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There are librarians like myself who are in this job, because it is one that suits me. I get intense pleasure in working in a school library, helping young minds to find information for their studies. If you are hacked off because your wages are not to your liking, I suggest you go do something else. For all you chartership candidates out there, I will tell you of my own experience regarding money and there is hope! When my old headteacher appointed me, I was told the chartership was not considered to be of any value to the library or the school and refused to consider giving me a payrise on completion of the process. Therefore, there was no incentive to do the report. They retired at the end of last year. This term, when a job came up in another school, I applied for it after a particularly naff day. They were offering a higher wage, for working less hours (ie: school holidays) - as a mum, with a 5 year old in the education system, you can understand how attractive that looked. I was called for interview and was looking forward to it all. However, my new headteacher took me to one side and told me they considered a chartered librarian to be valuable to the school. I was offered a pay rise on completion of the chartership and my head teacher is still in the process of negotiating more paid annual leave for me, in keeping with new 'family friendly' employment laws. I phoned the other school and withdrew my application (better the devil you know.......). So, there is value in being a chartered librarian. And the new family friendly laws may be worth writing about in your report (am I right CILIP?) They could provide an incentive for more professionals like ourselves to work more flexible hours, to accomodate the school runs at each end of the day. I know they have already had an impact on me, what are other people's experiences or is it too soon to tell?..... Morfydd Selley Putteridge High School LUTON