Check This One Out

Post date: Dec 18, 2013 4:2:28 PM

Internship changes reading into a profession

by Eryn Zook, staff

Fighting crime, baking cookies, exploring the unknown, writing stories for young or old, everybody has a desire to be a certain someone, to work in a certain career and to have an impact on the world.

I have always loved reading, so it seemed natural for me to work in a library. I was able to put my passion to work my junior year as a library aide my second semester. I found that I enjoyed the communicating with so many of the other students and discovering what was being read or what my peers would recommend.

I also liked being able to listen to a student’s reading preferences and then choose out a book that I thought they would like. It was the best feeling when they came back to check their books in and raved about what a good read they are.

When I was asked to help at the middle school library, I agreed to try being a librarian at the preteen level. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was able to work with the books I so enjoy as well as work with a slightly younger age groups, which I found I was suited for.

I began my internship at the Sturgis Williams Middle School. Alissa Adams and Caitlyn Dill are the head librarians. They took alternating turns between being at the the high school and middle school libraries.

Soon, I settled down into the new routine and started to learn some names. There were the students who came in at least once a week and those were the names I got down first. Everything was going well and I was finding my niche.

Then disaster hit, literally. The winter storm, Atlas, ripped through the area, leaving devastation in its wake. Among the wreckage was the the roof of the Middle School building. The library move had to be done in less than an hour.

The librarians and a few assisting teachers grabbed what they could in the time they had. Bags and boxes stuffed full of books were brought into the Administrative Building gym and left there until they could be moved into a new library.

Along with resuming school days, the middle school librarian became primarily Dill while Adams stayed out at the high school. Dill along with high school intern students, Jocelyn Keszler (12) and me, immediately went to work.

A few books had already been moved into the new library, an old room in the top floor of the Administrative building which hadn’t been used in years. The rest of the books that would fit in the considerable smaller library were put on the shelves as the semester flew by.

Nearing the end of the semester, the little library is looking almost as good as new. With the shelves shined, all furniture moved to maximize what space we have and all the books in place, we began to pay attention to the minor details. For example, many of the books did not have bar codes and the call numbers all need to be re-done.

As the remaining weeks passed, the library staff focused on taking all the books in the library small sections at a time and updating all the labeling, making sure the system was up-to-date.

I was proud to be a part of this amazing work site where students and staff worked together to finish up their school year in a new and unfamiliar location. For me, it was a chance to learn new things every day, meet new people and help the students adjust to their new school rooms. I was also able to work in the room that had, in years past, been the very library I used and loved even then.