Front covers of school libraries receive facelift

Nodaway Valley High School students Lea Stonebraker and Mallory Russell have been assisting school librarian Katie Geidel in bringing improvements to the feel and layout of the library.

The two of them presented to the school board last Wednesday, during a meeting held in the library, about what they have done early this school year to make those improvements.

“One of the first things I noticed was this was not a very welcoming or homey environment where some kids would want to spend six hours a day,” Geidel said. “That was where we started when we wrote this grant. We’ve have to get them in the door first and make this a place they want to be.”

The grant Geidel referred to is the Casey’s Cash for Classrooms grant that gave the school a $25,000 boost for this project.

Features of the project are flexible pieces of furniture with calming design elements that help create a warm, inviting place for study, collaboration and teacher professional development. These pieces of furniture include comfy chairs and areas for group and individual work alike. A portable white board allows math students or Spanish students learning online to write out their work.

“Right now we have a [donated] couch, but there are some good library-grade couches and large chairs that are coming. A good chunk of our budget was for that. It’s one of the only pieces that isn’t here yet,” Geidel said.

Areas of focus for this project were new furniture, enhancing technology access for students and others, fostering collaboration among students and staff and making the library a space the community could partner with the school in through guest speakers, volunteer projects and other partnerships.

There are more than 10,000 items in the school’s library collection between the three buildings. Average age of items ranges from 2007 at the elementary and middle school to 2003 at the high school. The collections are all widely regarded as outdated, but especially at the high school, where research becomes more crucial in the learning process.

“We have a lot of books, but they’re honestly books I probably wouldn’t read because they’re not up to date,” Stonebraker said.

In notes she submitted to the board, Geidel said her goal is to update about 10% of the collection each year to stay current. Elementary book fairs have raised around $6,000 each year. Award books have been purchased for each building in the past, but in the middle and high school, these are the only additions lately.

“2007 or 2003 doesn’t seem like that long ago, but if you’d ask [Lea or Mallory] if that’s a long time, they’d say that’s a long time,” Geidel said. “That’s not anything that’s appealing to high school students right now.”

Stonebraker put a lot of time into alphabetizing and organizing the high school collection into genres the first couple of weeks of school.

“The environment in the Nodaway Valley High School library has changed greatly since improvements have been made,” Stonebraker said. “I find it easier to learn in a space that is comfortable and calm. Our library environment now reflects this ideal perfectly. I’m excited to see what’s next.”

Because of Stonebraker’s attention to detail, Geidel now knows how many books the high school library has in each genre. Stickers were purchased to aid students in finding specific genres faster.

“We’ve made great strides in creating a more welcoming, flexible library space where students want to spend time and I’m so thankful for the support we’ve received,” Geidel said. “My next goal is to take a closer look at our collection, identify areas where we can add fresh, engaging titles and continue pursuing grants and opportunities to keep our resources current for students. This is really about building on what we have and making sure our libraries grow right along with our students’ needs.”