For the past 13+ years, I have been the sole library person in small rural school in Alberta, Canada, so by default, I am called the librarian, (or Library Lady). Previous to this job, I was the manager of the local public library. I have some technical training but no degree. If I did, I would not have this job since Alberta has seen fit to eliminate all professional staff from its school libraries (and this is how I feel about that). I am actually fortunate to hold a full-time position, which is rare in my district.
I do, however impossible it is, love my job. I feel very fortunate to be in a K-12 school where I literally get to watch the kids grow up. If variety is the spice of life, then I’m as hot as it gets, as I expect are all those in my position. Our district has a wonderful network of library people, who, although considerably spread out geographically, share ideas and knowledge to support each other very well.
My greatest job-related dream, besides cloning myself or finding myself with a full-time on-the-job partner, is to one day look at my library and think that everything is just fine the way it is. In the meantime, I keep myself terribly busy trying to make it perfect.
I began this blog to track my learning and progress on my most recent pet project. My goals in redesigning the library are about making it more, to risk cliché, user-friendly, so that it is exciting for the kids to enter, inspires them to broaden their minds and lifts their spirits. I am very enthusiastic about the opportunities that technology gives us to teach and learn more broadly and creatively.
I love books, nature and art and I am a hobby-photographer. I’m excited about what artists are doing with discarded books and include a lot of that here. I also love to laugh and post library, book and technology humour whenever I run across it.
I hope you will join in a conversation or two with me.
Regards,
Hi Cindy,
My name is David Bone and I work at at IT company called Xoomworks in London. Each Friday, we get together and watch Things like TED talks. Today, we luckily found your website.
We love what you are doing and we will be regular viewers and hopefully collaborators.
Hello Cindy!
I was delighted to find your coverage of my work on Dickens and the Workhouse on your website. I love books and libraries, too, and am lucky enough to live in London and have a Reader’s Ticket for the British Library.
I wanted to say how splendid your enthusiasm for books is, how lucky those schoolkids are!
I was very fortunate to have parents that read books, and although we were not at all financially fortunate, they had second-hand books and a bookcase where my small hands and curiosity found Dickens when I was aged 4!! My first school prize was Oliver Twist – so you can see why I feel it is really important to lay knowledge before kids – they can take it or leave it, but if it is laid out, they know it’s there, and may come back later for more. I myself drifted away from literature into history, but the work on Dickens (begun when an old workhouse in central London was threatened with demolition) has brought me back full circle!
You are clearly doing a splendid job in your library!
Kind regards – Ruth Richardson, historian.
Dear Ruth,
I appreciate your kind words very much. The research you did on Dicken’s characters must have been very exciting: sleuthing out real people from a century and a half ago and connecting them to the novels, examining his sources and inspirations. Connecting literature to its time is valuable and fascinating, bringing the characters and setting to life. I am forever going to books and the Internet to fill out details about novels I read. I can’t wait for my copy of Dickens and the Workhouse to arrive! I also have The Making of Mr. Gray’s Anatomy on my reading list.
I fully agree that children must be exposed to as much knowledge as possible, which is such a challenge now since the explosion of information. In Alberta, classics, even fairy tales seem to have taken a back seat to more contemporary topics although I do my best to make sure my students are at least aware of them. As you say so wisely, “they can take it or leave it, but if it is laid out, they know it’s there, and may come back later for more”.
Thank you for taking the time to write to me. You have made my day!
I wish you all the best and look forward to your future projects.
Best regards,
Cindy
P.S. For others reading this, the post on Dr. Richardson’s book is here.
Hello Cindy,
great site! Even in Australia the school libraries are being overrun by the “ICT”. I think being the “Library Lady” is great!! Getting our children to read (and love it) is just SO important.
Couldn’t agree more! Thank you for stopping in, Michelle.
Hi Cindy. I was so excited to find your blog! I am in a similar position here in New Zealand, although not as qualified as you.
I am the library assistant in a relatively small (roll of 344) school in Central Auckland. This school is in a low socio-economic area, with many refugee and migrant students. Three of my four children attend this school, two of them being boys who are not enthusiastic readers – hence I am driven by a similar challenge – to make the library user friendly and make access to books easy and appealling.
