By CALEIGH CESSNA – A new and dynamic librarian has arrived at IHS who has big plans for this school year and wants to engage students with the library in large, but socially distanced, numbers. 

During the week of October 26th, the library held an event called “Meet the Librarian” in which students could go and learn about our new librarian, Ms. Koren Greene. Despite the library being open just one period a day, Ms. Greene is extremely busy serving as one of just four librarians within our district.

Greene’s day is one filled with travel. Greene explains, “First Eisenhower, then the high school, and I finish out the day at Horace Mann” serves as her daily schedule. Despite seeing so many students, Greene says, “I love it. It’s nice to have a different atmosphere and different age levels of students.” Due to the limited number of students attending school each day and limited hours, there has been a decline in the number of students frequenting the library this year. 

Senior Hope Byers has been a member of the Library Club at IHS in the past and reflected, “As the years went by, it seems that the library is getting less and less attention, which makes me feel bittersweet; but what can you do when everything is turning electronic?”

Not everything can be found strictly online which has allowed the library to remain a vibrant place for many years despite the rise of the knowledge highway of the internet. Fiction novels still remain popular within the extensive selection of our in-house library. Power Library, a program referred to as Pennsylvania’s Electronic Library, further expands the selection of books offered to students in Indiana by allowing books to be checked out of other high schools all across the state.

“I was originally looking for a science-fiction book that was the final part of a trilogy I was reading. I couldn’t find it in the bookshelves, so I asked Mrs. Greene if it was listed anywhere in the school district library system. She looked it up for me and told me that it wasn’t in any of the school libraries,” stated a seemingly disappointed Silas Schiera, a senior. “A week later, I came into my homeroom class and my book was waiting on my desk from Apollo, PA. I was so happy that I was able to finish my book series that I had started in the summer.”

Despite all of the benefits to using the school library, very few students have taken advantage of this extraordinary resource. Emma Grim, a sophomore who frequents the library feels, “The library is incredibly underutilized by students, and I wish they could see all of the opportunities for reading that are being offered to them.”

Recently, the library has held theme days and a giveaway to promote the space. “It’s been positive, but I want to do so much more. I am looking for suggestions and feedback from students,” expressed Greene. Grim also echoed this sentiment, “You should come down and hang out during seventh period! If you say that you don’t like to read because every book has bored you, you should look in the library for a book that interests you. A good book can change your entire mindset, and if you haven’t read in a while you should pick up a book and start again!”

Ms. Greene is a welcome and helpful addition to the IHS staff, and there is more to the library than many people think, so stop in, meet Ms. Greene, and see what’s new.

[Photo by Caleigh Cessna] 

Photo Caption: “Ms. Greene looks up from searching Power Library from her computer.”