With the dawn of the age of technology, the way culture operates in the United States, and many countries around the world, has changed. With so much information at people’s fingertips, interest in many formerly commonplace activities has declined. This includes reading and, thus, visiting libraries.
Hastings High School librarian Faye Friesen is a strong advocate for encouraging students to spend time at the library. She approaches this new age problem in many ways.
“The thing with libraries is that you have to think of ways to entice your audience to come into the library and use the stuff you’re buying. I discovered that there’s an underground nerdy kid who likes to read sci-fi kind of like myself. I have to appeal to a certain crowd of people,” Friesen said.
Two of the things that Friesen has done to entice people to come to the library are having a Blind Date with a Book display for Valentine’s Day and unveiling a TARDIS book collection in a specially painted phone booth display. Blind Date with a Book consisted of a display with books wrapped in pink and red paper. A person picks out a book, checks it out, and then unwraps it to see what book it is. The Dr. Who TARDIS collection was created from an old cabinet that Friesen found in the school basement and painted to match the phone booth in the hit television show. All of the books in the collection are about Dr. Who and the program.
Senior Rachel Roberts says that she appreciates the special editions to the library.
“I like it,” Roberts said. “It makes the library more inviting. It makes the library stand out because who else can say that they have a TARDIS in their library?”
Friesen said that she enjoys doing these things for her students because it brings more liveliness to each day.
“I want to go to work every day and enjoy my job,” Friesen said. “My life would be boring if I didn’t do that kind of stuff in my library.”
Another way in which Friesen bolsters interest in the library is by allowing students to use technology and relax.
“Why wouldn’t you let kids use their phones in the library?” Friesen said. “No one wants a list of stuff you can’t do in the library. Libraries are supposed to be for your imagination. They should be for critical thinking skills and creativity and it should be some place that people could feel comfortable being there.”
Friesen went on to say that she tries to make the library as welcoming as possible by inviting students in with a promise of excitement.
“You want your library to be a gathering place,” Friesen said. “That’s why I do hot chocolate or coffee or donuts. You want it to be a place where people can come to work on stuff or be with friends or watch CNN.”
Roberts said that she has noticed a lot of people utilizing the more lenient rules and relaxed atmosphere that the library has to offer.
“A lot of people like the comfy chairs because that is their preferred choice of seating. I’ve never been in here during T3 in past years, but a lot of people come here to do stuff and study in comfort,” Roberts said.
Friesen said that she has also seen good response to to the atmosphere she creates.
“Crazy enough, people love stuff like that,” Friesen said.
For Roberts, Friesen has achieved her goal.
“I like the library,” Roberts said. “I come here every day.”
