Our School Librarian, Kacy Wilson

When walking into the school library, one can get a sense of the quiet purpose it serves in the everyday lives of Pioneer students. Kids are scattered in small groups at various tables, working determinedly on their assignments. Some are wandering around in between bookshelves, leisurely searching for their next read. Displays of books greet students as they walk in the door, and a friendly face sits behind the counter, eager to lend a helping hand.

That friendly face belongs to Pioneer High School’s new librarian, Kacy Wilson, whom most student’s have already had the pleasure of meeting during one encounter or another.

To move beyond these surface level interactions, Kacy agrees to an interview and tells us a bit about herself.

This is Kacy’s third library job, and she points out that it’s a bit different from the other places she’s worked. Kacy started working in libraries three or four years ago, her first job being at Alliant International University, a small college in the Bay Area.

Kacy goes further in-depth about the AIU library: “[It] was a psychology library. Everyone was going to school there to become a psychologist, so we had more than books. There were kits that you could check out [such as inkblot test kits] where you could give a test to somebody and diagnose them. So that was a really cool library to work at, and it was sort of what sparked my love for libraries.” At that point, she also started on her masters for Library and Information Sciences.

After a year and a half of working there, Kacy moved back to her home in Sacramento and got a job as the Adult Services Librarian at a public library in Grass Valley. There, she worked about a year and a half doing programming: hosting craft nights, movie nights, and book clubs.

Kacy explains that working at Pioneer has been an interesting change: “It’s a different kind of experience because it’s a school library and I’ve never really worked with this age group before.” She adds that working with chromebooks has, in some ways, been the most challenging aspect of the job. “It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a different thing. I’ve never really had to [work with chromebooks] before,” she clarifies with a laugh, “ and that takes up a large chunk of my time.”

All around though, her experience here has been exceedingly positive. “All the students are very sweet, respectful, and thoughtful. The staff has been really nice too, helping me with whatever I need. Teachers always come by and ask how things are and if they can help or do anything, and give me advice and things like that. So I love it here; it’s been really great!”

Kacy has also been working on various projects since school opened up, a big one being the wall displays. Before, they stayed pretty much the same, but now, her goal is to change them out every month or every couple of months. She's attempting to create more displays for books that she thinks would be interesting to students.

The current display on one wall reads “this too shall pass”. She elaborates on the inspiration behind it: “Winter is coming and people are going to start feeling down and blue, so it's a display of self help books and mental health related books.”

Along with that, Kacy voices that she hopes to make the library a more interactive place. She believes various creative activities where students can do puzzles, de-stress at coloring stations, as well as possibly having meditation mondays and movie nights could give students a way to further engage with the library.

As the end of the interview nears, one very important question still remains…

What is her favorite book?

Encountering this librarian stumping question, Kacy starts by sharing that she likes different books for different reasons; however, she reveals that she does have one she especially loves:

“My favorite book of all time, because that’s the book that made me read in the first place, is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I think everyone should read it. (We have two copies in the library but I think they’re both checked out.) It’s also just a perfect book for your age group because it’s coming of age and it's talking about serious issues. It’s the book that opened my eyes to the world and showed me that there's more to the world than my little bubble.”

Then, as expected from a book lover, Kacy includes a couple more recommendations.

Siddhartha (Herman Hesse) : “I like to think of it as kind of a guide to life. It’s this very philosophical/spiritual take on humans and friendship and love.”

Beowulf: “I can’t quite put my finger on why I love it so much, it’s just the ultimate hero story. There’s a special place in my heart for it, and I love that no one really knows who wrote it. It’s sort of this magical story.”

Ghost World - graphic novel (Daniel Clowes) : “It was the first graphic novel I ever read that wasn’t just about superheros. It’s just a normal story of two best friends going through the world in their angsty teen years and it's this sweet graphic novel that shows teenage girls just being girls. I love it.“