One Team Focused on Informational Needs

2/28/2022

By Rafael Eaton, head librarian

The library makes enhancements to equip students for success in their information needs from ECC to graduation.

How will the library survive?

The past year has been one of change. Students are back in the physical library again. Our beloved librarian of 36 years retired. We welcomed a new librarian in a new role and a new library assistant. The library program has evolved because the world continues to change rapidly. As an institution committed to growth, our role is to adapt and equip our students with the skills to inspire greatness.

The Restructure

For at least a decade, the library had three librarians representing and managing their own programs divided by divisions—Lower, Middle and Upper School. Recently, we've redesigned the program so that the library team can exist as a unit to better prepare students for their transitions from one division to the next. Each team member serves the entire student body age 3–Grade 12.

As head librarian, I work with my team to create a unifying curriculum across our program, and I work collaboratively with instructors and our teaching and learning team schoolwide.
Our coordinator of library services and research, Lorrie Culver, manages our digital and physical resources to ensure they are the most relevant and accessible on- and off-campus.
Our newest team member, Tara Peace, is the program and outreach librarian who partners with classroom instructors to create projects that further each division’s curriculum while teaching essential and critical information literacy skills.
Library assistant Rebekah Dawson-Bowman handles the day-to-day operations of the physical library, checking books in and out, shelving, helping with large-scale curation projects and processing new materials.

Lower School Program Enhancements

The Lower School program was reimagined following the retirement of former Lower School librarian Susan Middleton, who was seen righteously as "the library" to many students and parents alike. With change comes new opportunities, and therefore, we have focused our efforts on the Lower School program this year.

From the Early Childhood Center to Grade 4, every class still has dedicated time to visit the library with one of our three librarians. We read stories, learn critical library skills and check out books. This is a cherished part of their week for many students. Students approach us when we’re on recess duty or passing on Torrey Walk to excitedly discuss the books they’re reading, the books they want to read, the books they’ve read.

We’ve begun to work with classrooms outside of their scheduled visit times to support information-gathering, critical thinking and synthesizing ideas on classroom projects. We’ve recently helped second-graders learn about famous Americans through our digital resources and showed third-graders how to create keywords for more accurate internet searches on the continents they’re studying. This in-class connection provides a runway for our students to feel comfortable asking any of the librarians for help in their future work.

Middle and Upper School Enhancements

In the Middle and Upper Schools, having a team member supporting both divisions as they navigate the often massive world of digital research has been a boon to students and teachers. We can see where our previously divided efforts and skills-based instruction had been overlapping and have begun to create a plan to ensure our students succeed in their information needs, from ECC to graduation.

In Middle School, we work with our budding researchers to choose topics and find sources and help them advance their skills on more seasoned work like their Facing History and Ourselves projects in eighth grade. This year, we also introduced creative writing workshops with visiting authors.

In the Upper School, we are re-focusing on literacy and helping students hone their research skills to succeed in an advanced academic environment such as database searching, ethical curation and dissemination of material, and collaboration with others.

This year has been about creating a team that knows its strengths, accepts its challenges and is always learning. We strive to create an environment—not bound by the physical space—where the LJCDS community can easily and readily access information of all kinds and be supported and uplifted in that journey.

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One Team Focused on Informational Needs

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