Library “Like Home” to High School Students

Principal Brian Salzer and Librarian Lynn Evarts are opening the library for lunch at Sauk Prairie (WI) High School as a refuge for kids who feel isolated or have trouble connecting. The program has been a hit with students and seen as a no-cost way to make a difference by administrators. According to the story in the Sauk Prairie Eagle,
the program is “part of Salzer’s dissertation at UW-Madison for his PhD. He is writing about the way library services can engage students who feel isolated in the school community.”

March 26, 2004 by Uncategorized 5

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5 Responses

  1. rochelle says:
    March 27, 2004 at 4:31 am

    swell idea
    I actually forwarded this story to a couple of folks at my daughter’s school. I think it’s a brilliant idea, and a very easy, cheap way to provide accomodation for kids who just don’t fit in. Lunch time is the absolute worst time for her and always has been–she gets overwhelmed by the noise and chaos and it’s when she’s most likely to get bullied, since there’s relatively little supervision. I would think that it would be swell for a school librarian to have a group of kids who wanted to be in the library. And I know it would be a huge relief for the kids who would seek out such a program.

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  2. rudimyers says:
    March 27, 2004 at 8:37 pm

    Am I missing something??
    Why wouldn’t the library be open for lunch? I always have been. The only reason I can see is that there is no aide to keep the library open while the librarian inhales his/her lunch. We are open for all three lunches. We only close if there is a large class using the library during a particular lunch period.

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  3. uible says:
    March 28, 2004 at 12:54 am

    Re:Am I missing something??
    That thought occurred to me too. I assume that “open for lunch” means one could eat one’s lunch in the library.

    I went to high school a very long time ago, and the library was open during lunch (all 3 or 4 time periods), but absolutely, positively no eating.

    I got in trouble several times for chewing gum in the library. Many, many, many times for talking. Well, I was there a lot.

    Anyway, my guess is that those who would want to retreat to the library for whatever reason would still need to eat SOMEWHERE. The library merely being open wouldn’t help that much, but if they could eat there . . .?

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  4. rochelle says:
    March 28, 2004 at 3:37 am

    Re:Am I missing something??
    Yeah…I think the big thing with this program is that kids can take their lunch to the library. I was hoping to get some school librarians to comment on this story. It seems like a no-brainer to me, but maybe there are lots of old-school school librarians who are afraid of mess and an influx of kids.

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  5. rudimyers says:
    March 28, 2004 at 5:42 am

    Re:Eating in library
    Actually, I would allow kids to eat in the library. Abusers (ie: kids who don’t pick up) aren’t allowed to bring their food. I can’t allow food because of school rules. Actually, I already break one rule. Kids aren’t supposed to have/play cards, but a group of boys always hangs out at the tables towards the back and plays Yuguo (sp??). It was Magic, but they have changed games on me. I tell them it is their responsibility to keep an eye out for the assistant principal (who is death on cards).

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