Case in Point: Framingham School Libraries
“Students in Framingham are checking out more books from the library: Here’s why.” This MetroWest Daily News article popped up online yesterday. Framingham borders the town where I live.
Despite a pandemic that prevented kids from being in school for several months — and perhaps getting out of the habit of borrowing books from school — Framingham High School library circulation is actually UP by 100 books compared to the same time period in 2019. From September to November of this past year, students took out 2,895 books.
Here are three things librarians in the high school and middle school are attributing this success to:
1) Manga (Japanese graphic novels). Framingham High School Librarian Alison Courchesne notes that interest in this genre shot up in 2020, perhaps because kids were watching a lot of related animated shows. According to Courchesne, “They didn’t know it was a [genre] the library even knew about — they were shocked.”
2) Increased Portuguese-language book inventory. Kay Kamiyama, a library media specialist at Fuller Middle School, saw a “missed opportunity” and decided to “even out the disparity” despite the relative expense of Portuguese books.
3) Teachers integrating more independent reading into their curricula. Both librarians have seen more whole classes going to the library to select books for projects — the intent is that when students have agency over their choices (as opposed to a teacher utilizing just one book), “there is a lot more passion.”
So there you have it, folks: A perfect example of a library seeing “success” by listening to its community’s needs. (Special shout out to Courchesne’s mother, who is a longtime leader and supporter/cheerleader for community-based nonprofits in MetroWest Boston — including the one I founded. #LeadershipMetroWest)
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