Lack of help

[Lil Mazur]

I need fresh ideas. I have just lost my clerk (illness) and I will be out on medical leave due to surgery. I am also losing my teaching assistant (pregnant) and I will be down to 1 teaching assistant in our high school library which services 2400 students. My administration is trying to find "subs", but they are really no help. We cut back on services and hours but of course parents, students and staff members complain. Our media center is a busy place and I see it slowly losing steam and use because of this problem.

Yes, teachers say they will come and help out but we all know how that goes. Also. I don't want my one teaching assistant to quit!

[LegacyKim]

Wow, it sounds like you're right to be concerned about the situation. When my partner-librarian left school mid-year, I was able to get a retired school librarian to sub for her so I had a regular partner to finish out the year. She had worked in elementaries, but knew the systems so jumped in & was a huge help to me at my high school. Maybe you can get replacements who will be permanent until the end of the year or until the other person returns.
I'm glad to hear your students & staff are complaining that they're not getting what they expect - that may encourage your administrator to help you figure out a solution that keeps your teaching assistant and you from getting too stressed out! Remember, you're only one person & you can't do it all.

[Floyd Pentlin]

Well, I agree that subs can be worse than having no one. The last time I got a sub, he put his feet on my desk and waited for the end of the day. Of course, my secretary didn't feel comfortable in getting him to be a help, so it was doubly frustrating. I like the idea of getting a retired school librarian. My suggestion is that if you don't have one in your district who would step in to contact other LMSs in your area to see if they know any retired LMSs who might be interested. I was pretty active in our area and had a number of contacts I could draw on.

To parody the old song, "no one knows the trouble I've seen" unless it is another librarian.