Taking a stand

I love job #2. This is where I held my first full-time library job after getting my degree. It is close to home, in a community that I love, has a great staff... I have never really left. I have been oart-time ever since I quit working here full-time.

And now, in just under 20 minutes, I will be gone, leaving my letter of resignation on my supervisor's desk, dropping a Cc: of that letter in the mail for the Board president.

I am leaving because, when our previous Director took ill and retired, the Board made the decsion to hire a non-professional for the job, despite the fact that they had a number of very qualified candidates from which to choose. It has bothered me every day since then. It bothers me that she calls herself a Librarian when she is not. It bothers me that she is now letting Circ staff work Reference. She may be a very nice woman, but...

As a librarian, I am forever dealing with crap pay, with little respect, with patrons who believe that anyone could walk in off the street and do my job. We try to convince them that isn't so; we have been trained. We got degrees. Then, when the Board puts in someone with no degree and no experience as the Director...

I am a good librarian. I worked hard (and spent a lot of money) to get my Masters' degree because I wanted to do this full-time. If I walked into the neighborhood school tomorrow and told them I would be a great teacher, they would tell me, "That's nice for you. Come see us when you have the right piece of paper." My MLS would mean naught without the teaching certification.

I want standards in our profession, too. So, now...

It will be nice to have only one job, even for a short while. I am confident that when I am ready, I can find a job #2 pretty quick. (In fact, I already have a few leads.)

This sucks. I really do love it here...

Still... It is the right thing to do.

Sigh.

Damn.