Our Member of the Month for June is John Triplett. John works at Manhattan Catholic Schools in Manhattan. He has been a school librarian for a year.
We asked Tammy some questions about her experience as a school librarian and we would like to share them with you.
What's your favorite thing about your job as a school librarian?
I am a retired high school English, speech, and debate teacher. Working with young children has been a wonderful eye-opening experience. I always believd the best teaching was done at the elementary level, and working with my wonderful colleagues in grades K-8 have strengthened that belief.
Name one children's book that you couldn't live without in your library.
Jan Brett's THE MITTEN
Tell us why you decided to join the Elementary Librarian Community. What's your favorite thing about it?
I received my MLS in 1991 and did not work in libraries full-time until now. Although Emporia State University, gave me an excellent philosophical grounding, I needed very practical ideas to help my classes that I meet 1-3 times per week.
What's the biggest challenge you're currently facing when it comes to your school library?
Weeding. When I did a collection analysis, the average age of the collection was 1995.
If you could give one piece of advice to a brand new school librarian (or someone considering becoming a school librarian), what would it be?
Remember "People First--things second."