The author's first school librarian position was in her hometown elementary school where she had been a library aide in the fifth grade. The principal spelled out the problems with the situation she would be entering--the school library was the least favorite of the resources, many policies and procedures were antiquated, and the collection needed updating. As a condition of employment, she was also required to become lead technology teacher, instructing some grade levels in technology curriculum as well as fielding help desk requests. With open circulations in the mornings and afternoons, and back-to-back classes all day, she could still concentrate on instruction, thanks to the presence of a full-time library secretary. Then the recession hit and she lost her secretary. The author thus learned a harsh lesson: she had never advocated for her school library program, and had missed opportunities to prove its value to the principal and others in the central office, thereby depriving them of the ammunition they needed in order to defend the library in a time of reductions in budget and personnel.