Walking into the Dr. Barbara Sapienza Memorial Library in Pascack Valley High School these past few months, you may have noticed something different. Starting in February with a Super Bowl bracket, a whiteboard located to the right of the entrance has been filled with fun new activities for the students.
These new activities are largely due to the new Assistant Librarian, Teresa Klingele. Klingele, who is a former elementary school teacher, decided to take inspiration from her past and put her experience into a high school setting, testing things as she goes along.
Klingele also mentioned that, in addition to wanting the library to be inviting, she also wants it to be a place where students can come and release stress. One thing she thinks has been helping is the mini basketball hoop she put up for March Madness, which has become a fixture in the library over the past few months.
“We kept it up for the kids; everyone has stress in school,” Klingele explained. “And if you can come and shoot for a few minutes to just relax and then go about your day, that’s great.”
Sitting in the library for just an hour, I noticed several groups of students come in and shoot a few hoops before going about their day, showing the popularity of it.
One of the most popular activities so far, according to Klingele, was the Super Bowl bracket. Since it was the first one she set up, she felt like it set the tone for the other future activities.
“The football one was fun, because more people got to actually put their name on there for prizes,” Klingele said.
Events like the Battle of the Books that took place in March take a little more planning and involve a trial-and-error process. Klingele explained the process for nominating the books for the challenge: she took the 16 most frequently checked out books and put them on the bracket for students to vote from. Once on the bracket, students used stickers to indicate their favorite titles and eventually produce a winner.
However, the list was not as accurate at reflecting student interest as hoped. Lena Leacock, Pascack Valley’s Librarian, commented on the list.
“We have a smaller community than a major library…if one kid checked out that book several times, it might come up higher,” Leacock said.
Although the book list may not have been as accurate as she hoped, Klingele explained that she has plans to improve it next year, “Next year, we were thinking to have students vote on which books you’d want to see up there.”
She also stressed the importance of making sure there are different activities for different kinds of people. So while those who are interested in football may have been more interested in the Super Bowl Bracket, those interested in photography may have been more interested in the recent duck challenge.
During the challenge, students were invited to find a tiny duck hidden in the shelves of the library and submit a fun picture with it for the student body to vote on. Although only nine pictures were submitted, the top-voted image garnered over 150 votes, indicating strong student engagement with the activity.
Most recently, the library has set up activities for Teacher Appreciation Week. They set out markers and hot cup sleeves to design, for students to show their support for them, placing them in a box where they will later be distributed to the staff. They also set up a “guess that teacher” board using the teachers’ baby photos and three fun facts about them.
The new events in the library are bringing more and more student life and engagement to a place that is usually overlooked. Whether you stop by to do the featured activity, have some quiet reading time, or shoot some hoops, the library aims to leave you more relaxed than when you came in.
“I envision the library as an inviting and fun place,” Klingele expressed.
