Congratulations!  You will be starting your new career as a school librarian for the 2009-10 school year!  Chances are, you are excited but nervous and unsure at the same time.  I've been there and I feel your pain!  One of my biggest problems when I started was lack of any kind of curriculum.  Nobody told me what needed to be covered at the various grade levels nor what students had already learned.  There was a lot of trial and error so I hope this will help you avoid some of that confusion at the beginning of the year.

First, and I feel most importantly, get to know the teachers in your building.  Eat lunch with them and, when the opportunity arises, find out what they are teaching in their classrooms.  Make yourself available as a resource for them and tie in your lessons to their curriculum whenever possible.  Offer to collaborate whenever possible as well.  Usually younger/newer teachers are more open to collaborating and working with you.  Find a couple of teachers who are open and willing to work with you and start there.  Word will eventually get out and others will start asking to work with you too.

Second, find out what was taught previously.  You might find this out by asking a library assistant (if you are lucky enough to have one), the classroom teachers, fellow librarians in your district, your predecessor, or the students.  That will give you a starting point.  That
will also help you know what to teach to other grades.  For example, if the 3rd graders tell you that they learned about the Caldecott Award in 2nd grade, you know what is typically covered in 2nd grade in that school.

Next, if possible, get long-term plans from teachers.  Find out general information that they will be covering throughout the year.  It will help you in your planning.  Try to incorporate research projects around these topics.

Finally, join a school librarians' listserv.  LM_NET is a great one but there are probably other options out there as well.  We are usually the only librarian in our school and it tends to lead to isolation.  Subscribing to a listserv helps keep you in touch with others in the trenches, even if they are on the other side of the country/world!

Throughout the year, you will also want to keep your principal informed on what is going on in the library.  Share circulation statistics as well as how many students and teachers are using the library each day.  Keep track of what you do each day as administrators often have no idea what we do.  Many principals, teachers, and parents honestly think we sit around and read books all day long!  Wouldn't that be heaven, if it were true?!  Document your daily activities and share with your principal in writing or, preferably, in a conference from time to time.  It will help justify why the school needs you.  In this day of cutting school librarians, administrators (and school boards) need to know how much we really help the students.

Good luck!