I've always had a passion for school programs.
Back in my uni days, I worked with the Schools Liaison Unit at the University of Melbourne, taking school groups around campus, and showing them the sights.
More significantly, I was also heavily involved in the MUSU VCE Summer School, where, after a few years, I ended up as one of the organising directors, and, another year, running the residential program for school students from out of town, staying at University College. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my university life.
And over the last few years as a librarian, again, some of the most rewarding experiences has been with school groups. From showing primary school children the public library and reading them picture books, through to taking secondary school groups on tours of the Northern Territory Library, and running research skills sessions. And talking to teenagers about YA literature. Those are pretty much the most awesome aspects to being a librarian.
Now, over the past couple of days at Somerset, I've been hanging out with librarian who work in learning programs, teachers, teacher-Librarians, and writers-who-have-been teachers, and I'm starting too think "Oh yeah, this is where it's at!" I'd love to be a librarian who specialises in working with school and youth programs. That's pretty much my dream job, and I know that I'd be awesome at it.
Here's the problem.
I'm a librarian. I'm not a teacher.
I want to work full-time in libraries. I do NOT want to work full-time in classrooms.
Today, I looked into what I would need to do to become a teacher librarian.
1. Quit my full-time job. (done)
2. Enrol into a two-year full-time course in teaching.
3. Work in schools as a teacher for an additional year.
THEN
4. Apply for a one-year graduate course in Teacher Librarianship.
5. Graduate as a qualified Teacher Librarian.
Question: Where's my motivation? Am I prepared to postpone my career in libraries, to work for four years in school classrooms, which is for me a special kind of hell, unpaid for the first two years, paid at a graduate salary for the next two, for the sake of being able to work in school libraries?
Answer: NO. For starters, I wouldn't be able to support myself financially. Secondly, did I mention that I don't want to be a full-time classroom teacher?
I have a newfound respect for Teacher Librarians.
P.S. Is there an easier way to get there? HALP!
