Visiting a Library Series: A High School School Library by CPDWL Advisor Ray Pun

Welcome sign

Recently I made a visit to the Sequoia High School Media Center, a school library in California, USA. I had a chance to meet with Ms. Snow, the teacher librarian to learn more about how her work as a teacher librarian and the school library supports high school students (ages 14-18). As part of this series on visiting libraries, I wanted to highlight what I learned from this visit and hopefully inspire you to visit your libraries and bring some ideas! It was amazing to see how Ms. Snow recruited and partnered with student ambassadors to promote the library. It really creates a lot of excitement when they take on initiatives to promote the library on social media and in person. Students also created “March Madness bracket” which was placed in front of the library.

 

The library ambassador team! Photo provided by Ms. Snow

A student-made March Madness bracket shared by Ms. Snow

ambassador sweatshirts

Photo shared by Ms. Snow

ambassador sweatshirts

Photo shared by Ms. Snow of student ambassadors; “each student put their name on a book spine and the goal of ambassadors is to build community around the media center and its goals.”

student ambassadors.

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the student ambassadors in cutouts holding a QR code to promote research and information literacy videos on their YouTube Channel. The students are also in the videos and explain how to use the library resources.

There is also a book bike where Ms. Snow used after the pandemic to deliver books to students. This was based on an inspiration to deliver books with Ms. Snow’s own bike. The book bike is occasionally shared during school events and parades. According to Ms. Snow, “The book bike appears in the quad and around campus from time to time to remind folks that literacy exists everywhere!” The library has a book display celebrating women’s history month, in March.

Library Bike – photo provided by Ms. Snow

book display

The library also has an exercise bike for anyone wanting to read while on-the-go! It’s been used in the library’s social media videos to promote reading and library resources. The library also has many graphic novels on display to be borrowed. There was also a series of Dragon Ball graphic novels on display in honor of Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, who passed away recently.

library exercising bike directions to books

The media center also has a computer lab where students can learn different technology skills. Ms. Snow also teaches proper citations. The space is also used by the school’s lego club. The shelf on the left contains books focusing on Indigenous experiences by Indigenous authors. The collections support the school’s ethnic studies curriculum.

indigenous collections computer room

In addition, there are also “zines” which are small-circulation self-published works of original or appropriated texts and images, created by students to share out. On the shelf, there are also book recommendations created by students, like a bookstore you would see. It’s a very clever way to get students involved in creating and sharing their experiences in this space.

zine collections student book reviews

I had a great time chatting with Ms. Snow about media literacy as well as other projects related to text books, multimedia learning, and podcasts. I highly recommend visiting a high school library because it’s very different from an elementary or middle school library. In fact, visit any school library and meet with a school librarian if you have the opportunity!

with Ms. Snow