CPD 23: Week 7 - Librarianship Training Options

After 18 years in the cooperate world I was a bit burned out from the heavy travel and decided that I would do some part-time projects for my employer. I loved the company I worked for, but I really wanted to be able to spend more time with my family instead of my co-workers! During that time I made the decision to return to school and crossed paths with Dr. Pasco from UNO. Little did I know at that time, my career choice was about to change and I am now starting my third year as a part-time Teacher Librarian in an Omaha school. I love my new career and feel very privileged to work with such a dedicated group of teachers at my school. I am the only staff in our library, so that does present some challenges of doing daily classroom lessons and managing all the details of the library on a part-time basis. I still feel like a “newbie” as there is always so much more to learn!

As for mentoring, I feel like my first mentor was Dr. Pasco who has such enthusiasm for librarianship that I once heard an English major student say he was thinking of changing his major after just one class with her! My other mentors have been my student teacher advisor, Dr. Hazelwood and my wonderful cooperating library teachers. My principal is a wonderful mentor with many years of experience and I value all that I can learn from her. Even though my roll as a mentor as been to another new teacher and not in librarianship, I feel we should all mentor to give back for what we have learned—in the mentor/mentee role….we all grow!