Letter of Recommendation: The School Library

It was in the first semester of my ninth grade year that I ended up sitting in the freshmen locker bay during my only off period to date. The class I had listed for second period had complications arise that required I drop the course, and during add/drop that morning it was discovered that there were no available courses with which I could fill the gap. And so I sat there on a bench that morning, reading a book or jotting something down. Of course, as a freshman, I could not have an off period, and so this experience could not last; thus it happened that I filled out a few papers and became an aide in the school library.

In this position, I completed a myriad of tasks: shelving books, manning the front desk, sorting out the daily issue of The Coloradoan to be hung up for public access. This would not be a role for everyone, but as a book nerd and an introvert, I loved it. I spent each second period immersed in books, able to explore the school’s collections or work on the jigsaw puzzle on the help desk counter for an hour and a half every other day. The ready access to all of the literature was like a dream come true, and I could always look forward to a class period that was invariably serene and stress-free.

Many people view a school library as a place to borrow a book when you need it for a class, or as a place to eat lunch. They see it as the place where you may check out your textbooks before the school year begins and never find any reason to visit again.

And that is a shame.

In our school’s collections, there are, of course, the classics – Shakespeare, Melville, Twain, and pretty much anything you’d find in an English class curriculum – and there’s the popular young adult novels, such as Twilight and anything by Rick Riordan. There’s the nonfiction – biographies and ACT prep books. But there’s also more that one may not expect – for example, the picture books. There’s most of the acclaimed works of Dr. Seuss, but also Tales from Outer Suburbia, with the surreal illustrations of the ever-familiar suburbs drawn by Shaun Tan. Among the fiction novels, one may find a novel by John Green or the collected works of H. P. Lovecraft, complete with extra-dimensional horror stories like Dagon or The Call of Cthulhu. Found with the books detailing the events of the Civil War or the Dust Bowl are the National Audubon Society’s Guide to the Night Sky and The Samurai Fighting Arts, educating one on stargazing and sword fighting, respectively.

A walk through the school library is an exploration of serendipity. You may find something you’re searching for – the online catalogue is useful in that respect – but with enough time, you may discover something beautifully unexpected. It is a space filled with the obscure and overlooked. And it’s something we each pass daily, something right in front of us.

School libraries often have more than just books, too, including the one at Fossil. As time moves on, many incorporate more diverse features; most prominently, technology. The media center at Fossil boasts 3D printers and the recently added makerspace, which allow students to create and innovate. Mrs. Fain, the school librarian, has plans to add even more to the space, including ukuleles. There are ample resources for students, all readily accessible. Stop by sometime – perhaps you’ll find something you didn’t know was there.