Assuming that the Board appointed my replacement last night, I’m even more officially a lame duck librarian this morning.
Meanwhile, until my work account ends on August 31st, I continue receiving email notifications concerning boxes upon boxes of new books that are shipping to my attention.
Boxes that my replacement will have the joy, work, (and surprise!) of opening.
New books I chose most intentionally—specifically, each one!–after spending hours upon hours, over many weeks (months), outside the school day, weighing–yes! even soul-searching–how to best spend the limited budget entrusted to me, taking into consideration among all the published possibilities—thousands and thousands of them–vis a vis current and anticipated student and teacher needs/wants.
I hope the new librarian will be happy with my selections; I hope she will be happy to add what I selected into the collection.
I say “hope” and “happy” because every librarian develops collections differently, even with respect to the same student and teacher needs/wants, interpreting how best to meet those needs/wants through his/her personal lens of expertise and interest–vision.
Yes! I hope the new librarian will be happy to include into the collection the books I chose; books she will now be responsible to process.
Next year, she will have the joy and responsibility of choosing books, with choices based on her judgment, tempered by her expertise and interests–her vision.
As much as the annual process of selecting books was mentally (and physically!) exhausting (I definitely took my responsibility of maximizing every cent of the budget I was given (others’/taxpayers’ money) more seriously than I take spending every cent of my own money/paycheck.), I will definitely miss the joy—as well as the challenge—of selecting the best possible books for students and teachers.
As a child, I dreamed of living in a house that had one room designated as a library. As a Library Media Specialist, that dream came true—at least during the work hours.
Now, in retirement, while practically we need to downsize to a smaller house, my dream still lives to have a house with an entire room that is a library!
A girl can dream, can’t she?..And having one’s own library isn’t too lame a dream, is it?
What childhood dream do you still harbor?
Retiremint 