22 May 2023
Evanston Township High School. Image credit: ETHS Virtual Tour.

I think it is very important that our students are made to feel whole when they enter our East and Central Libraries at Evanston Township High School.

My library is a place of welcome and acceptance for who they are.. The East Library is a place of refuge for many of our students. Yes, there are some who try to hang out and ditch their classes for one reason or another, and when caught, we politely inform the student(s) to please return to their class and that their teacher is looking forward to teaching them. Most students will return to class and we enjoy hearing the feedback from the teachers.

My library is a safe home from the outside, crazy, and sometimes unsafe world we are all living in. My library is a space for all students as well as adults at Evanston Township High School who grace our East Library every single day. We show up and serve our students and teachers and regular staff every day. We greet each person with a smile and a hearty “Hello, how are you?” and genuinely wait for each person's response to this question. This makes a difference in the lives of our students especially!

My Library is a space where I enJOY my job very much! I've worked at Evanston Township High School for over many years and I love walking into this big old building that was once segregated and serviced for all white people. I love the fact that our school has been working on race and equity for the past thirteen years and counting to unlearn the racist and white supremacy attitudes and behaviors of our school community. I love that our library is working on ways to be inclusive and order books that speak to all of our students and especially our students of color, where there are not many books to choose from that feature black and brown faces and feature love stories that are unique and culturally relevant to the population we serve each and every day.

Our guest blogger is Traci M. Brown-Powell from East Library at Evanston Township High School.

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