BFTP: Reading on the job

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post November 10, 2007. This post went on to become a column, available here.

I am doing a "family camping event" with my grandsons in the Kansas City area this weekend. I will have other things to do than sit at a computer. Sorry....

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

Librarians reading on the job was a hot topic for discussion this week on LM_Net. Tere started it with a posting that included these comments made by other staff as she was reading a children's book during the school day:

Well you would have thought, I was lying down taking a nap. Everybody that walked by my door (my desk is right by the door ) made a comment. "I'm going to give you a job." "If you've got time to read, I've got something for you to do." Etc. Next time, I'm going to go hide behind the stacks to read!

A few responses were similar to Allan's:

I don't give a hoot what people think of me or what I am doing. When I have received a remark about "wouldn't it be nice if....[one could read books all day]?" I have responded. "Yes it is very nice." If I am feeling a little nasty or don't like the tone of the remark, I have responded "I would be more than happy to get you some information about a library school if you are interested."

While many of us have probably wished we could say these sorts of things, we don't. For some good reasons including job security and our concern over how our profession is viewed by others.

My personal rules about on the job reading have always been to:

1. Read at my desk (no slouching in the bean bag chairs)
2. Read with a pen in my hand
3. Read materials related to my job
4. Read when I could be a role model, such as during Sustained Silent Reading time
5. Never, never, never be seen leaving my building without a bag o' work (just like the other teachers)
6. Work with the understanding that perceptions are as important as reality

Librarians have one of the few positions in schools with discretionary resources - time, budgets, and tasks - so therefore need to be transparent about how they "spend" all those resources, especially their time.

Mark wrote:

I made it a point to always be busy, to be seen to be doing something.  (It was NEVER of case of having to find something to do, it was a case of which job was most pressing.)  I did this because its the kind of person I am, but also because of the extremely negative comments I heard about a predecessor of mine who was often seen reading the newspaper, or a book, "on the job".  Sadly, the general public or faculty will never understand that keeping up withcurrent events, what's new and valuable in literature, non-fiction, professional journals, etc. is part of the job... their view will always be 'I never have time to take a breath.. how come he can sit and read all day?' or 'We didn't get a raise this year, and were short a math teacher... and we pay him to sit and read?'  Now, imagine those thoughts in an administrator's head.

It's a sad world where reading = slacking, but given the lack of respect schools and society show for professional growth and development of educators, I suppose it isn't surprising.

Sigh... 

How did we manage to look busy before there were computers?

Comments

[Martha House]

In school climates where teachers are experiencing stress, they tend to eat each other. People who react to stress by attacking others do not just pick on librarians. I have heard teachers snipe at their colleagues, administrators, people inside their own departments, the person next door, people outside their departments, parents, teachers at the feeder schools, teachers at the universities, and on and on. While sometimes they have a leg to stand on, they are usually wasting valuable time they could be chipping away at their own work load by criticizing other people, and they often have no idea of how difficult the lives of the people they are criticizing are.

Having said all that, I cannot imagine reading on the job because there is never enough time without interruption to concentrate on anything. I am there to work with students and teachers and, yes, to put out fires. I do read, but it is always on my own time. There are still plenty of people who have no idea what I'm doing all day long and assume it's not much. That's fine, but I make it a policy never to criticize the people I work with and to defend them whenever possible. Fact is, I can't control what other people think. I can control what I do. There is no point getting upset in what you can't control, though sometimes I still do.

[Bob Follmuth]

"Real" teachers in the building always wonder what I do all day (in my role as teacher librarian or whatever I'm called). Recently, I emailed out my 2nd monthly report of library activity to the faculty and administration which included number of classes I've taught and collaborated with, checkouts, computer lab classes, etc. and etc. Best comment I've had all year:

"Holy crap! I had no idea the library was such a busy place!"

Thank you and yes it is.

I feel very little guilt when I'm "caught" reading on the job. Trouble is, I'm never caught working an hour before anyone else comes to school or after school, evenings, and on weekends. We deserve that discretionary time.

[Kevin Tucker]

I think that it is sad that others would judge a Library teacher for reading on the job. Would one judge a math teacher for reading a new textbook or an ELA teacher for checking gout a new novel. I am close friends with the librarian at my school and often times I will see her reading. She wants to know what the students are reading. Obviously she doesn't' have time to read every book in our library but she needs to stay current on trends as well as up and coming authors. Reading the books she is placing on the shelves for the students IS part of her job.

I teach Technology Education and I am constantly reading technology related websites looking for new and exciting information that I can teach my students. I don't see how this is any different than a librarian reading a book. Because I am looking a computer screen does that make me more "busy" or "productive?" Would people judge the librarian less if she was reading on a tablet or ereader?

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Martha,

Thanks for the important perspective. I agree that librarians are not the only educators who feel under the gun in the current situation.

One thing you post made me think about is how we may be reluctant to read print on the job, but not text from the computer screen. No one ever seems to doubt that one is "working" when staring at a monitor!

Doug

Hi Bob,

Well you just beat one of my favorite drums - regular reports to our stakeholders.

From 1992

http://dougjohnson.squarespace.com/dougwri/using-planning-and-reporting-to-build-program-support.html

So I've been on this for only 20 years!

Doug

Hi Kevin,

Great points. Thanks for the comments. As I reflected earlier, it seems educators get a pass when reading a computer screen but criticized when reading a book....

Doug

[Bob]

I read an article relating to the business world which gave tips like this. If you doze (and always rest on your chin) at your desk and someone wakes you, simply say, "No, I just can't figure it out where I read that." If you makes 20 copies, do them one at a time so people see you walking back and forth. And also have a Fed Ex envelope and clipboard under your arm.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Bob,

Just imagine if we worked as hard at our actual job as we do at working hard at looking busy how much we'd accomplish.

I've alway thought there are a lot of kids who spend more time getting out of school work than they would just doing the work. Maybe it's a carry-over.

Doug

[Kenn Gorman]

I might post this list of personal rules for STUDENTS!

[Jude]

I never read on the job as a librarian. For one thing, I can concentrate on reading better outside of my work environment. I just said never, but there was the time that a student needed one of those inane AR tests on a book in order to bring her grade up from an "F"" to a "D", so I sped-read her book during lunch, wrote her a test, and it worked. Usually, I made them give me one or two days notice before I'd read a book to write a test, but in that case, her brother & dad died within six months of each other, and she was a wreck, so I was happy to spoil her. And actually, I never had time to read on the job--I was too busy working.

[Doug Johnson]

Thanks, Jude, for the comment. I find too many interruptions at work to read more than short magazine articles. Like you, I find reading at home easier to do. Although, I also tend to doze off more easily in the recliner, with a glass of wine, and a professional journal...

Doug