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School Library System - Becoming a School Librarian (DCMO BOCES): Testimony

Being a school librarian is one of the best jobs in the world! Use this guide to learn what school librarians do and what the education and certification requirements are.

SCHOOL LIBRARIAN, AILEEN BEHRINGER

INTERVIEW

Spring 2019

Aileen Behringer is the High School Librarian at Goshen High School in Goshen, NY

1. What made you decide to pursue your MLS?

I started my career in education as a special education teacher. I’d always loved reading, but in my course of teaching, I also discovered that I loved finding the answers to my students’ sometimes countless and often obscure questions. As an inclusion teacher at the time, I found that I really enjoyed English class, especially when we worked with book groups and helping students select free choice novels. I loved getting to talk with students about what they were reading, and often found myself picking up copies of their books so that I was better able to discuss their reading with them. In classes like science and social studies, I found that students were often coming to me and asking the “but why” questions that weren’t always able to be answered during class time and I was happily researching to find answers for them, and myself. So, when a colleague began taking classes to get her MLS I became intrigued and by the following year I was researching schools to get my MLS degree as well.

 

2. What do you like about being a school librarian?

There are so many things I have enjoyed in my first year as a school librarian:

  • Collaborating in new and different ways with my colleagues.
  • Reaching a larger population of students than I was ever able to as a classroom teacher.
  • Immersing myself in technology to better support my students.
  • Reading countless new release YA novels
  • The variety that each new day brings


3. Is there anything you think classroom teachers should know that would encourage them to take the route you did?

I think classroom teachers should know that, although it is not always easy, the end result is totally worth it. Your knowledge of classroom management is a huge asset you already possess, as is your knowledge of pedagogy. The ability to interact with, and impact the learning of students without the confines of a set curriculum, with a state test attached, is limitless. Being able to genuinely connect with students over a shared interest that you can both pursue, whether it’s a certain genre you both enjoy, or your love of all things “techy”, is an immeasurable benefit of being a librarian that I never truly felt as a classroom teacher due to all of the other constraints in place.


 

This project is administered by the South Central Regional Library Council.