The East Campus Library is a participatory space where students are encouraged to be creative, inquisitive, and expressive. The Student Library Advisory Council (or SLACers as they like to be called, pronounced slackers) is a group of students that emerged out of the Upper Division Book Club with the sole purpose of making the Library as dynamic a place as possible for students and faculty alike—a true collaborative environment where conversations are created, relationships are built, and learning can flourish. It is their belief that the experience of using the Library is as important as the resources housed within it.
Meeting once a quarter, the SLACers brainstorm ways for students to get involved with the Library and reading. Ideas have included the weekly Senior Book Display, created by Johnny L., which is an area of the Library devoted to displaying one senior’s literary tastes for one week. Johnny is also going to work with Ms. Phillips to plan the All-Night Read—an annual sleep-over event where students camp out in the Library and read through the night. Shea R. is reviving the tradition of “Drop Everything and Read” where everyone—faculty, staff, and students—take 15 minutes out of a designated day to do nothing but read. Marlaina O. is working to increase the Library’s Manga collection, and Ashlynn M. makes sure we have all the volumes in our book series. Katie C. is even thinking of ways to make our copier/printer room more appealing. Later in the year, we will co-sponsor our second annual Creative Writing Competition with Amaranth. And the list of ideas goes on—every member of the SLACers chose an aspect of the Library s/he is interested in, and then immediately got to work.
"Being a SLACer is a fun way to be involved in my school,” said Shea R. “Reading has always been a big part of my life, and I like having the power to influence the shape and flow of my library."
Johnny L. said, "Participating in Brentwood's Library has enriched my Brentwood experience in countless ways. I love coming in every day and feeling like I'm at home. I know where everything is. I know how to help people, and I love all the librarians and the general atmosphere. It's a small way to give back to the school that has made me the person I am today."
Another avenue for student participation is the selection of our e-book offerings. We have five e-readers in the Library, and students determine what books we buy for them. While the librarians have always taken suggestions for the development of our print collection, our electronic library of books is growing at a fast pace thanks to input from students. Dr. Banash recommended a book to John A. this week, and, within minutes, he was walking out the door with a great new book on our Nook device. Alex S. wanted the new final book in a trilogy. She was able to acquire it through the Library instantly.
We are also excited to continue our bi-annual visiting author series, where students can spend a lunch period with an author. On Wednesday, October 26, we have scheduled Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg, author and illustrator of To Timbuktu, to speak at lunch in the MPR. Click HERE to learn more.
Students are content creators, and their work is visible in the Library. Student artwork is often on display in our small gallery, and their writings are in our collection of bound student publications. Our new participatory display, which culls opinions and answers on a wall-sized banner, is also gaining traction and giving all of us another window into the personalities of our community. The Library blog, InfoEagles, is populated by book reviews, gathered through Google forms, by our students and faculty. Students enjoy seeing themselves as part of the Library, so over the past several years our students have been the stars of our bookmarks and posters, and often they have been the designers of those materials as well. The students are also the content of our digital frame, where we post slide shows of school events and daily life.
As librarians, we always enjoy working with the students to make both the physical and the virtual Library their spaces for creativity, learning, and discovery. In fact, we really could not make the Library the resource center it needs to be without the input and insight of our students.