Actually this was something that I had not expected. Honestly! I only took over the management of the school library on 8 January, 2007. There are library teachers out there who have been holding the post for more than 10 years and I know that many of them are very dedicated and have given a lot to their libraries. Yours sincerely have only been doing it for slightly more than 3 years.
There is actually a story why I put in so much effort on the school library. Let me tell you my story.
When I was first appointed, I had trouble getting the previous management to hand over the keys to the library. Somehow they were rather reluctant to hand over the keys and finally my library assistant Asiah had to get the previous assistant to give them to her.
When we checked, we found that besides the library books there wasn't much else in there. Furthermore, we found that many of the library books were not processed and that was not entered into the stock book. The CDs and DVDs were just kept in boxes. Worse of all, barely 4 days after I took over, there was a visit by the federal school inspectorate and the officer who inspected the library gave me a lot of criticisms. She said that the place was not what a good library was supposed to be and that there were a lot of shortcomings. When I told her that I had only taken over 4 days ago, she told me that she did not want to hear me giving excuses. She said that since I was in charge at that time, I was the one responsible for it and had to accept all the criticisms.
It was there and there that I told her that it was unfair to ask me to take responsibility for the poor state of the library after such a shoooort time. I told her to come again the following year after I have a chance to work on it and then it would be fair for her to comment on my work.
From that time, my assistant and I found even more challenges. We found that the library books were wrongly processed and we had to liquid paper all the previous entry numbers and start to re-do everything. We started from ZERO. Many of the books were torn or the wrappers were damaged. Besides redoing the stock books and processing, we had to do repairs. Also there were debts. Apparently, the previous management overspent the library money for the previous year and the accounts department had to use part of the fund for 2007 to pay for 2006. Two months later, my blood pressure hit a high. I was working until 6.00 in the evening and carried the library books back to process at home. I only managed to sleep two hours a night. I knew my health was at risk when I suddenly started seeing stars while driving home from Ipoh to Sitiawan and I had to take a few days leave on doctor's orders to rest. Even my library assistant fell sick because of all the work and the pressure. She even had to have another pair of reading glasses made because her power had increased. Since the library was short of funds and yet I had to decorate the place to make it more conducive and cheerful, I used my own money or things that could be recycled from the school or my home.
Then slowly but surely things started to pick up. The other teachers in the new library committee seeing that both my assistant and I were giving it our all began to work with us to make things a lot better. Together we carried out many activities and changes to make the place what it is today. Along the way, we were placed second for the state level Green Earth Programme and became the champion for secondary school libraries for the state last year.
Do I deserve the award? Yes, I do. And I think I have to thank the lady who got me all fired up in the first place.
To the lady inspector from the Federal Inspectorate who visited the school library in 2006,
Please come and visit the school library now. I am really responsible for how it is, unlike in January 2006 . Good or bad, this time I really deserve the praise or the criticism.
Yours sincerely,
Miss Cheah
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