“First of all, we have a library, and that’s really exciting,” Mx. Grewal says. “It’s growing and we’ll continue to add more books throughout the school year.” Oakland Tech has a new library in the student center. Mx. Grewal (our new teacher-librarian) is committed to expanding the library, catering to students’ reading interests, and making it a platform for all kinds of activities.
It’s been three years since Oakland Tech replaced the old library with the student center, and ten years since we’ve had a teacher-librarian. The old library had an average of 0-16 books checked out per year. In 2018-2019, only one book was checked out. The library’s disuse prompted a PTSA survey where it was voted that the library should be replaced. All the books were given away to other school/public libraries.
According to Mx. Grewal, the main reason that the library wasn’t used was because there wasn’t a teacher-librarian to curate or maintain it. The old library had library techs who weren’t credentialed, and thus didn’t have the required skills to coordinate an effective library. On top of that, students weren’t allowed into the library without teacher supervision, and library techs didn’t count as teachers. Students weren’t even allowed into the library during lunch. Additionally, Mx. Grewal says that the books were very old and unappealing to students, a problem which worsened by the fact that nobody was tasked with curating the books.
Mx. Grewal has already taken steps to address these issues directly. They say that they’re excited to curate to student’s reading interests, give recommendations, and gather data to make the library as appealing as possible. One of the first goals of the new library is to expand its book collection. At the start of the year, the new library had 400 books, which was not even enough for one book per student. Now, thanks to Mx. Grewal and their IWEs’ diligent efforts, the new library is currently at 2000 books. The goal is to eventually have 18,000 books: 10 books per student. Tech only has the funding for 589 books; the rest of the books have either been donated, or funded by the PTSA library fund.
As the library grows, so does its variety: “You don’t have to just read novels to engage in reading,” Mx. Grewal says. “There’s so many ways to engage in reading; you can read whatever you want. I’m here to help you find what you’re passionate about.” If you want to explore comics, graphic novels, manga, or even books on financial literacy or cookbooks, just ask Mx. Grewal and they’ll accommodate you.
Mx. Grewal is invested in cultivating a safe space and culture of reading. Students are encouraged to use the space for activities such as games, art, puzzles, and more. Mx. Grewal often teaches classes in the library. Currently they’re bringing in students to teach them how to use the library, how to use databases, and how to do proper citation formats. Mx. Grewal does have one caveat though: “If you have a class, you better have a pass!”