Brand New School, Brand New Books!

What can a new librarian ask for at a new school? Great students who are engaged, a library that is fully shelved (correctly!), and an administration that allows me the freedom to build a successful library program. I am, as one might say, “walking on sunshine!” And that is saying a lot for the rainy Pacific Northwest.

Yes, this year has definitely started on the bright side.

I would have to guess that working at my alma mater has made the transition a little easier. Previously, I was primarily a middle-grade Teacher-Librarian, with half of my time dedicated to teaching 8th-grade English,a subject I had taught for the last seven years, not counting the years I spent teaching in China.

I was ready for a change.

So, when the opportunity came to apply for the high school librarian position, I jumped at it.

This assignment is one I hold especially close because Mount Tahoma is the same place where I began taking my own academics seriously. Though I don't have many fond memories of perusing the library shelves during my own time here, that absence has become part of my mission and part of the reason why I chose this particular assignment.

I want today's students to have memories of their library.

More importantly, I want them to have memories of their librarian.

For many people, if you ask them what their high school librarian looked like, what they taught them, or even what their name was, they simply can't remember. I want to change that. I want students to remember a library where they discovered something new, found a book that spoke to them, learned how to find information for themselves, explored an interest, or simply found a place where they felt welcome.

I am excited for this year not only because I will be serving older, more mature students, but because I have the unique experience of serving both high school and middle school students. I have never done this before, and managing two library programs is certainly a big responsibility.

But that is also what makes this year exciting.

I get to see what librarianship looks like across two stages of a student's education. I get to experiment, learn, build, and hopefully create programs that students will remember long after they leave our schools.

Believing in myself and trusting the process will be my mantra.

This is a new chapter for me as a librarian, but in some ways, it also feels like coming home.