Tuesday, November 29, 2011

I'm happy...is that so difficult to accept?

I started a new job just before Thanksgiving. It is a completely different schedule from the office job, I'm on my feet all day, it's part time and a split shift. I love it.
For the first time in a year, I can tell people that I have a masters. I hated hiding that fact, and it feels so freeing to be able to say it out loud.

The only problem with my new position? It's not in a library. It is, however, working with kids. More specifically, it's a before and after school "school-aged" (meaning, K-5th) child care program. I love it. For the first time in a year I can actually say that I love my job.

So why do people ask me how long I'm going to work there? Why do they keep offering suggestions as to how I can get a library position? Why do they assume I'll leave as soon as the library job pool unfreezes?
Why is it so difficult for someone to understand that just because I'm not in a library, I can still love my job?

My focus when I was in school was on children's and young adult librarianship. I'd love to work with teens, but I would also love to work with kids. I have always enjoyed working with kids. If my options are working in a library or working with kids, then I want to work with kids. If I can't have both, I'd rather have the kids.

The age group I'm working with is kindergarten and first grade. Oh how I love this age! They are wild and rowdy, and just downright adorable! They are always learning, and it's so fun to see their minds at work as we do crafts, or even just play. The other day I read one of my favorite books, Make Way for Ducklings to them.

Do I need a Masters in Library and Information Science to work there? No...but it helped me get the job. The truth is, I love my job, and I'm tired of everyone trying to give me options to get into a library. I'd take my part-time, downright exhausting, wonderful job over any other job that isn't working with kids, but is in a library. I'm not a medical librarian. I'm not a technical librarian, or a law librarian, or a college librarian. I'm a children's librarian who wants nothing more than to work with kids, and who has finally found that job. After 2 years of waiting, I'm finally working with the population I love.

Why can't people just accept that?


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