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  bj neary February 25, 2009 at 12:35pm

  I totally agree about the Atype!!!
  My name is bjneary
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  Jennifer February 25, 2009 at 11:55am

  Thanks for the history! Many of the students I go to school with are becoming librarians after a career in something else. One of my closest friends was a lawyer first, and then decided that the field of law she was practicing was a bit too corrupt for her, and she never felt happy at the end of the day. Now she is in her first year as a librarian in a k-5 elementary school, and she is so much more satisfied. The picture you painted of your life as an elementary school librarian sounds similar to hers. She never has a spare moment-- as she, too, is often left with a class because the teacher drops the students off and rushes away. Too bad. I am interested to see what happens when I start my elementary practicum next month.
  As for me, I have my undergrad degree in education and am certified in NY state. I taught for a couple years, but I knew I would ultimately get my Master's in Library Science. I love being in a library, and I love that I have more freedom to create my own programs and use my creativity than I would have as a teacher. Their days have become so scripted by administration and NCLB-- it's quite sad.
  I really hope that their will be plenty of jobs available when I graduate. I worry with the economy the way it is, and the fact that not all schools are required to have a certified library media specialist (so sad), that it may be difficult. Oh well, fingers crossed and I'll hope for the best!
  
  I was thinking about asking you to be friends with my on TLning, so I'm glad you did. I'll search for you now. Thanks!
  
  PS-- I am also type A-- ugh! It can be quite a torturous personality trait sometimes!
  
  Jen
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  bj neary February 25, 2009 at 1:46am

  Don't be nervous, there are sooooo many librarians retiring now and in the future, we are all getting OLD (I am 52), you will have no problem getting a job, but like you said, you may have to move. So here is a little of my history
  I am an A type personality and I wore myself out as an elementary school librarian. As an elem lib you are a prep teacher so you have a full load and I was on so many committees, the garden committee, Reading Olympics, reviewing books and writing a newsletter for the school 4X a year so I ended up every weekend & summers going into school doing my lesson plans...but I loved the children, loved the stories, lessons, loved the teachers, parents!!! By the time I decided to leave it was because if I didn't go soon my lovely personality would suffer!!!
  And I decided to try high school becauseI had raised my teens and realized I liked teens (very important if you are a high school librarian) and I have been doing this for 6 years with another librarian---we have 2500 10th thru 12th graders----and it is exciting, there is never a dull moment! I do lots of booktalks for 3 different reading classes, we have intros to databases, we use whiteboards, have lots of laptop carts with digital movie equipment, cameras, etc for students to film or create projects. But we are not prep teachers, the students come in with their teachers, the teachers stay and if I am needed for 5 minutes or 25 minutes I can just leave when I am no longer needed.
  
  FYI- this is my 2nd career. I had received my MLIS from Drexel in 1980 (and never got certified, even in college- ) and went into Real Estate as a property manager for 15 years (just like a librarian, you wear many hats and make it appear effortless) and then got certified 1995-1997 at Beaver College- now Arcadia.
  
  Why don't we become friends on this network? Have a great day. BJ
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  Randi Wall February 24, 2009 at 3:48pm

  Jennifer, this past January Megan Stasak spent some time with me "observing" for one of her library classes at Syracuse. Just wondering if you know her...
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  Jennifer February 24, 2009 at 2:54pm

  Thank you for reinforcing my decision to become a librarian. I have never heard someone in the field say they regret choosing librarianship-- how refreshing! I am in the 2nd year of my Master's Degree in Library Science, with a School Media specialization, at Syracuse University in New York. It's a fantastic program and I am loving it. I graduate in December, which makes me a bit nervous because there are not as many openings in schools at that time of year. I hope I will find something. As far as where I want to end up, I am wide open. I live in NY now, but I am definitely not planted here, and I would actually love to experience a new environment. The world is almost too wide open to me-- I don't know where to look first! If you have any insights or advice to share, I would be more than happy to hear it.
  You say you have been both an elementary and a high school teacher-librarian. I am curious to know if you prefer one over the other, and if so, why? I am not certain yet, though I think I am leaning toward elementary or middle school. I am in my practicum at a middle school right now, and I enjoy it quite a bit, and I am doing a second practicum in an elementary library starting in late April. I hope to have formed a definitive preference by the end of these two experiences. I hope to hear from you again soon. Take care.
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  Randi Wall February 23, 2009 at 9:36am

