January 2022 Librarians of the Month

Each month, TASL honors three school librarians from across the state of TN that deserve recognition for contributions to their school and community. We are excited to share more with you about the January 2022 Librarians of the Month

East TN Librarian of the Month

Name: Katie Rosenberg

Hometown: Knoxville, TN

School: L&N STEM Academy

School District: Knox County Schools

Grades Served: 9-12

What do you love most about being a school librarian?

I love building relationships with students, teachers, and the school community. Hearing what teachers and students are working on in class, seeing what kinds of activities in the library students enjoy, and chatting with students about books they enjoy help me reflect on ways to continue evolving the library program to meet their needs. . . and these interactions always make my day!

What would someone see if they were to walk in your library?

A visitor to the library would see students working, reading, chatting, playing games, or just relaxing. The beauty of the library is that it’s a flexible space that can be used in a variety of ways to meet students’ and teachers’ needs.

What are you most proud of regarding your library program?

One thing I continually feel excited about is the power of social media (Instagram, specifically), to advocate for the power of school librarianship within a school. I love promoting library programming, new books, and the different roles of school librarians. I’m also grateful for the power of a simple staff newsletter. Inspired by my colleague and Knox County TASL rep, Brandi Hartsell, I used Google Slides to create a monthly newsletter. This has opened the door to collaborate with other teachers and helps me connect to teachers whose paths I don’t often cross.

What advice would you give a new librarian?

Considering I am a brand new librarian (this is my first position since completing the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Information Sciences program), the advice I keep reminding myself of is that it takes time to grow into a new career. This kind of growth is exciting, but can be uncomfortable, and it’s normal to feel the growing pains that go along with that. I also carry advice from Suzanne Sherman, a former graduate school instructor and current Knox County Schools Library Media Services Facilitator, close to my heart: When in doubt, choose people over things. When I feel stuck, I return to my library community to help center and guide my decision making.

If you are willing, please provide us with a favorite activity description that we can share with other professionals.

While this isn’t a student-focused activity, I’d like to share access to a copy of the newsletter I update each month for faculty. I use this to update faculty on library updates, share resources, and promote other web/digital tools.

Follow Katie on Twitter @krosenberg3 and on Instagram @lnstemlib.

Middle TN Librarian of the Month

Name: Valerie Michel

Hometown: Nashville, TN

School: Donelson Christian Academy

Grades Served: K-12

What do you love most about being a school librarian?

I love being able to see all of the students in the school year after year and getting to know what they love to read and the stories they tell when they bring the books back. I love the sweet times I get to spend with the students when reading books to them and help them pick a book that make them excited to read.

What would someone see if they were to walk in your library?

That I love my job! I love making the library an exciting time and a place they can come to learn, explore, or just need a quiet place to sit.

What are you most proud of regarding your library program?

We have come through so much in the past 2 years! We have weathered a tornado blasting through our school and completely destroying the elementary wing (including the library) back in March of 2020. Our elementary and preschool classes had to move to two different locations, so this means we had to move everything that was salvageable into a new location. In the meantime, try to continue to serve our middle/high school, preschool, and elementary students with what meager means we had left. We were in our temporary place for almost 2 years and then we moved again…into our new beautiful building. So with moving our library 2 times in almost 2 years, servicing our students from three different locations, making due with what the tornado spared, and working through a pandemic, it has been an interesting two years to say the least! Through it all, our teachers and staff have committed to being a united front and we have come out stronger in the end because of what we went through!

What advice would you give a new librarian?

Always wear a smile. 🙂 The library needs to be a place where students want to come. Be flexible. Librarians often wear multiple hats.

If you are willing, please provide us with a favorite activity description that we can share with other professionals.

Through this pandemic and being away from our older students because of the tornado, I had to get creative with how I was going to reach the middle/high students. I decided to make a Google Site that I could easily share with the students. I decided to make it look like a DCA Library website. I made a space where it easy for them to email me, videos of book talks and recommendations, websites that would make research easy, a virtual book shelf of books that may interest them, MLA citation helps, and much more! It was so much fun to make and the kids still use it. Click here to view the full site.

Anything else you would like to share?

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share our school and our library. It is a true honor!!

West TN Librarian of the Month

Name: Brandy Powell

Hometown: Memphis, TN

School: Bethel Grove Elementary School

School District: Memphis-Shelby County Schools

Grades Served: PreK-5

What do you love most about being a school librarian?

I love sharing my passion for reading, technology, and research with our students and teachers.

What would someone see if they were to walk in your library?

If someone walked into my library, they would see kids in the reading corner silently reading, students on their tablets completing an online activity, student helpers shelving books, and me assisting students find books and checking out material. I like to call it organized effective chaos, Lol!

What are you most proud of regarding your library program?

I love being able to serve the needs of the entire school community. I am able to assist students, parents, teachers, and other community supporters of our school. The library is the hub of all things for our school. Everyone that enters the library doors will receive a 5 star welcoming and safe experience.

What advice would you give a new librarian?

Take the time to get to know your students and their individual likes. You would be surprised to find out how much it means to the students that you can remember their particular interests.

Anything else you would like to share?

Thank you for this honor!

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