Last year, in the middle of the pandemic, I wrote a blog post that celebrated all the work that school librarians were doing to support not only their school communities, but dealing with family stress, too. Now, more than a year later, school librarians are still struggling – some of the same elements remain but there is a whole new level of struggle. This post goes out to all school librarians everywhere, who may be dealing with one or more of these things. I see you, your struggle is valid, and I want to affirm you and where you are right now. Here’s to librarians.

• Here’s to the brand new librarians this year.
• Here’s to the librarians whose positions were reduced or eliminated this year.
• Here’s to the librarians who are recovering from COVID.
• Here’s to the librarians who currently have COVID or are anxiously awaiting a test result.
• Here’s to the librarians who are terrified to get COVID because they have an at-risk family member.
• Here’s to the librarians who are at higher risk for getting COVID.
• Here’s to the librarians who can’t take leave because there are no subs.
• Here’s to the librarians who have to close the library or cancel lessons to become a classroom sub.
• Here’s to the librarians who are up to their eyeballs in shelving and other tasks because they don’t have an assistant to help.
• Here’s to the librarians who are managing more than one library this year.
• Here’s to the librarians staying until 6 or 7pm every night because it has to all get done.
• Here’s to the librarians who can’t stay until 6 or 7pm so it doesn’t all get done.
• Here’s to the librarians who are burned out and don’t feel like themselves this year.
• Here’s to the librarians who feel lonely or isolated from their librarian colleagues.
• Here’s to the librarians whose highlight of their day is interacting with students.
• Here’s to the librarians whose highlight of the day is going home.
• Here’s to the librarians who received no budget this year for materials.
• Here’s to the librarians who have a budget but can’t find the time to order because of everything else.
• Here’s to the librarians who are balancing family stress on top of school stress.
• Here’s to the librarians who can’t practice self-care this year.
• Here’s to the librarians who have libraries full of kids and it’s anxiety-producing.
• Here’s to the librarians who create a safe place for students who need a break from their classmates.
• Here’s to the librarians who can’t catch up.
• Here’s to the librarians who are dealing with book challenges.
• Here’s to the librarians who are getting harassed by their community members about what’s on their shelves.
• Here’s to the librarians who are scared to order books they know their students need.
• Here’s to the librarians actively ordering diverse books to add to their collection.
• Here’s to the librarians who are running after-school clubs this year.
• Here’s to the librarians who decided not to offer their after-school clubs this year.
• Here’s to the librarians who are also tech specialists at their school and have to juggle computer checkout/repair/inventory.
• Here’s to the librarians who have to argue their worth to their admin and school divisions.
• Here’s to the librarians who were replaced by non-certified staff.
• Here’s to the librarians who needed to resign or retire early.
• Here’s to the librarians who are in their last year before retirement.
• Here’s to the librarians who are too busy to eat lunch everyday.
• Here’s to the librarians who have lunch duty and “other duties as assigned.”
• Here’s to the librarians who have empty libraries because teachers can’t collaborate right now.
• Here’s to the librarians who are overbooked with teacher lessons right now.
• Here’s to the librarians who need to quarantine due to COVID exposure.
• Here’s to the librarians who have to constantly remind students to fix their masks all day long.
• Here’s to the librarians who are in districts where masks aren’t required.
• Here’s to the librarians writing articles, blog posts, and giving presentations to support professional development.
• Here’s to the librarians who don’t have time for professional development this year.
• Here’s to the librarians who are making it work.
• Here’s to the librarians who aren’t sure how much longer they can make it work.
• Here’s to the librarians who are considering whether to change jobs.
• Here’s to the librarians who are making it work.
• Here’s to the librarians who aren’t sure how much longer they can make it work.

Finally, here’s to the school librarians we have lost due to COVID.