In April we celebrate National School Library Month as well as School Librarian Appreciation Day on April 4. Ms. Mary Accardo has been working as a librarian on campus for nearly twenty years.
Accardo appreciates the diversity of the tasks included in her job. “My days are never typical and always hold surprises for me, which is another thing I like most about my job,” she said. A regular part of her workday consists of checking Chromebooks in and out, providing assistance with damaged Chromebooks and checking out loaner Chromebooks.
“It would take too long to list everything that I like about my job,” Accardo stated. Most of all she relishes being able to assist students as well as the teaching and office staff. She also enjoys choosing new books for the library that will appeal to students. She explained the library has a huge variety for students to choose from which includes books that are “scary, mysterious, romantic, historical, slightly bizarre, or factual reads, and everything in between.”
“I especially enjoy hearing that someone enjoyed a book, one they discovered or one I recommended,” Accardo stated as one of the highlights in her job.
If students do not have time to visit the library to check out a book, they can use Destiny Discover. It is a website that allows students to look through our library’s book selection and check out a book online to save time. The student will then be notified, when the book is ready to be picked up from Ms. Accardo in the library.
Before becoming a librarian, Accardo was hired to take on the position of managing the newly established bookroom in room 41. “In the past, teachers were responsible for keeping track of the textbooks used for their classes, assigning books at the beginning of each year and collecting the books before summer break,” Accardo further explained.
Accardo considers the most challenging part of the job to be deciding which books to remove from the shelves in order to make space for new additions. When she is in the process of discarding books she looks for outdated information, poor condition and books students do not show interest in. Accardo offers discarded books to students and staff on the “Free Books” shelf as many are still a good read.
Thank you Ms. Accardo for all that you do for both students and staff members; your hard work and dedication is appreciated. If you are interested in reading a new book, make sure to visit the library or check out the Destiny Discover website.