  BJ.
  Your conversation with Jennifer was emotional and informative, to say the least. Thank you both for insight into LHA's new book. After reading your commnets, I will probably get a copy for the library, but not recommend it for Reading Olympics next year. Thank you.
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  bj neary February 22, 2009 at 7:45am

  Thanks so much, I feel the same way about you, also love the fact that you are going to be or already are a librarian. It is a wonderfully exciting field with so many different aspects to our jobs. You wear many hats and the feeling you get from handing a student "that right book" to collaborating with teachers and exploring the exploding field of technology and learning is very rewarding. So keep in touch, I was an elementary librarian for 6 years (a school of 450 students) and this is my 6th year in senior high (2,000 10-12th graders) and I LOVE IT!
  Let me know what kind of library you are intested in working in or where you are now in your education.
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  Jennifer February 21, 2009 at 12:28pm

  Oh, I am so sorry to hear about your son's struggle with alcoholism. I hope he is winning his battle every day. It is always so easy to blame parents when a child suffers from a mental illness/addiction, but I hope you realize that it is not your fault. You did not make him turn to alcohol, just as you can't be the one to make him recover. My mom almost let her guilt destroy her before my therapist at the time told her she was not to blame, that she did the best she knew how to do as a parent, and that is what is important. No parent would knowingly do anything to make their child suffer. Most people who end up with these illnesses are predisposed to them through chemistry and temperament. The best you can do is be there for him when he needs you, to listen without judgment. That was what my mom did, and it helped. And if it means anything, I don't blame my parents one bit for my eating disorder.
  As for the student in your school club, she fits the "mold" of a person with anorexia to the tee. Super nice, very smart, going above and beyond to help others (often at their own expense), trying to take on the world. She feels that she is only worth something through the activities she undertakes and the accomplishments she makes. She doesn't understand that it is not what she does that determines her worth, it is who she is inside. It's the "best little girl in the world" syndrome. I understand the gum wad issue too. When I was starving, I craved gum like mad. I don't know what that's about, but it's a typical behavior of a person with anorexia. She is probably hyperactive and doesn't like to sit down much either. Something happens in the body that puts a person in high anxiety mode when they are denying their body food. She probably moves around all the time.
  Good luck with all of this. It is so hard to watch someone go through a disease that you know you can't do anything to fix. It really comes down to the person who has the disorder to find the strength to fight it. The good news is that the earlier an ED is detected and treated, the quicker and more likely the person is to make a full recovery.
  I don't suggest Wintergirls for the parents. I do suggest the website I wrote about in my previous post and two books-- The Secret Language of Eating Disorders and the Anatomy of Anorexia, by Stephen Levenkron. There is also a distributor of books about all types of eating disorders that might be a helpful resource for you It is called Gurze Publishing, and the website is http://www.gurze.com/
  It has been so nice talking with you; I feel like we're old friends! Be well, and feel free to a message along anytime. I'd love to hear from you. Be well.
  
  Jen
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  bj neary February 20, 2009 at 12:49pm

