NEWSFLASH! EXCITEMENT IN THE LIBRARY!
For the first time in the history of Ulei JSS library, a book was put away in its appropriate location, according to the Dewey Decimal System, by a student, without me asking, showing or pushing! YAY! And it’s all due to ‘Library Studies’ class.
I just taught my second class and it went really well. There were games (very important) and the kids learned stuff (also important). The first class didn’t work fabulously, so I changed my lesson plan accordingly. So, now I can RANT. While I was back in Australia last week I told someone that I had set up the library and was ready to start teaching Library Studies. The person I was speaking to said, “That’s a bit like the blind leading the blind” and I laughed in response (I wasn’t really paying attention). But later, I thought about it, and I got quite angry because you know what? I am TOTALLY QUALIFIED to teach Library Studies to high school students. I have a Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary). I have a Graduate Diploma in Information Management. I have more than two years experience teaching, and all of it was with students who were learning English as a second language. I have been a librarian at this school for four months now and I know the kids. GRR! Don’t make me take my earrings out! (Hat tip to Grandmom.)
Having said that, I have to admit I don’t like teaching, and I never have. It scares me. It feels too much like performing a tap dance routine: even if I practice and practice, it will never feel natural to me. No, I don’t want to work in another school library after this year and I don’t want to be a youth librarian.
However it is perfectly obvious to me that there can be no such thing as a “successful” library without library training. The users must know HOW to find the information (and entertainment) and they must know WHY the library is set up the way it is. Furthermore, I think it’s just as important at academic libraries and public libraries because not everybody has a TOTALLY QUALIFIED TEACHER-LIBRARIAN to teach them in school.
ANYWAY… In other news, the first boxes of new books have arrived (I sent them from Melbourne – they’re the books that the Library Girls donated – thanks girls!) and the kids have gone NUTS. Seriously. Like seagulls over hot chips. New books really do make a difference. Who wants to read Mary Grant Bruce? Nobody at this school. Who wants to read J.K. Rowling, Markus Zusak, Nick Earls and John Marsden? EVERYBODY!
BORROWING STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR SO FAR:
March: 0 loans
April: 12 loans
May: 26 loans
June: 69 loans and counting…
What the rats have eaten this week: Scotch brand Book Tape (Very expensive. Those rats have excellent taste. I salvaged half the roll. Those bastards are in the library now. If they develop a taste for 70s pulp fiction, we’re doomed.)
Totally awful quote from a book in the collection (not spoken ironically): “Oh Daddy,” Donna giggled, “You know girls don’t play football.” Donna Parker Special Agent, Marcia Martin, 1952. (This book also described a helicopter as a “tiny, queer-looking plane” LOL!)
What I’m reading this fortnight:
The library at night, Alberto Manguel. (Two very enthusiastic thumbs up! Thanks Angus!)
