This class also strengthened my understanding of our role as administrators and school leaders.  School librarians are in a unique position to support ALL members of the school community, teachers and staff included.  I had no idea this was the case prior to starting the program.  It was exciting to put together the PD workshop for teachers, to learn how to create reports for administrators, and to analyze our school communities.  I didn’t realize how multifaceted this career would be.  While it seems like a lot at times, I love how dynamic school librarianship can be.  As a person who gets easily bored with the same tasks, I’m realizing that this pathway may be a really good fit for me.  While I’m not ready to step into a school yet, it feels in the cards for my future.  

For students entering the course, I’d say do your best to keep an open mind. This was something that I struggled with at times.  The more I learned about school librarianship, the more I felt like it wasn’t right for me.  It wasn’t until I actually taught some classes right at the end of my FE that I realized how much of an impact we can have.  I’d also remind incoming students to keep the big picture in mind.  While some of the assignments or tasks seem boring or tedious, they are all part of the larger goal of supporting our school community.  If you take your time and put in your best effort, you'll be much more prepared for when you actually complete those tasks in real life!  

Growing up I thought of the library as a place to read, a place to escape, a safe place. It’s more than that though, even though that may be everything I needed. The library and librarian are there for the entire school, from the principal to the teacher to the janitorial staff and guidance counselors. At my school it was a place for the aides and substitute teachers to hang out and for students to take makeup tests, a place for everyone.

What I want students to know for next semester? Remember that the librarian has welcomed you into *their* space and that you need to accept the way they do things, even if that means you have to listen to them talk about Harry Potter with their students. You need to respect the way they run things and even though you may want to make suggestions, make sure you are doing so respectfully and humbly.

This field experience semester really put everything into perspective and while I still struggle to always have time during the work week to get my school work done, I have gotten a lot better at planning to get it done earlier in the week and working through it. This course helped me work on my time management while also teaching me to pay attention to my body and how it is feeling in the moment.

When it comes to working in a school, this course really helped me learn more about specific behind the scenes aspects of the library, especially budgeting.  Budgets have always scared me and I have struggled to fully understand what a budget is saying.  Through this course and working with my field experience librarian, I am starting to better understand the budgets that we have in the library and to keep a close eye on what is in our account and what gets taken out.  This learning of budgeting has really taught me a lot and will truely help me in the real world and in the future.

I would advise students who are entering this course next semester to expect everything and then expect to be surprised.  There was so much to learn in this course and there is no way you could expect all of it. On top of what you will learn in the class itself, everyone will be in their own field experience school and will experience so many different things that happen within a school.  No school is the same and no experience will be the same and you get to converse with all of your classmates to learn from them as they learn from you.

 

I want to operate the circulation desk, be the reference librarian, collaborate with teachers, administer information literacy instruction, curate digital resources, manage the budget, and so much more. Higher education and public librarians are often tied to one aspect of librarianship, which to me, sounds boring. I want to be regularly challenged to learn, adapt, and excel in new and exciting arenas. 

 

What was surprising to me? Even after I just expressed looking forward to all the different aspects of school librarianship, and learning about each of them throughout the program, it was still surprising to finally see how an actual school librarian executes all these responsibilities in action. My field experience librarian, Lisa, is a 15-year school library vet, so she basically runs her program on autopilot. She tackles issues and decision-making with ease where a novice librarian might struggle to balance everything and deal with unexpected problems. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from such an experienced professional. 

 

The advice I would give to students for the future would to not be afraid to speak up. There were definitely some opportunities at field experience I missed out on because I was too nervous to ask or didn’t want to interrupt Lisa. I still had a wonderful experience, but I could have done even more if I had just asked.

This course prepared me for the real world by serving as a reminder of a lot of the coursework I did through the program.  It also was great to have tips on interviews and the resume work.  Even though I didn’t think I was ready for any of that quite yet, it actually came just in time for me. 

I would encourage future students to take risks and try new things with their assignments.  Each project and learning activity is a chance to grow and discover areas of interest, but also to develop areas that you might feel weak in.  It’s definitely a safe environment to experiment and take a chance on something that might not work out as you originally planned.  

One thing I might tell future students is to not get overwhelmed by so much engaging information. Take your time, explore, but know that you can refer back to much of the resources as you go - just remember to save the links when you can’t access them after graduating!

There were a lot of things that surprised me. The field experienced taught me a lot about dealing with teachers, the district, and parents in practical ways. I’m surprised at how involved it can be. Librarians truly are at the center of the school in every way. 

The best piece of advice is to just jump in with both feet. I was so nervous when I started this course and was scared that I wouldn’t know how to talk to the students or teachers and that I would just be shelving books and not making a real difference. While it’s important to understand the space, the personalities, and the libraries goals, it’s also important to see a need and fill it. If students need help and you can offer a suggestion, do so. If you can make your FEs job easier without stepping on toes, fill that need. Be respectful, humble, and ready. 

My experience as a classroom teacher and a department head has already given me skills that I am sure I will apply as a school librarian. But the work of this class afforded me the opportunity to practice that application. The variety of topics covered in this course was also important to reinforcing all the different aspects of work that a librarian does in the course of their job. 

My best advice for students entering this course next semester is to enact a strong time management system for themselves. This was a difficult semester for me personally, and while I normally manage my time very efficiently, this semester was not exemplary for me. But, I look at this as a learning moment for me. Sometimes life is going to throw you curve balls, and you need to be prepared both for the curve and for what to do when you miss.