Public Children's Librarian or School Librarian: Career Options

You've always wanted to become a children's librarian. You love children's books, you love to conduct research on interesting topics, and you're crazy about the Dewey Decimal System. That's great! But you need to decide whether to work at a public library or a school. How can you decide? Both types of library jobs have their own rewards and headaches. At any rate, before you go back to school to get that master's degree, consider the pros and cons of each type of library.

If you work in the Children's Department of a public library, you might as well get used to the fact that you'll have to work evenings and weekends. If you like traditional business hours and you've never been too thrilled about working late nights and Saturdays, you might want to reconsider working for the City Library. You also need to be prepared to assist adult patrons as well as children. In small branch libraries, children's librarians are usually expected to pitch in whenever extra help is needed. That means answering adult reference questions and managing the library when the branch manager is away. On the other hand, working in a public library can be an enormous amount of fun. A children's librarian is responsible for devising innovative, creative programs that bring children and their parents into the door. You'll spend much of your time presenting story times and special programs, booking performers, and carrying out other basic tasks. A savvy children's librarian will be adept at actively promoting library programs so that members of the community will be aware of what your particular library offers. Of course, you will also have to plan and run a summer reading program, an annual event based on rewarding kids for reading books during the long, hot days of summer. Summer reading programs are highly stressful but exciting times involving a lot of hard work and early planning. Most librarians begin planning the program in January. It involves creating a summer reading theme, devising arts and crafts, presenting story times, booking performers, and choosing prizes to award children as they meet their summer reading goals. It's also important to contact corporate sponsors, offering local businesses the opportunity to support the program through prize and monetary donations.

If you decide to work for a school, you will usually have to hold a state certification as a school librarian. School librarians usually don't work weekends, but they might work a couple of nights a year if they host a Family Reading Night for students and their parents. School librarians are a fearless group of educational professionals who tackle most of the daunting work in the library if they do not have a library clerk to work with them. Therefore, you may find yourself checking books out to students in addition to teaching library skills, presenting story times, shelving books, ordering books, helping staff with equipment needs, and so on. That's a huge amount of work for one person to accomplish. Sadly, many schools view the library as a dumping ground for kids so that teachers can get some planning done back in the classroom. This means the long-suffering librarian also serves as disciplinarian. Imagine performing all of the clerical and librarian tasks as well as making sure the little kiddies behave themselves! Not for the feint of heart! Some schools have realized the importance of flexible scheduling within the library (teachers sign up to take their kids to the library and remain with them for the entire class) so that the librarian is able to focus on collaboration with the teacher instead of acting as babysitter. In this way, librarians can teach library skills that go hand in hand with what the teacher is instructing her students in the classrooms. That's because the teacher accompanies the students to the library, thereby developing a partnership with the school librarian. Students benefit by learning library skills in conjunction with particular assignments given by their teachers. The lessons learned in the library become more meaningful. However, flexible scheduling is not the norm in the typical school library. Most libraries have fixed schedules, and the teacher deposits her kids in the library and runs for the hills. As you can see, working as a school librarian can place limits on your creativity. It is more difficult to plan engaging story times, lessons, and programs if you wear multiple hats within the library.

No matter which type of children's librarian you decide to become, you will need to be knowledgeable of children's literature, familiar with research using the Internet and databases, and feel comfortable with using various forms of technology. Above all, you must truly care about children and possess the desire to encourage a lifelong love of reading in each child that enters your library. Carefully consider the pros and cons of each type of library to decide the best environment for your personality. No matter which path you follow, you can be confident in knowing that the work of a children's librarian is one of the most exciting, worthwhile career paths you can choose!