Behind the Books: FHS's Librarian Mr. Byrnes

Before FHS

Nathan Byrnes has been a Librarian since 2017, but before joining FHS, he spent 19 years at Diman Voc-Tech in Fall River, MA, as a teacher, public relations, videographer, photographer, and serving as webmaster. Mr. Byrnes was first introduced to the librarian position at Voc-Tech when he would cover for the librarian during their absence or breaks.

“I realized I’d love to do the job full-time. I knew they were retiring soon, so I did the certification program at Salem State University, and the rest is history.”

Now, if you’re like me, you probably thought the school librarian’s only job is checking out books and reminding you if you’re late on a return. But, as Mr. Byrnes explains, there’s much more to it.

“Librarians wear a million hats”

The role of a school librarian is vast and includes responsibilities such as collection development, library organization (and in this case, reorganization), research assistance, web and document design, instructional design, light tech support, and of course, helping students and staff with tech, book selection, and research.

FHS So Far

“We’re trying to make the library a place that serves the various needs of our community. We’re here for all the FHS students,”

So far, Mr. Byrnes has had a fantastic first year at FHS. He describes the atmosphere as positive, saying, “Everyone here has been welcoming, collaborative, and friendly. The students, staff, and administration are terrific. We’ve made a ton of progress reorganizing the library to make it more user-friendly and welcoming, but we still have a long way to go.” 

Being a librarian certainly has its challenges. Over the past decade, the library has had five librarians, leaving a lot of gaps in its collection. Mr. Byrnes has been working hard to identify the gaps, and “will do everything possible to make our collection something that serves the needs of the FHS community.” 

Outside of School

Now we are somewhat caught up on Mr. Byrnes as our librarian, but what is Mr. Byrnes like outside of school?

“I enjoy travel, reading, hanging out with friends and family, golfing, hiking, playing fantasy football and basketball, and doing anything sportsy. I recently restarted CrossFit, which is a blast.” 

A big football fan, Mr. Byrnes spends most Sundays watching games with his wife. A proud Patriots fan, as he recalls being present “at the birth of the dynasty at the Snow Bowl.” Mr. Byrnes and his wife are also big RIFC fans and look forward to attending games next season.

Surrounded by books all day, Mr. Byrnes is constantly reading across various genres to better recommend titles to students. Some of his favorite young adult authors include Neal Shusterman, A.S. King, Leigh Bardugo, Tiffany Jackson, Patrick Ness, Kurt Vonnegut, and Laini Taylor. “My favorite books are probably the Strange the Dreamer duology and the Scythe trilogy.”