Bookends

On my most recent birthday, I started a one-month job as a school librarian in Princeton. It was a challenge, mostly due to the sudden shift from being home full-time to being at work full-time.

About a month later, a one-day-a-week school librarian job came along and I passed on it. I wasn't ready to make the commitment.

A few months passed and I learned the school was still searching for a librarian. I threw my hat in the ring and was offered the position again. This time I accepted. 

My start date? March 6, my half-birthday. 

I'm finding some humor in the timing of both positions.

The new one has different challenges. 

* It is a 35 minute drive (vs. 15 minutes). Don will work from home on Thursdays to be here for Ashley and Sandy Dragon (the dragon has been flipping himself over a lot lately, and can't right himself). 

* It is six 45-minute classes -- five classes in a row, then a break for lunch. There is only one prep period for doing everything else that needs to be done in the library - from the basics of shelving books to collection development, and everything in-between.

* The library shares the room with the 2nd grade class.

* The library is not computerized.

* The library has as many donations waiting to be processed as books on the shelves.

* Most of the books are paperback donations that are falling apart, or hardback books at least 30 years old.

* Other than the school librarian who was there at the start of the year, they have never had a certified school librarian.

On the plus: 

* The principal and school board are completely behind the library succeeding.

* They want me to come in extra hours to set it up properly (and will pay me for that time). 

* They want the library collection available on-line, they want the kids to love coming to the library.

I'm in for a challenge, and we all know it.