From Public to School Librarianship

In “Trading Places,” Jennifer Bromann talks about her motivation for switching from a public librarian job to a school librarian position.  Initially motivated for higher salary and extra vacation time, she explains the main differences between public librarianship and school librarianship in a number of different categories.  A few examples of the categories she outlines:

Roles and Responsibilities: As a school librarian, she often assists with research assistance and functions as a teacher, visiting classrooms to teach information literacy skills.  As a public librarian, she feels the focus is more on locating information rather than teaching information skills.  Also, there is more of an emphasis on programming.

Education: It seems like the requirements for a school library media specialist vary widely depending on the state.  Many states require a teaching certificate and teaching experience, although some states do not require this, and often private schools do not require certification.  Public librarianship most often requires a master’s degree, although in some cases a bachelor’s degree is sufficient.

Collection Development: She talks about how in a school library setting, the collection is tied to the school’s curriculum, thus it is can be more limiting.  In a public library setting, there is more room in the budget for fiction and a wider range of materials.

There seems to be some overlap between this article and one of the articles we read for our technology week, “Next Year’s Model,” where Sarah Ludwig left her public librarianship position to work in a school capacity.  Although Ludwig works as an academic technology coordinator in a private school and Bromann is a school library media specialist in a public school, they both talk about developing a closer bond/having easy access to the same group of students rather than new faces every day.  They both also discuss the heavy reliance that colleagues and students put on them – they are expected to be experts and know everything.  Additionally, both talk about the emphasis on technology and the importance of teaching research skills in both of their positions.