My past experience has been two years as a library assistant in the public library system in a local community library, but before that I worked for many years in retail. Sometimes I think of my job as being a marketer!
Our budgets are also very constrained, so I only work two days a week, but once I have more professional development under my belt, and my younger son is older, I hope to put in more volunteer hours.
I look forward to following your blog and learning more!
Hi Donna,
Thank you for your thoughtful and interesting comment. It appears that you are new to blogging and I look forward to following your posts. Being alone in the library with no one around who really has any idea what you do all day to bounce ideas off of, you can begin to wonder if it’s all worth it. I have found that keeping this blog and reading others’ helps keep me motivated and enthusiastic when I start to feel overwhelmed. I hope it will work the same way for you.
I think you have the right idea about being a marketer. We have a lot to compete with. Don’t worry too much about your boys, though. Just keep handing them the good stuff – and read to them as much as you can – and they are likely to catch the bug by osmosis
. My boys were not really big readers as kids but now that jumping on a skateboard or jamming with friends isn’t quite as appealing or convenient (they’re 28 & 30), they always have a book or two on the go.
Thanks again and I look forward to keeping in touch,
Cindy
Hello Cindy!
Came here via your tracks at Flandrum Hill. Yep I’m out exploring blogland. I’ve spent A LOT of time in A LOT of ‘libraries’ over the years–and I’ve worked just enough in a couple to appreciate your perspective. I have a lot of trouble comprehending how anyone can cut any library’s budget for staff and materials—books, movies, cds etc. But it keeps happening everywhere. Each time I hear of another “slash” I recall the first time I read Richard Wright’s “The Library Card” which is a story about a young black man in America whose white boss provides him with access to the public library by sharing his library card with him. Yes, at the time African Americans could NOT have library cards nor access to library books. I was unaware of this unpleasant piece of American history until I read Wright’s story. I’d had my own issues regarding access to books while growing up and the story hit me hard. People take too much for granted –especially books (in any form) and libraries with all the wonderful things they offer to people who might not otherwise be able to afford buying any book. Books are one very important means for fueling the life of the mind. They nuture intellect, creativity, imagination and critical thinking in so many ways. Your very presence as a book lover is a wonderful light for all the children you encounter at your school.
Sorry to run off at the fingertips–but–well, Hello!
I remember The Library Card. It is incomprehensible that libraries do not figure more highly on the budget scale, but I can understand that when the choice is between teachers or even program assistants who do so much for struggling learners, I do see how in the short term it seems to be the right decision to make. In Alberta, a least, the political climate seems more and more prone to supporting industry, which needs/wants a lot more ‘ditch diggers’ than scientists.
Students are pushed and led by the hand through high school just so they can have that piece of paper that says they did 12 years of school (which ends up meaning very little, but that for some reason makes one more hire-able for digging ditches). Perhaps it’s just so they have something to possibly keep them busy until they’re big enough to dig a good ditch.
Wow, that’s awfully cynical, isn’t it? I’m going to leave it though because it really is the way things seem to be right now.
Regarding the diggers of ditches–we are in total agreement.
I am a volunteer at our local middle school library in central Indiana, the kids are 7th and 8th grade. I found your blog through a picture posted to flickr, which I think was pinned and put on Pinterest. I am always looking for new ideas and better ways to be a volunteer, I hope you don’t mind my following along on your journey.
I would so love to have someone like you in my library, but I’ll happily settle for your company here on the blog. Kudos to you for your enthusiasm. Your school librarian is lucky to have you.
Hi Cindy. I am a children’s book author in Alberta. I do school visits and author readings and I also like to donate my book to school libraries.
Please check out my website and contact me for more information.
Hi Diane. It’s great to meet a nearby author – so glad you stopped by the blog. I’ll happily have a look at your book and contact you for a visit (as budget allows, of course). It’s a great thing for kids to meet authors and realize that they are real people too.
this weekend I was the recipient of The Gargie Award awarded by Bruce the Gargoyle of the Bookshelf Gargoyle. I would in turn like to nominate you for this award, if you are so inclined as to accept. You can find out more about this award here http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/introducing-the-gargie-awards/. and I thank you for all your fun posts!
How kind of you, Rhythm. I am honoured to accept your nomination and will look forward to looking into the requirements on the weekend.