My Experience Working in a School Library
- School libraries are a unique place to work because they don’t necessarily to conform to the same rules and procedures as academic and public libraries
- School libraries often do not have…
- a librarian
- an independent operating budget
- more than one person working in them
- formal library organization
- Those schools that do have Librarians may replace them with Library workers (Library Assistant, Library Clerk, Library Coordinator) when those Librarians retire
- If you work in a school library it is likely that you will be the only one working in them
- Pros of working in a School Library
- Working with children (could also be a con)
- Promoting literacy to young minds
- Being on the front lines of education (excellent if you plan to teach K-12 in any capacity)
- You run the library
- Cons of working in a School Library
- Working with children (could also be a pro)
- All the needs of the library are subsumed for the needs of the school
- You’re always “on call” at the desk even when you have clerical work to do so interruptions are constant
- You are responsible for everything in the library
- Funding and support for school libraries is rough right now and they’re in trouble. If you’d like to get in the fight to save them and love working with children this job is for you
- I recommend working at either the elementary or high school level as parents are more engaged to support the school then at the intermediate/middle school level
Joe Metzger. 5/29/15
