Ideas for Developing a Future Ready Library in Pictures and Graphs

teacherswhoknowme

I was born in America in 1974 and my brother was born in 1975. My parents divorced and I grew up playing in the local library while my newly single mum shelved books. The first time I walked into the school library in kindergarten, I was determined to become a librarian - to work in such a tidy place with so many stories ready to experience, to me seemed like heaven on earth! Things got strained at my mother's home and I lived with my father for a while during my teen years, until my step mother decided she no longer wanted me in her home. I went to live with my maternal grandparents and worked in bookstores and University libraries while putting myself through higher education. I met an Australian man and immigrated to be with him. As an immigrant, I got work through a temp agency as a call centre operator. My grandmother died following a heart surgery and the twin towers fell shortly thereafter. We used my inheritance money to buy our first home prior to the real estate price boom. I got promoted to the eBusiness team and from there joined the marketing team as a junior. When the team of 7 dissolved, I worked with the graphic designer directly, managing marketing for the company for two years before I was retrenched. Luckily, the month prior to my retrenchment, I decided to return to school to become a primary school teacher. I started at the NSW Department of Education in 2007. I had my first child in 2008, followed by my second in 2011. My children were both unplanned so early in my teaching career, and early, due to my uterine fibroids. (My first was very premature at 9 weeks early). I chose to work part time temp/casual as a teacher to help care for my children. My husband, also a teacher, wanted to move to the outback. We lived in Broken Hill for 6 years. This helped his career progress but did little for mine. My brother died from an accidental overdose of opiods. I worked at some lovely outback schools until a new principal decided not to renew my yearly contract - stating because my application was weak but really it was because my husband was the acting principal prior and she was best mates with someone at the school who hated me. I went to a different school where the principal repeated this scenario, stating my lack of team cohesion as the cause - but really he just didn't know me at all and needed someone to leave so that he could employ a friend. This chain of events caused me much distress, however, it was also the impetus for me to return to school to become a teacher librarian. We decided to return to be close to the sea and bought a home on the NSW far south coast. COVID hit the world. I worked as a temp / casual until I became known in the area and so that I could work part time while completing my Masters of Education in Teacher Librarianship. I completed that degree in 2021 and worked in a local school on their one of their support unit classes. A temporary position became available in 2022 as a teacher librarian at a different school and the principal put in a good word for me. I worked at that school for 3 years, during which time the longstanding principal retired and the entire school culture changed. The new (acting) principal and her 'team' decided not to renew my contract for 2025. Luckily, I had applied for a permanent position at a different school for one day a week and my application was successful (and I am still available for employment for the other 4 days of the week). 2025 - let's see what happens eh? View all posts by teacherswhoknowme