After years of the BSM library being slowly reduced to tables and chairs, a new librarian has been hired with the hopes of restoring the library to its former book yielding glory. Mrs. Laura Sylvester hopes not only to focus on bringing books back to the library but also to put a stronger focus on students’ research habits and help them develop a more efficient way to find information online.

Though Mrs. Sylvester is new to a faculty position at BSM, she certainly is no stranger to the BSM community, as her husband is Junior High teacher and technology specialist Mr. Dan Sylvester. “He’s very supportive and very encouraging but hasn’t given me any specific pointers. He’s excited, though,” Mrs. Sylvester said.

Thanks to her in-school connections,Mrs. Sylvester did have an idea of the dynamic and standards of BSM. “[BSM] has a reputation of academic excellence, and I see that through students’ focus when they come into the library and in the teachers and how they’re working with the students,” Mrs. Sylvester said.

Prior to coming to BSM, Mrs. Sylvester has had many years of varied teaching experience. From educating students about social studies to working the online library at Capella Online University, she’s dealt with many unique types of learning. “I think you can build more of a connection with the students if you can talk to them face to face – see their body language. It was great working with adult students, but it’s great working with students dealing with library anxiety, which can be an additional barrier when they’re starting college and don’t know what to do, so hopefully I can prepare them more for that experience,” she said.

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One of Sylvester’s main goals is to be more involved in students’ online study habits by being in classrooms helping teachers educate students about database use s and help students develop their information literacy skills. “[The students] just have so much information coming at them, so being able to sift through it is important as well as finding information quickly and incorporating it into their knowledge base,” Mrs. Sylvester said.

Another of Sylvester’s aims is to restore books to the area they were originally designated for. ”I’d also like to build more of a book collection and bring back more of a book culture to the school by using both hard copies and ebooks,” she said.

Between bringing books back to the BSM library and incorporating online research into students’ study habits, Mrs. Sylvester will have a busy year ahead of her as the new school librarian.