Since March 2020, a hush lingers in the library. Our physical space is typically a student space, home to a regular thrum (often advancing to a dull roar) of energy, students working, chatting and socializing. Student support is typically housed on that second floor, from IT in the corner, the Learning Resource Center at the opposite end and the librarians at the circulation desk. But, in the year of COVID, I’ve had to answer this question many times: what is the library without its students?
The pandemic has brought a host of issues, and with them, new ideas. Most importantly, it has given us the space to divorce ourselves from the physical library and brought us to wholly focus on our program and initiate creative changes.
A library’s underlying mission has and always will be the organization, access and ethical use of information. In many of our adult lifetimes, it meant books first and foremost—nonfiction when we were curious or poring over a research project and literature when we were looking for a story “truer than truth.” This is no longer the case. Our students and ourselves are currently assaulted by information from a billion different sources—hounded by perspectives unclear, unverified, biased and faulty—and most often when we didn’t even seek them out in the first place.
We aim to create independent and informed citizens. Students learn the value of their own powers of discernment guided by LJCDS librarians and educators so that they may take on this onslaught of information and not just to weather it but to use it to create the world they envision.
The library collaborated with educators in design and innovation, life skills, service-learning, and visual and performing arts to create this year’s newly formed Exploring Identity courses. We help provide a curative and curious framework that allows students to see the world isn’t compartmentalized but rather interconnected, working intentionally with thought and action.
The library is committed to creating and sustaining an environment and program that uplifts our community’s academic and personal curiosities while actively ensuring a fair, equitable, and diverse program and collection. Over the past year, we’ve had the honor of being an integral part of the continuing anti-racist work at LJCDS, including leading conversations rooted in learning (or unlearning) and building community as well as policies that will drive us forward. In the library, that policy looks like regular diversity audits to ensure we’re amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) in the curriculum and content we teach.
While students aren’t physically in the library at the moment, that thrum of energy is still discernible. We visit classes, design practical skills workshops and videos, and collaborate with teachers on projects that push student experience and critical thought toward a more inspired future.
Rafael Eaton
Head Librarian
Knowing how to competently navigate and utilize a world of information is the key to creating well-informed global citizens. Rafa Eaton’s goal is to provide guidance to students’ independent learning and self-discovery through the library’s digital and physical programming.
By Briony Chown, head of Lower School At the beginning of November, Lower School students filed into the Balboa Theater, ready to watch the ballet. There were gasps of excitement.
By Payton Hobbs, Head of Lower School Leadership is hard, especially during a global pandemic. The demands include multiple decisions to be made, projects managed, feedback given and received, and.
By Marsha Poh, assistant head of Lower School Instilling enthusiasm in math in the early years of a child’s education is critical for their long-term journey in math education. The.
By Payton Hobbs, head of Lower School “A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something—and that might serve.
The Library as a Leader
By Rafael Eaton, head librarian
Since March 2020, a hush lingers in the library. Our physical space is typically a student space, home to a regular thrum (often advancing to a dull roar) of energy, students working, chatting and socializing. Student support is typically housed on that second floor, from IT in the corner, the Learning Resource Center at the opposite end and the librarians at the circulation desk. But, in the year of COVID, I’ve had to answer this question many times: what is the library without its students?
The pandemic has brought a host of issues, and with them, new ideas. Most importantly, it has given us the space to divorce ourselves from the physical library and brought us to wholly focus on our program and initiate creative changes.
A library’s underlying mission has and always will be the organization, access and ethical use of information. In many of our adult lifetimes, it meant books first and foremost—nonfiction when we were curious or poring over a research project and literature when we were looking for a story “truer than truth.” This is no longer the case. Our students and ourselves are currently assaulted by information from a billion different sources—hounded by perspectives unclear, unverified, biased and faulty—and most often when we didn’t even seek them out in the first place.
We aim to create independent and informed citizens. Students learn the value of their own powers of discernment guided by LJCDS librarians and educators so that they may take on this onslaught of information and not just to weather it but to use it to create the world they envision.
The library collaborated with educators in design and innovation, life skills, service-learning, and visual and performing arts to create this year’s newly formed Exploring Identity courses. We help provide a curative and curious framework that allows students to see the world isn’t compartmentalized but rather interconnected, working intentionally with thought and action.
The library is committed to creating and sustaining an environment and program that uplifts our community’s academic and personal curiosities while actively ensuring a fair, equitable, and diverse program and collection. Over the past year, we’ve had the honor of being an integral part of the continuing anti-racist work at LJCDS, including leading conversations rooted in learning (or unlearning) and building community as well as policies that will drive us forward. In the library, that policy looks like regular diversity audits to ensure we’re amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) in the curriculum and content we teach.
While students aren’t physically in the library at the moment, that thrum of energy is still discernible. We visit classes, design practical skills workshops and videos, and collaborate with teachers on projects that push student experience and critical thought toward a more inspired future.
Head Librarian
Knowing how to competently navigate and utilize a world of information is the key to creating well-informed global citizens. Rafa Eaton’s goal is to provide guidance to students’ independent learning and self-discovery through the library’s digital and physical programming.
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“I don’t need to be shy”
By Briony Chown, head of Lower School At the beginning of November, Lower School students filed into the Balboa Theater, ready to watch the ballet. There were gasps of excitement.
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Leading and Living Into Our Values
By Payton Hobbs, Head of Lower School Leadership is hard, especially during a global pandemic. The demands include multiple decisions to be made, projects managed, feedback given and received, and.
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Building Bridges in Lower School Math
By Marsha Poh, assistant head of Lower School Instilling enthusiasm in math in the early years of a child’s education is critical for their long-term journey in math education. The.
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Asking Beautiful Questions
By Payton Hobbs, head of Lower School “A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something—and that might serve.
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Continue Reading