Hi! I am a school librarian and I want to help others by sharing what I do in my school library. My students call me Mrs. M.
I have loved books since I was a small child. When I was little and Golden Books were cheap, my mom would get me a new book each time we went grocery shopping – I would read the book while she shopped and she would buy it for me when she checked out. My mom worked the night shift and she tells me that the way she got her naps was to put a stack of books on the floor next to me in her room and tell me that I could wake her up once I had read all the books in the stack – is it any wonder I love to read?
My first experience working in a library was as a ninth grader when I volunteered at the public library. My job was shelving the easy readers. Then in high school, I was a TA for the high school librarian. Again my job was shelving but it was magazines and non fiction and working the check out counter then. In college, my work study job was in the Curriculum Center – a library of materials for pre-service teachers. Again I was shelving and working the check-out counter but I also prepared materials for circulation. I was studying to me an elementary teacher but decided at that time if teaching didn’t work out, I’d become a librarian.
Then came my first job – teaching at a mission school. After the first couple of years, the school had no librarian so I volunteered to work as librarian after teaching all day. It was interesting and definitely not the best way to run a library but I made it work. Then after being married for one year, I left the classroom and ran the library for the school. In a way you could say that I started out as a self-trained librarian.
After 20 years at that school, my husband and I moved our family to our current location. I started at my current school as a curriculum coordinator which gave me knowledge of what is taught in K-12. During this time I finished a masters degree in Children’s Literature and began teaching in the Library Science program at Dona Ana Community College (DACC) – mostly children’s literature courses. After I had been with the school for 7 years I became the school librarian and went back to school to get my Library Media Endorsement for my NM teaching certificate. I am now in my fifth year as school librarian and, while I no longer teach for DACC, I still have a passion for helping others learn about children’s literature and sharing ideas about school libraries.
