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Educators Value Geek the Library
The pilot awareness campaign has garnered much attention since our launch in June 2009—even beyond the participating libraries. One exciting development is the adoption of the Geek the Library concept within schools. Educators have found the awareness campaign helpful in bridging the gap between motivating students to use the library for school, and using it to grow and get inspired.
Jaime McGrath, an educator at Gould Elementary School in Savannah, Georgia, has used Geek the Library to put a positive spin on encouraging more students to pick up non-fiction books. Elementary school students, explains McGrath, are notorious for avoiding them.
“We discuss in class the things they are interested in,” notes McGrath, “and then they search the library for those subjects. They become excited about getting what they geek and see the non-fiction section of the library no longer as a burden to shoulder, but as fuel for their personal interests.”
Asking students to ‘get what they geek’ may seem simple, but it really works, says McGrath. Rifling through his students’ desks after school one day, he found books on motocross, fossils, minerals and math concepts—all books students had picked out themselves. “The approach empowers students by putting them in charge of their own library selection decisions. All of my students have discovered new interests they can mine further in the library stacks.”
In addition to broadening their literary horizons, McGrath feels a positive relationship with the library now is important for the future of public libraries. “Children who understand that the library is an invaluable resource to explore their personal needs and interests will grow to be adults who rightly support full funding and expanded access to library materials,” says McGrath.
“Libraries look very different today than when I was a child in the 70’s, and we can only imagine what libraries will be like when these children are voting, running for office and bringing their children to the library. Seeing libraries as a personal asset as children, will encourage enthusiastic support for libraries as these children grow up.”
December 17, 2009
Get your geek on. Show your support. Geek the library.