Mrph. Whining.

[daemonluna]

Dead tired. We went up to Edmonton Mon and stayed the night because of, y'know, that freezing rain thing they've got going on, but it was all mostly just wet by the next day. I got home to a message on the answering machine from the public school system, asking me to come in for an interview.

I sent my resume in for a posting for library assistants a couple weeks before Christmas. It was a part-time high-school diploma and some library experience required thing, but I figured what the hell. I had an interview yesterday morning, and started this morning filling in at an elementary school library. It's only fifteen hours a week until the end of Feb. But hey, it's experience.

I'm feeling kind of depressed over the whole thing, and I'm not sure why. Partly, it's because the library just got a whole bunch of new computers but the collection itself is really... old. There's new stuff in there, but non-fiction from the mid-eighties? And the seventies, even? I will save my rant on the state of school libraries and the need for qualified teacher-librarians (or even a library tech, ferchrissakes) for when I'm not so tired and cranky.

And then, I got home to a phone call from the local college about a job I applied for with them. Resource centre co-ordinator in their department of interior design. That one's only twenty-five hours a week, but will go until June. It looks potentially interesting--they didn't advertise specifically for a librarian, but the skills are all transferrable. Except that I know nothing about interior design. But...

But what I really want to do is work in a public library. And work with not just kids but teens and parents and teachers and seniors and do general reference and yes, storytime, and school visits and collection work and reader's advisory. Sigh. I also wouldn't mind doing reference and bibliographic instruction in a post-secondary library. Perfectly respectable, mundane things to do mith your MLIS. Not terribly hard to achieve, you'd think. Argh.

I fully acknowledge that I'm rambling on and on, and I'm whining. Perhaps I should go to bed now.

Comments

[dine.livejournal.com]

congrats on the job front - may not be what you really want, but at least it's employment for a bit. I completely agree with you on the state of school libraries, and the shameful (at least in US) lack of support/funding they receive.

you've had a frustrating time of it lately, and rambling (and whining) are both fine - but bed is often a good thing, just because.

[daemonluna.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling more optimistic with more sleep. ^_^; But the thing that gets me the most about school libraries is that an awful lot of the time, the school board, etc. seem to be of the opinion that they don't actually NEED a teacher-librarian and that if they can't get someone with a library tech diploma, someone who can sign out books and handle the paperwork is all they need. Arrrgh.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Hugs and sympathy. You can come and organize my overflowing bookshelf if ever you feel you've been out of the loop too long.

[daemonluna.livejournal.com]

Hee. For organizing friends' books, will work for cookies. Congrats on the job, by the way!