We can’t wait to work with everyone at the school district to revamp the high school library and continue great things at the elementary school library! We’re going to do some fun, innovative things, we can feel it!
CONCRETE — After the retirement of longtime elementary school librarian Laura Moffitt, the Concrete School District left it up to teachers to help students check out books.
But now the Upper Skagit Library will lend the school district a hand.
“Libraries traditionally partner with school systems,” Upper Skagit Library Director Erica Brown said. “The kids deserve access to books and educational resources and things like that.”
Brown said the school district will essentially become a branch of the Upper Skagit Library.
The Upper Skagit Library team will help the school district get automated, weed out the book collections and help to reimagine the high school library.
School district Superintendent Carrie Crickmore said the elementary library should be easy, and that it may be up and running under this new partnership by mid-March.
The larger project will be to update and reimagine the high school library.
“The high school library has been long neglected,” Brown said.
Brown’s team will work with the high school to weed out the collection and get student input on what they want in a library.
Crickmore said she believes that by next fall the high school library will up and running.
Brown said teachers will also be able to check out books and other materials for their classrooms.
“It’s a big win-win for everybody,” Brown said.
Crickmore said that getting the libraries updated is only one concern.
“The bigger concern is how are students going to learn how to research,” she said. “We know the youth are so connected online.”
Crickmore said Upper Skagit Library staff should be able to help with this.
She said that the school district thrives on partnerships.
“We have to partner,” she said. “It’s good to have other experiences, people coming and sharing their experience with our students.”
Prior to this partnership, Crickmore said the community had asked about what would happen to the library spaces without a librarian.
“There’s been zero discussion on taking that space for anything else,” she said.
Crickmore said partnerships such as this one give Concrete students more opportunities.
“I want everything possible for our students,” she said.
Racquel Muncy can be reached at [email protected], 360-416-2139, Twitter: @Racquel_SVH