  I am the faculty sponsor of a club and one of the students on the executive board has been to rehab twice, returning to school November. She is an awesome, happy, upbeat person (but I think only knowing her for 2 years, I didn't know her before) and I have told her how important and special she is...but I still worry. The other day we had a pretzel sale and she helped sell (and usually everyone buys and eats a pretzel) but I noticed she had a huge wad of gum in her mouth and was that what she would "eat" instead of a pretzel? I know she is overwhelmed by all the work she is making up, she is also in the school play on stage crew, and is in 2 clubs--is she still doing too much? She is the kind of person who loves to volunteer, take the lead and always active. Would her mother benefit from reading this book, or the ones you suggested? I talk to the guidance counselor and am told her mom is very very supportive. But from reading Anderson's book, parents can be very supportive but the teens in the grip of this ED don't/can't see this...love/caring and make it into an intrusion, anger, or playing to what the parents want to hear. I also know as a parent what it is like to have a child struggle with a disease (my son....alcohol) and I know that I was blamed for things when he was drinking but you accept that as a parent. You know they are not themselves and you love them so much, you hope and pray that they can heal because in the end, they are the ones who reach out and seek the assistance to become well and it is a very difficult journey and one that doesn't really end; each day is a challenge but also one that is life affirming. Jen, it was great talking with you, you really helped me so much with your thoughts and words. I do worry now though----because being in a high school....books get passed from person to person especially if they are good...and you know this book will be off the shelf more than on....
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  Jennifer February 20, 2009 at 9:19am

  Thank you so much for your sensitivity and your willingness to help. When a girl (or boy) is in the midst of-- or shall I say is trapped in-- an eating disorder s/he is very competitive. The problem with this book is that a person reading this book who is trapped in an eating disorder will compete with Lia's agony. S/he will think, "I am not suffering enough, I need to starve/purge/exercise/hurt more than I am. I need to hurt more than Lia". It sounds totally irrational, but this disorder IS irrational. When the brain is starving, which it does with anorexia, the brain has a very difficult time with reason, and therefore the thoughts of competing with a character in a book makes perfect sense. A person with an eating disorder always wants to be the sickest, thinnest, worst off. People with anorexia act like they are in control, but they feel so helpless/powerless that they take their whole world and "dumb it down" to the very narrow focus of controlling/denying a basic need (food).
  There are different levels of sufferers, and as a survivor of one of the worst levels, I will say that nothing short of a treatment facility (Renfrew in Pennsylvania saved my life) will help someone who is in severe denial.. For others, books can help a little, but I find that the best books are the ones that do not delve into the description of any phase of a person or character in the throws of an eating disorder (ED). Books that focus on self-affirmation and reversal of negative thought are best. I like the Don't Diet...Live It workbook. It is full of ways to reverse negative thought and I used it a lot as I went through recovery. I also read The Secret Language of Eating Disorders, which is focused on ED, but I found that it explained a lot of the really weird thoughts and feelings that I was having, and helped me realize I wasn't crazy, that these thoughts/feelings were typical of someone who was prone to ED, and that there are ways to fight and overcome them.
  However, unless you really know a student very well, and know which type of book is best for that individual, I do no encourage you to try to hand a book to someone who is suffering from an eating disorder. If that person wants a book, s/he will find one. The best thing you can do is display a persona that is welcoming and open. If you want to approach someone, don't focus on their appearance (i.e. "you are looking so thin") as this is the highest form of flattery and will only serve to propitiate the person's illness. You can say, I feel that maybe there is something making you sad, but you don't know who to talk to about it...please know that I am here anytime you need me for any reason, I care about you". Usually a those who have an ED feel they do not have a voice/ are not given the opportunity to talk about their feelings, and so they end up starving themselves to show the pain they are in-- though this is a subconscious maneuver, ED sufferers are not able to control it, they cannot just start eating again. Therapy (and lots of it) is really the only method of treatment-- therapy and "refeeding" in a safe, nurturing environment, such as an inpatient or outpatient treatment center. ED is a scary disease that cannot be taken lightly.
  If you would like more info, here is a website that is very useful for those learning about the disease and even for those who are in it and need a helping community. This is the only website I recommend...
  http://www.something-fishy.org/
  Visit the site map if you want a good layout of what the site has to offer.
  Again, thank you for caring. It is a disease that can be overcome, but it is a long and treacherous road. It is a terribly mean illness, and the best thing you can do is A- alert the school counselor (make sure he/she has an excellent working knowledge of ED) and B- be open kind to the sufferer, and try to let her/him know that you are a willing and non-judgmental listener.
  
  Jen