April is School Library Month and Kenwood is fortunate to have one of, if not, the best school librarian around. Our school librarians wear many hats. One of their primary roles is to collaborate with teachers to co-teach lessons related to research and other library-related topics. They also curate resources for the students and teachers, as well as managing the school library collection and electronic resources. All those school library displays are also created by school librarians to help promote reading throughout the school.

School librarians like Ms. Magnuson are also information specialists. They help students gain information. Librarians are certified teachers, and Ms. Magnuson use to be an English teacher so she understands the importance of literacy skills. Ms. Magnuson adds, “Literacy skills are embedded in all our teaching and many of our interactions with students. We want students to have the tools they need to use information ethically.”

Reading is a good thing and can open your eyes to many varied things. Ms. Magnuson is always full of reading recommendations to pique your interests. She tries to read as many books as she can to make good recommendations to students. As the school librarian she gets to choose which books to order and make sure they meet certain criteria. She always has good books to recommend depending on the type of genre that students like to read.

Besides reading to enjoy a favorite genre though, reading that can help change our perspectives on things we don’t understand. Ms. Magnuson shares, “Almost any type of book that you read can change your perspective.” Ms. Magnuson once read an article about how when we’re reading, an area in our brain lights up as if we were having the same experience as the character, and we see  how they saw things. We get a strong impression of what the characters felt and what they went through, awakening us as the reader to a new experience we would have maybe otherwise never experienced.

For instance, as someone that hasn’t lived the life of a teenager in a while, Mrs. Magnuson shared how she’s been reading a lot of books that shows life through the eyes of a teenager today. This allows her to relate to students and understand them more. This makes her such a great person for her job as Kenwood’s school librarian. By reading a variety of things, she can relate to others.

Ms. Magnuson shares, “As a School Librarian, I feel that it is my job to make the library a welcoming and safe space for all students where they can hang out alone or with friends, relax, study, get help, find answers and a listening ear when they need one. My goal is to make Bluebird Library the heart of the school!” If you haven’t been to Bluebird Library recently, it’s definitely time to visit and see what book recommendations Ms. Magnuson has for you!