Sunday, March 20, 2011

We're 24/7 cloud teacher librarians now.



The working hours of a public school teacher librarian Greece is 37.5 hrs per week.
For instance, my school library is open from 7:00 - 14:30, Monday to Friday.
Well, this is not the exact picture, though.
In order to manage a modern school library, you have to be alert nearly all the time.
And it's not only thinking about lessons plans,
organizing and better using the collection,
helping young users with their incessant information literacy needs etc.
Just keeping in touch with what's going on, technology-wise,
means one has to spend much longer hours.
Think of "feeding' our greedy social network tools too.
Innumerable, aren't they? Websites, blogs, wikis, e-classes, forums, you name it!
Contacting colleagues, reading the necessary printed and electronic literature too.
Well, it all adds up to us
being 24/7 cloud teacher librarians now.
With a far more interesting life now,
-just think of all these new things cropping up every day, so many challenges-
but with more stress and anxiety too.
Are we really up to standard? Is there something useful we have missed?
But on the other hand, we think of the work in our school libraries
not only as a duty,
but as  "soul salvation" as well!

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