Transition from K-12 to Academic Librarianship
After almost two decades in K-12 libraries, I've landed a job in a local public university library. I'm thrilled; the pay is good, the team seems great, and there's a strong union. My previous role had a lot of mission creep and eventually became really unsustainable (hey, the kids like you and trust you and we don't have enough counselors or a learning center: talk them through their emotional problems, help them scaffold their assignments, sub their classes when their teacher calls in sick but also don't leave your desk for too long because we need someone babysitting them in the library, etc etc etc.) and I'm looking forward to having a more narrowly defined role.
I don't know anyone else who has made this sort of switch from K-12 to academia and I'm wondering if any librarian here has done it and has any advice or guidance on how things are both different and the same. What has surprised you? Did you bring anything with you, skills or materials wise, from K-12 that really helped?