The Rambling Reader

Quarter 1 2022

See what is new at the Dr. Stephen J. Storkel Learning Center for 2022, including:

  • New Furniture

  • New Library Promotions and Displays

  • PRHS Book Club and Makerspace Club

  • Summary: Class Visits, Study Hall Visits, Circulation Statistics

  • Northern Tier: Pine Center Opening

  • Resources in Focus

New Furniture for 2022

Stop by the library to see some of the new additions and updates to our furniture.


We have 2 new comfortable seating areas, a great spot to relax and read. We also feature some of our nonfiction books at the coffee tables for browsing and a collection of board games (Chess, Checkers, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit) on a nearby shelf.

We also have 2 new collaboration whiteboard tables that we invite you to use for group study, running practice math problems, or getting artistic.



Library Promotions and Displays

The "Golden Library Passes" are back. Stop by the library and ask for a fact-finding sheet and look through some of our general nonfiction books at the coffee tables to find some strange, fun, and even gross facts and get a ticket to come one day even if your study hall limit is maxed out that day.


The "Calm Coloring Corner" is now up. Grab some colored pencils, relax, and help us decorate the library with your work.

Take a look at some of our new books with the scrolling slideshow descriptions and listen to the background music from the Calm App to relax and study.

We are currently celebrating Hispanic and LatinX heritage month. Look for posters for the Pura Belpre award winners and browse the books by Hispanic and LatinX authors displayed at each of our tables. To browse a selection of these books, click here.


Looking for a good spooky or paranormal book for Halloween? Check out our "Scary Good Books" display, or give us the name of your favorite spooky book to add to the display.


Library Clubs

The library is hosting the PRHS Book Club again this year and is starting the Makerspace Club. Follow the Google classrooms for information on how to join a meeting, we hope to see you there!

The book club is an informal forum for students to share what they've been reading. Stop by a meeting to hear some book recommendations from your peers!

The Makerspace club is a student-led club that collaborates with Northern Tier: Pine Center's Maker Monday program to bring crafting and creating opportunities to students. Stop by a meeting and make something new!

Library Class Stats and Updates

As of 9/30, we've had over 113 class visits so far this year and over 2,000 study hall students visit, not accounting for students that visit before homeroom or after school.

All of our 9th grade English classes have been in for their library orientation and scavenger hunts to get to know the space and how to find our resources. We've also had social studies researching historical figures of the 1920s, chemistry students researching the elements, and many other English classes stopping by for book-talks to promote independent reading, including the Journalism Class for books focused on influential reporters or issues in journalism.

We've also had 876 books checked out as of 9/30.

Ramtastic Reads from the D.S.J.S.L.C.!

*Top 10 Independent Reads Checked out Books so far:

  1. Dune by Frank Herbert
  2. Bleach v1 (Manga)
  3. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh
  4. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglass Adams
  5. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
  6. The Cousins by Karen McManus
  7. The Dark Game : True Spy Stories by Paul Janeczko
  8. The Distance from Me to You by Marina Gessner
  9. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
  10. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo


*These do not include the books checked out for summer reading or other assigned readings.

Northern Tier: Pine Center is back again this year to continue its partnership with our school. They will be here from 2:45-5:30 and provide Makerspace opportunities to students and allow for inter-library loans through the Allegheny County Library System. If you don’t already have a card, you can apply, for free, with this document: bit.ly/LibraryCardApplication . I’ve linked this to the library resource page for students as well, so feel free to encourage students to get a card. They have a great free app called Libby (https://meet.libbyapp.com/) that allows you to check out ebooks and audiobooks remotely as well using your card number.

Resources in Focus

For students: Stop by the library to pick up our new custom bookmarks. These bookmarks feature QR Codes to the library catalog, Mackinvia ebook/audiobook platform and our library homepage.

For teachers: We have a professional ebook collection available through MackinVia by logging in with your Pine-Richland google email account and clicking on the backpack icon and selecting "Pine-Richland Professional" as your location. (See the screenshots below.)

We recently cleared out our back room that houses our poster paper and displayed a collection of professional books and a study carrol if you need extra space to work or want to find books about education or pedagogy.

You can browse some of the library resources available for your department at this link from my library google site as well.