My Library Is... Impactful

I am honored that Gower Middle School received one of the My Library Is... Grants for the 2024-2025 school year! 

We did not have a certified librarian from 2003-2018. When I took over the position as district librarian in 2018, there were so many books that needed to be weeded and replaced. While I have been chipping away at it each year, there is still a long way to go until our library collection fully meets the needs of our students. One of my first goals was to increase the number of recently published books by diverse authors to represent our student population and increase empathy and awareness. Another focus has been to update books from our nonfiction section so students can learn and conduct research. The grant funds have helped us accomplish both of these goals. 

With this grant money, we were able to purchase more high interest, low level books for English learners (EL) and special education students who are reading below grade level, as well as audiobooks and books in other languages. We had a large influx of refugee students from Afghanistan, and we found ourselves unequipped to meet their reading needs with our current middle school collection. I wanted them to feel at home at our school and in our library and I know that having books they can check out and enjoy just like their classmates would go a long way to help them feel connected. 

The EL department chair and students have given input in selecting new books for our library. I met with these students to talk about their favorite interests and hobbies with the assistance of our EL teachers. I will continue to meet with the EL and special education teachers and students to see how the new purchases are meeting their reading needs. I noticed that checkout statistics when their classes come in for weekly checkout increased, and reading scores improved as well. More diverse books can help improve their vocabulary and reading fluency as well as overall confidence as a student. 

The output of this project is that the materials in our school libraries are more representative of our diverse population and will better meet the reading needs of our EL and special education students. Having a more diverse collection of books is very important to me as a librarian. 

The outcome of adding these materials to our school libraries is that all of our students feel more welcome in our library, which should be the heart of our school building and community. Seeing themselves represented in books and having books written at their level or in their home language can help students feel more comfortable and more motivated to pick up a book and read. 

The long-term impact of adding these materials to our school libraries is that our EL and special education students will have more reading materials available to them and therefore will further develop their reading skills and confidence. Other students will be impacted by gaining perspective and empathy for experiences that are different from their own. 

This blog post was written by Clare Lund, Librarian, Gower Middle School. 

This project was made possible by the My Library Is... Grant.