Expanded Holdings

When libraries display their new acquisitions, they usually put up a table upon which they set books that have recently been purchased. In the library where Susan works, the new acquisitions would easily destroy any table upon which she tried to set them.

The holdings of Trinity High School's library expanded yesterday when I. Keating Furniture delivered a brand new couch and chair, both upholstered in a rich, dark brown and very comfortable. We donated a rug to the library, and now the new furniture and rug form an inviting reading area near the periodicals.

The girls and I stopped by the library yesterday after school and work to see the new furniture. While the girls "played library," I helped Susan set up the reading area, rearrange tables and chairs, decorate the library with statuary and globes from the storage rooms, etc.

Would you like to see the results? Come with me on a tour:

Here we are peering into the library from the west door looking eastward. The library is on the second floor, so we have just walked up a flight of stairs to enter through this door. The periodicals are just inside the door and to the left. Notice the new furniture!

A closer look at the new reading area.

Another angle.

A newly set-up display, this one for Black History Month (February), featuring a calendar of historical events to recall each day of the month as well as several books about or by notable black people. The globe is newly displayed, although it may be several decades out of date--such a useful trait for a globe, no?

Makes you want to celebrate Black History Month, doesn't it? The calendar on display is this one.

Now we're standing near Susan's desk looking past "Fiction" toward the east door. Note the second globe, also pulled out of storage yesterday, and also sadly out of date.

We've stepped across from Susan's desk to the circulation desk, but we're still facing east, this time looking at the tables where students sit to read and work. Do you spy the Egyptian bust atop the book shelves? Books on Egyptian history are just a few shelves below it. We found it in a storage room, too. Ditto a statue of South Dakota's Crazy Horse Memorial, which you may be able to see atop a shelf near the clock.

We have made our way to the east end and have turned around to face west. The display shelf in front of us features biographies. We found the shelf in a storage room, too, and wheeled it out to create another display area--and to fill an open space that otherwise tempts students to rush unobstructed through the library.

Notice the angles? Previously the table were set at right angles to the wall shelves--boring! Don't you just feel the energy in the library now?! I do, too.

From this spot, you can see the circulation desk with its U-shaped, orange formica counter. On the west side of the counter is a dark gray door that opens into a small room that houses a computer lab and the reference book collection--and the library's only window.

Directly across from the circulation desk is Susan's desk. Not so private, actually, but it's a space for her to work on lessons and grading for the two sections of seventh-grade English that she teaches when not in the library.

The wooden doors in the wall behind Susan's desk open out into the gymnasium! Sometimes videographers use this vantage point to record events occurring in the gym. Mostly, though, they're closed, and Susan uses them to post seasonal displays. Here you can see pink hearts for Valentine's Day. She asked staff members to fill in a heart with the title and author of a book that they "love" in honor of the holiday.

Here's a better look at the circulation desk and the door to the computers and reference collection. Can you spot any clues that this is a Catholic school library? Look closely . . .

We're on our way back out of the library's west door. Before we leave, let us pause to look at the new furniture from behind. The door by the couch opens into a storage room that is also office space for Susan; the door by the chair is the exit to the stairwell. The shelves hold the periodicals, and the now-empty (but usually not-empty) rods are for newspapers.

That's the tour, folks. Susan's goal is to use her limited budget, and the donatons of generous alumni and parish members, to build the library's collection and make it as inviting as possible to patrons to increase its use--and its usefulness. An alum or parent bought the couch and chair, and others have recently given money for book purchases, so she's happy with the momentum thus far.

If you would like to donate, just let her know at TrinityLibraryDonation@iMoberg.com.