Media specialist Theresa Ramos creates bookmarks using paper and glue. Free, laminated bookmarks are available at either of the desks at the library entrances.

Media specialist Theresa Ramos said the media center’s new college and career collection, which is located in Pod 2, is now ready for use. The collection contains information about careers, colleges, AP and IB tests, and more.

“It’s kind of a one-stop shop for anything that kids want,” Ramos said.

New books will continue to move into the collection. Ramos said she will add more books about skilled trades and military options for students.

The library is continuing to add new displays. One new addition is a “blind date” with a book at the front; students can check out a paper-wrapped book to read based on a summary, the genre and the first line.

Ramos and the library staff have also put up displays at the front of the library showing off their reading lists. Ramos, who said she has read 60 books in the past year, has the covers of her picks displayed on the glass windows near the library entrance.

Ramos also said she wants to encourage teachers to do the same around National Library Week, which takes place in April. She said she wants teachers to put displays by their rooms to show students what they are reading.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a magazine or an online article or an ebook or an audio book you’re listening to,” Ramos said. “Talk to kids about what you are reading.”

Ramos said the library is also incorporating more crafts for students to take home and complete or do in the library.

“We’re doing more of our take-and-make or make-and take (crafts)—we have both,” Ramos said. “For February we’re coming out with folded (heart) book pages.” 

Students can fold pages of books into the shape of a heart and take the book home as a decoration.

Ramos said the library is continuing to have trivia contests where students can win free ice cream; slideshows on TVs and monitors at the library entrances scroll through trivia questions and challenges for students.

As per usual, the library continues to introduce new titles to its collection, which are displayed in the shelves next to the entrance.

Senior Chitra Sunil, a Transition to College Program student, said the library is less full than last semester, and it is a nice environment to come and study.

“It’s really nice because we can sit and do our work on our own,” she said. “Sometimes it can get a little loud, but overall it’s pretty nice.” By Riley TerBush