My First Day On The Job: Library Faces and Spaces

I will admit that I did not know what to expect on my first day of observations at Resurrection College Preparatory High School. I knew that it would be an all girl's Catholic high school, and I was fortunate that it had a librarian who agreed to let me visit. I was secretly hopeful that I would have a very positive experience, and that is exactly what happened!

The mission of Resurrection College Preparatory Library is "to support the school’s curriculum and to encourage lifelong learning while instilling a love of reading."  The library is staffed by Ms. Anne Marie Schneider who has served as school librarian for 3 years. (She taught English at Resurrection for 9 years; then, she left to pursue her degree in LIS.) Ms. Ellen serves as Anne Marie's assistant in the library. She has a BA in English and is pursuing her Master's in Library and Information Studies at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. 

There are no other staff members in the library, but a senior student came to the library and volunteered for about an hour. She did not complete any noteworthy tasks. We all talked about current events, namely the earthquakes in Ecuador (her relatives are safe!) and Japan. I got the feeling that she really likes being in the library. It is very neatly organized, and there are very funny quotes and "librarianisms" posted at the circulation station which make most who read them chuckle or laugh out loud. ( I will talk about the library's collection and related issues at another time.)
  
As soon as I entered the library, I was awestruck by its size. It has to be twice or three times bigger than my school library! On the left side of the library, there are wooden tables and chairs, the latter of which have burgundy coloring on the back and rockers on the feet. About a dozen PCs across for them are readily available for seniors who visit. (Resurrection  is a 1 to 1 school which means that every student, save the seniors, have Chrome books. Next year, they are due to receive them as well.) Past the circulation desk and the librarians' open glass office are more chairs. The high tables and tall chairs remind you of  those found in a coffee house. Anne Marie agree with me when I said they make me feel that she made a statement to the students like, "You will be spending plenty of nights in a cafe working on research papers when you go to college. Why not get use to that feeling while you're still here?"

Though the students may not need fancy furniture like that above or even the stylish comfy orange chairs next to them, they are in need of my power outlets. For a space that has computers for regular use, nearby electricity is scarce. Anne Marie did buy one table with a charging port on top. Understandably, the expense did not allow her to buy more. That does not stop her from desiring more furniture in the library possibly with the hope of attracting more students to the already warm and welcoming space.