Library A Week

Fisher Jr/Sr High School Library

2011 no. 14

Library Profile

Library Name: Fisher Jr./Sr. High School Library Location: 211 W Division St, Fisher, IL Type: School Mission: Materials are selected by the school district to implement, enrich, and support the educational program for students and staff. Materials must serve both the breadth of the curriculum and the needs and interests of individual students. The district is obligated to provide for a wide range of abilities and to respect the diversity of many differing points of view. Website: http://www.fisher.k12.il.us/| LTLS Directory Page: http://www.lincolntrail.info/jin Member Since: 1989 An interview with Kelly Friedlein.

What is unique about your library?

We serve grades 7-12, with about 270 students. This gives us a wide range of patrons with varying interests and reading levels, so having the right materials for every reader is tricky sometimes. We don’t have a public library in our town so we are the only library in most of our students’ lives, which makes us so thankful to have Lincoln Trail to help us meet our students’ needs. Because the staff is shared with the grade school, we get to watch our students grow and change through the years. It’s really fun to work with all the different ages, sometimes all in the same day! I also supervise the students with online classes, who come to the library to work.

What are the primary goals and objectives of your library?

We want to support the curriculum, and meet the needs of our students and staff, both for information and pleasure reading. I hope students graduate knowing the difference reading can make in their lives and continue using libraries in the future.

What cooperative efforts are you currently doing?

I cooperate with the staff as they plan projects and I find materials to help them with their goals for their classes. In the fall I work with the junior high to teach them databases usage. Throughout the year I work with the teacher who has a study skills class, she teaches her class about Internet usage. Of course, I rely heavily on the cooperation of Lincoln Trail and interlibrary loan. It would be so nice to have a public librarian to work with - that is the cooperation that I miss having the most.

Tell us a story about your library.

When I came to Fisher, the librarian’s position had been unfilled for a while. When I talked to the students, the thing I heard the most was that there was nothing good to read! So for the past 11 years I have put a lot of effort into having a great fiction section, and I feel that it has really paid off. I don’t hear that complaint hardly at all these days. I think the complaint I am more likely to get is that I need to get an extra copy of some hot title because the student is tired of waiting on the hold list.

If money were no object, what services would you add?

It would be great to push out the walls and have a full sized computer lab (right now there are 12 computers in the lab), and have room for comfortable seating instead of just tables and chairs. I would love to have an extensive graphic novel collection, with extra room to shelve it. More databases and online resources would be wonderful, and more money to spend on the non-fiction collection, which always seems to need more updating.

What is popular in your library?

Fantasy and romance are always popular, as are contemporary fiction books, and I have a group of James Patterson fans. Right now I am looking at my Abraham Lincoln Book Award shelf with only three lonely books sitting there, so that list has been really popular since I put out the books two weeks ago.

How does your library use online tools to connect to your users?

The main way I communicate online is through the school’s website; I have a blog on it which I mainly use to inform students of new book purchases. I don’t have a link for the single subscription database we have, but I do give out the website along with the password in the fall, so students can access it at home.

Request a visit to your library If you would like to set up a special date for us to visit your library contact LTLS Consultant Michelle Ralston Library of the Week is published by Lincoln Trail Libraries System, 1704 W. Interstate Dr., Champaign, IL 61822 217-352-0047  -   ltls@lincolntrail.info Executive Director: Jan Ison, Editorial and Design Team: Michelle Ralston and David Lottes