Amazing that a college librarian doesn't think she teaches? I worked in a college library for years. A day didn't go by that I wasn't teaching. Sometimes in a formal classroom, more often one on one at the reference desk and by appointment with students and faculty. Often I found myself teaching while at lunch or coffee with a faculty member or grad student. But unfortunately it was my experience that we had little idea of what our colleagues in school and public libraries did. I can't believe how much I learned when I left that job and started working with librarians from all across our profession. Amazing diversity, yet shared goals. We have much to learn from each other. We just don't always know it.

Nice to hear from you, Polly! I was amazed too. Having worked across three divisions I know we don't always "get" each other. I am also shocked at the differences in CULTURE across the divisions. Though we are both devoted to work with young people, YALSA and AASL meetings, for instance, look so very different.

Joyce - I have to tell you that I was taken aback by a university adjunct who told everyone at a library meeting the reason she entered library services is because she wanted to get out of the classroom. I can't imagine what effect that has on her students when she tells that story. It's not just across the ALA divisions that the perception problem exists.

I think that sometimes people do not realize that they are teaching. People who do not spend much time in a classroom concerned with what they want students to learn lose sight of the idea that anyone can teach anywhere, and that just becuase they are not in a classroom does not mean that they are not teaching.