Opening the door and stepping into the Cecil & Ida Green Library is like stepping between two worlds, especially during lunchtime. Outside, students run on the quad and down the pathways by the building, noise reverberating off the brick passageways.
As my foot crossed the door threshold, I entered a space removed from the hustle and bustle of campus life. A place of serious study and focused work. A place of organization and discipline.
The library is a very special, but sometimes overlooked, gem on campus.
For students seeking a place to actually do work, a chess board for a quick match with a friend, a brand new novel that they have been dying to read or a research tool to help with a paper, the library has them covered.
But these offerings — the complex and college-level databases, the research tools, the board games, puzzles and chess sets, the quiet setting, and most importantly, the 52,851 books and resources — would not have the same positive impact if it weren’t for the behind-the-scenes work the library team puts in each day.
I was fortunate to learn this firsthand when volunteering in the library one afternoon.
My first task was not really a task, but rather, a learning session. I talked with the Director of Library and Information Services Tinsley Silcox about all of the responsibilities members of the library team have. Many were obvious, but I quickly realized that there was a lot I didn’t know about running a library.
The extensive database website is handled by Assistant Director Teresa Katsulos. The entire database website is created in-house and constantly updated with new books. Silcox, who creates a list of books and resources that would be great additions and useful to each department frequently, works with his team to decide which new books should be in the mix.
The whole team often goes through “weeding” processes, sorting through the library’s books, organizing them, evaluating their timeliness and value to the collection, and then putting them back. This process is often visually seen, but the importance of the work may be lost.
At first glance, it may seem like Middle School Librarian Elyse Chevallier or Librarian Beth Northcut is simply retrieving a book and moving it to another spot. But the small sorting or large-scale projects the team does create the organized library that many people take for granted.
This was my main task when working in the library. After learning the basics of the reception desk computer, I went to the photo collection books, retrieved the ones that had been used or were out of place, carted them off to the reception desk, and began processing. I scanned the bar codes of each book and once finished, I sorted the books by a series of numbers and then letters.
After that was done, I returned to the front before concluding my day in the library.
To me, the most striking takeaway was the atmosphere the library has, a product of the hard work the library team puts in each day.
When standing at the reception desk or in the back library classroom doing my inventory work, I looked out and saw students from every Middle and Upper School grade, working hard but also bonding with classmates.
As I walked out of the library at 1 p.m. (the end of my shift), I can say it was with an increased appreciation for the library, its team, and all of the resources and hard work that goes into creating a positive study environment for students. Ultimately, the community the library builds is just another example of special pockets on our campus that move the entire school forward.