My Library Is… Overhauling Our History!

John L. Hensey Elementary School was very excited when we were awarded this wonderful grant opportunity to help update our History and Social Studies book collections throughout the school.  Our school collection had less diversity (only 3% of the collection) when I started a few years ago. I was able to purchase books that highlight the lives and experiences of women, African-Americans, Native-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics. 

For our school library, I purchased more than seventy new library-bound titles. I researched our school's population and based purchases on the ethnicities that our school currently serves. Many of the new books purchased included biographies of people with various identities. Our school library collection now has close to a 10% diversity rate! I was also able to replace multiple titles that were written before 1980, with new versions that tell the same story, just much more age-appropriate. Many of the books that we had contained pictures and stories that were more for junior high children than elementary kids. I also added historical fiction graphic novels to help get children interested in history. New history books have high visibility markers on the shelves to direct students to the new history and biography sections. There are also identifying spine stickers to help children find the new books easier.

Each of our fourteen classrooms were also provided with close to fifty paperback History/Social Studies related books to add to their class libraries! The teachers were very excited to have the books in the room with them so they can point them out when they are covering the topics in class. I’ve already had a few requests for more graphic novels in the classrooms! Teachers are also using them for writing tools by having the kids fill out mini book reports on the books they choose. Students are able to get books from their classroom library instead and during weekly library time. 

Overall, circulation has increased in our biography section a little, and most of the increased circulation is with the new non-fiction graphic novels. The kids really enjoy feeling like they are experiencing history firsthand. There have already been a couple student requests for additional titles from the Who HQ series!  

Research for this grant really showed how lacking we were in diversity in our library collection. It is wonderful being able to see the difference from a couple years ago, when most of the books checked out were white-male dominated, to now when more diverse books are being checked out. This project has the ability to continue growing over the years as we continue to add more diversity to our collection of books. If our country is considered a melting pot, this library will be too. With the help of this grant, we now have books that more closely match our community so every student here has a chance to feel important and seen. They can see through our library that all people can make history happen!  

This week’s blog post was written by Tanya Prater, Librarian, John L. Hensey Elementary School. 

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