Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group I Hate My Career

i too have fond memories of the library, every week mom took us, no money to buy books, but a free library pass was such a gift!

mom would let us pick out our books first, so we could read them while she chose hers. got to the point where i was finishing them before we left, that was when she let me move up to the "juniors" section.

remember in high school, i'd get a stack out taller than my self.

now days, its the book store more than the library, i still love something about owning physical books, love big ones with beautiful pictures of flowers, gardens, birds, scenery. love my paperbacks that i can take anywhere. love the ones i can mark up as i wish. love opening a new hardcover the way we were taught in school so as not to break the spine. i know electronic is changing a lot of this, but i still love something about books.

True that! It wasn't easy for me to quit the biz. After 12 years I just couldn't take it anymore. Now the Seattle downtown branch... That could turn my head around... No, not even there. And it was a gross error (20/20 hindsight) to leave those awesome benefits, especially now that I need the insurance. Do you have the opportunity to transfer to a less stressful branch or position? Or maybe the law library? Ok, I'm all outa ideas. I hope you find some peace there, as you have quite a few years before your golden handshake!

Lukke til!

Oh my gosh, John! How AMAZING to find this post tonight. I'm SO down after a horrible start to the school year. I'm a school librarian in a middle school.

Here's my rundown:

1) I worked half the summer while the teachers didn't come back until a couple days before classes started (and then I listened to them complain about having to come back...just *smile*)
2) Despite trying to do jobs that aren't even my responsibility (the tech people who never show), I'm still the brunt of teacher's fits when something isn't working. Some act like it's my fault if their keyboard/mouse/monitor/projector, etc. isn't working.
3) Admin is throwing more of their work on me, and they pull the library support person constantly. They don't understand the time it takes to do certain parts of my job (example: inventories don't do themselves). It's hard to explain that I can't do more...and I fear what will fall (instruction for students). I feel guilty if I take on tasks, and I feel guilty if I don't. It makes me angry, and then I feel bad I can't figure out how to be a superhero.
4) Budget cut in half (while expectations are twice as high for the kids to have a wide variety - and for them to be "hot off the press").
5) "Oh, you haven't read this?" Pth! Work 12 hours, and then go home and read a book a night.
6) Every time you open your email, you read about another state cutting your position. When you read your professional journals, it's all about saving your job. When you pick up magazines, you read articles like "Are Libraries Obsolete?" UGH! I want to focus on learning...NOT spending all my time trying to prove that I'm actually worth something to my school (that's so demeaning when you're working so incredibly hard for everyone).
7) Working incredibly hard, and thinking that your job has no future - and you could be out tomorrow.
8) On top of all of this, having a severe case of AS. I'm expected to run 90 miles an hour, answer everyone's problems, fix everybody's stuff, drop everything for everyone's priorities, and be an incredible teacher and performer on top of that. Meanwhile, I'm so tired and in pain that it's hard to get out of bed...my brain so foggy that I forget what I'm saying in mid-sentence...and I never go one day without my digestive system completely destroyed.

I think I've hit the wall, but I just keep throwing myself into it. There's really no other choice when you can't lose medical insurance. I'll keep working till I drop. And days like this, I'm o.k. with that happening soon.

But then there's the one kid who comes in at the end of a long day, and he says, "I really liked that book you recommended. Do you have another suggestion?" Then I think I can keep going. That's when I realize how much I love those kids. Love conquers all - helping me continue winning the fight against the bad attitude much of the above represents.

Thanks for letting me say this - I can't say it at school.

Love you guys!!

Our current elementary school principal used to be a librarian and he is an AWESOME principal!! We love him. I know elementary principal-ing is not for everyone, but maybe??? I really feel like our principal brought his love of books with him and it rubs off on the rest of the school.

Good Luck!!
-Donette

Love books, love libraries.... And librarians rock!

Sorry to hear that librarians are getting such a hard time these days. And to hear of cities and collages closing libraries...? What has the world come too?!

I wrote library software for Dynix for several years (Marquis, and Horizon). As I am sure you know there is much more to cataloging books than one would think. The point is I think libraries are still important even if you no longer check out books. It would still be a gathering place, a place for research, and study. They just need to evolve.

Like you, I can't imagine the absence of libraries and I greatly suspect they will be of far more value as things progress. Kinda our last line of defense in preserving literature that has not been reduced to "byte" sized portions.

I remember as a kid the students who were not readers getting Cliff Notes to read what a book was about. Nowadays those notes would be the novel becasue all one needs to do is go online and get some commentator's opinion of any piece of literature.

I suspect looking about my desk at the array of papers and my handwritten notes everywhere that I am from Dickens times and therefore obsolete in my liking to actually hold and have a book or my notes in my grasp. Like the smell of a book when you first open it. Sad loss of an experience for folks who do not enjoy a book.

I hdon't think your career is one ever that deserves contempt although we all at ne time or another have those moments. Your career is something rather precious at this time in history.

Hey Johnny, I'm not sure which of your two threads I should post this in, so I picked one.

The more I think about your situation, the more I hope it is not a trend of the future. I cannot imagine the University of Toronto without Fort Book (student/popular name for the Robards Library), even tho I've never been a student there.

It's an architectural monstrosity, but the inside more than makes up for the icky building. The information in those books is stunning. You don't have to be a student to use it, you just can't take books out if you aren't. I was researching Yolande of Anjou (Joan of Arc's champion) several years ago for a show and was completely blown away by what I found there. Ancient (OK, it's relative) texts in French that had info not found in any English text I'd found. I was there for HOURS!!! And it was jammed with students. Fort Book always is. I can't imagine what would happen if they ever did to this library what they've done to yours, Johnny. Honestly, I think the students would revolt.

I hope somebody comes to his senses right quick about your library situation. Hmmmm.

HEY STEVE!!! IS BRUNO AVAILABLE???!

Warm hugs,

Kat,

Although I met Johnny in NJ many many years ago now, we couldn't get Bruno out of the casino long enough for those tow meet face to face but Bruno loves books.

Its amazing how convincing Bruno can be using just the English dictionary and Tolstoy's War and Peace.

Neither of those is a small book. Hmmm. Is he reading them or throwing them?

Warm hugs,