The media center is currently housed in a temporary location, as the entire high school is going through renovations. We are located in the former "consumer science" rooms (or Home Economics to you old schoolers like me) and thus cramped for space. Most of our non-fiction is in storage, waiting for the "real" library to open up again. The renovated library, meanwhile, was set to open this spring but will now probably open in September. After school starts. Oy.
The job is pretty tame compared to what I did as a children's assistant and a technical assistant. A lot of my time is spent keeping an eye on the students, making sure the books are nice and neat (it takes about 30 minutes to shelf read the entire library-no joke), and doing various little errands my supervisor gives me, such as putting magazines in the teacher mailboxes or copy cataloging new books. There is a lot of free time and I'm not used to that. I always had ways of keeping busy at the public libraries. Here...not so much.
The library has laptops and Kindles, but it's not as sophisticated as I thought it might be. Again, the permanent library will be different when it finally opens, but my supervisor already told me he doesn't believe in "maker-spaces" or putting a lot of technology in the library. He's a bit traditional, and used to be a teacher for years-he's only been the media specialist for the past five years or so. We tend to butt heads over certain library trends. But in a good way. I like hearing his thoughts and opinions. I just feel sometimes he doesn't have a lot vested in the library. He'd rather be out teaching classes (which he still does frequently) than running the library. One of these days I'll have to ask him why he made the jump from teacher to media specialist.
The biggest challenge I have in working in the high school is the attitude of my fellow employees. There are quite a few teachers who won't even say hello to me. They'll walk in the library and ignore me, even if I say hello. The same happens with certain teachers in the hallway. I always make sure to wear my badge, so people know I'm not a student (I do look young) but I still get ignored. One time a repeat offender came into the library with someone who was student teaching. She introduced the student teacher to another teacher in the library-and ignored me completely. The student teacher actually walked over to me and say, "Hi, and you are?" It made this long-time teacher look like a jackass. And I wasn't sorry about it at all. I don't even eat lunch in the staff lounge anymore because I can be ignored in the library and not have to listen to the gossip about students.
There are a few teachers who I've become friendly with, and they are warm and welcoming. I was discussing how hard it was to adjust with one and she agreed (she's a part-timer and said it's hard for her too), saying there was a stigma against paraprofessionals (my official title) because they weren't "teachers" and some people wrongly think they aren't educated. There is a lack of respect. I joked, "Maybe I should wear a big sign that says I have a masters degree so they know!" That kind of thinking is hurtful, though. I love and admire teachers, and their job isn't easy. However, it would be nice if they could reciprocate the feeling. Everyone works hard in the high school, and just because someone is "certified" does not mean they are better than anyone else.
After working here I've decided that being a media specialist isn't for me. Too many restrictions, to much red tape. I don't like not being able to put certain books on the shelves because one parent might object and ruin it for everyone. And please, I'm not anti-teacher. I have no idea if this goes on everywhere or nowhere else. This is my personal experience. If you're in a similar situation let me know!
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