Then, the career adviser, who has her office in the library, asks what happened to the prospectus subscriptions! Phone the company, subscription expired, need a new login, new subscription but luckily this one is a free one! Of course, they do not find the school in their system! Of course, we moved buildings some time ago (and I knew that, but I started a couple of months ago!) and their database has not been updated yet! But we sort it! Careers officer’s happy! I’m happy! Kids are going to have the service again!
And the last period I do not have a class and I can try to catalogue some books, it seems like it is always difficult to find time for it! There is always a backlog. We are a library, sacré bleu, I need to deal with the books. So I set my mind to it, and I manage to go into the Library Management System, log into the catalogue section and add one or two books from the pile that are waiting for me in the office. I love cataloguing from scratch: it makes the geek in me so happy! And then a kid comes in, handing out a poster for the Women History Month competition I organised with the English Department. And that is my focus gone! Soon is the end of the month and I would like to find a new theme to celebrate in the library: we did LGBT History in my first month, we are doing Women History Month now. My brain starts to think about it, maybe we can celebrate kindness for a month? Uhn, I start looking for books, themes, activities, displays on the internet. And the bell goes off. The end of the school day! But we have the literary appreciation club, we talk about books for an hour. Then, a very quick look at the emails, some of them will be left for tomorrow, I would like not to do overtime today, I would like to meet a friend. I turn the PC off, I put some books back on the shelves and close its doors for the day. See you tomorrow, with some rainbow and sparkles. And the books, yes.
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