Hello everyone, your Fairy God-Librarian here, and I am proud to announce that by May 2027 or possibly earlier, I will be able to call myself a REAL Fairy God-Librarian in credentials instead of name only.
Okay, okay, I know I’m not actually a fairy nor a godmother to all, but I’m referring to the librarian part. See, working at a library does make me a librarian…but without the degree, I am actually more of a circulation assistant or technician and when I was cataloger, I was un-degreed. On one hand, having the bachelor’s degree helps, but I want to earn that grad degree that says “Librarian” on the paper after “Teacher” ended up being the wrong course for me. On the other hand, training-by-fire instead of taking classes and then getting a job afterwards has worked for me. All of this is to say that as of Aug. 21, 2024, I am now taking classes online at the University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Sciences and will hold a MLIS degree before long!
It feels weird, being back at school. At the time of this writing, I am 31 years old, and my nine-year anniversary since graduating undergrad will be this December 15th. Almost a decade since I’ve had to deal with classes, huge bills, applications for scholarships, registering for classes, studying, writing papers, taking tests, research, etc. But you know what? I have missed it.
I love school. I love research and finding books in a library or on the internet, writing, learning, collaborating, growing through education. Maybe this was why I allowed my family to talk me into pursuing a career in teaching despite my misgivings at the time; why I eventually convinced myself so thoroughly into thinking that teaching was my calling when really it was education. I wish I had known at the time that my destiny involved something other than standing up before a classroom full of children, more disciplinarian than teacher, constantly breaking up fights or listening to complaints from parents or writing tests and lesson plans during every waking hour with little pay despite the undergrad requirement. I was shortsighted then but now I do understand this: overall, I value education and the progressive betterment of self and surroundings. This is why I am first a Hufflepuff and second a Ravenclaw.
This time, I’m doing it online. At first, I kept putting off applying for grad school because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to move to Tuscaloosa; that would involve leaving my then job to find another library job (because I’m not going back to working in anything outside of the GLAM field) near campus and finding another apartment all for the sake of getting a degree that I could easily get online. No needing to change where I live (unless I had to-and I did, for different reasons), nor changing jobs (unless I had to-again, I did, and again, for different reasons). No worrying about what to do with my dog, I’ll just continue doing what I’m already doing, nor cooking schedules…just keep living my life and sometimes log onto my class from the laptop while occasionally doing more writing projects. And this time someone will actually read what I write.
My boyfriend has been a great help. When I have less than 30 minutes to get home before class starts, it helps that someone will take care of walking my dog and cooking dinner. I can feed the pets and pack tomorrow’s lunch after class because those aren’t immediate needs as soon as I get home. Homework can be done on the weekends. No need to juggle twelve things at one time, just juggle the three, let boyfriend take some, and finish juggling the rest when you can. It helps, it really does. He’s very much appreciated.
The classes this semester are every Tuesday and the other every Wednesday. I got one of my books through interlibrary loan (because I’m not paying for that s***) and the other requires none. I’ve also got a head start on next semester’s books; the privilege of already working in your chosen field is that your coworkers will give you their castoffs if they’ve already finished the required schooling.
And surprisingly enough, there is an undertone of different themes within my classes I was really worried would not be the case: social justice and advocacy. Librarians have partaken in social justice in the past: the integration of public governmental institutions, the acceptance of all patrons regardless of class, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and so on but overall, librarians have been at the forefront of advocacy for other grounds of people. Now, the fight for advocacy is for ourselves. We are fighting fascists groups like Moms for Liberty, the Heritage Foundation, Republican politicians, and local groups like “Clean Up” [insert name of city or state here] who are trying and succeeding to pass anti-library agendas in our schools and public libraries. My professors, thankfully, are aware of this. Don’t get me wrong, they still teach their subjects, but in our readings and some discussions, we digest this. That’s the very least the school can do, especially since said Republican politicians have forced all universities in the state to disband their DEI programs, including UA, and the Alabama Public Library Service was forced last year to pull its membership from the American Library Association (so effing asinine). And countless bills are being passed or discussed that will strip away the rights and freedoms of our libraries, librarians, and patrons.
When we talk about this in class, always student-led…well, it’s the principle that counts, I guess.
All of this is to say that I’m excited to be back in school. Sure, I’ll be 34 when I graduate, not a fun idea, and sure, I wish I had realized all of this when I was 18 instead of 30, but I’m proud of myself. I’m going back to school to invest in myself. I’m putting value back on education. And through doing so, I’ve encouraged 3 other friends to apply to the exact same program I’m studying. Where’s my commission paycheck, University of Alabama?
Thanks for reading.
Love,
Lacie 🙂