Welcome to Library Lions interviews Raising a Roar for libraries and the outstanding librarians serving youth in schools and public libraries across the U.S. Please Roar today’s guest, Library Specialist Jolyn Danielson!

(Pictured in Cannon Beach OR. Jolyn says it’s “one of the most beautiful places ever.”)

The Skinny
I have been the Library Specialist at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, Washington for the past three years.

Before that I worked two years at Odle Middle School, and prior to that an elementary school teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada. Growing up in Nevada, I love the Pacific Northwest much better than the desert.

What I love most about my work is helping students find books and genres that they didn’t even know they liked. I have some voracious readers and have a high circulation of Fiction books. I even had a student say at the beginning of this school year, “You’re the one that got me hooked on reading!” Reading is the key to where you want to be. You can go anywhere in the whole universe by immersing yourself in a book.

Libraries are so important for many reasons. First, Libraries hold our history, our biographies, our past. Second, Libraries hold so much information about minor happenings as well as major happenings. Finally, technology has integrated our libraries and will only help in finding primary sources as well as nondescript sources that you would never find elsewhere. Libraries aren’t going anywhere and shouldn’t due to too many readers that read books in their hands not on a tablet or Kindle.

The Move
We have currently moved into our new building and I have an area that will be deemed our World Language area. I have Chinese, French, Spanish, & Japanese books as well as other books that are donated for this area. It is under construction but this picture will hold all of these. We have over 22 languages spoken at Sammamish so I am trying my hardest to build this great resource.

We are a new school so the look in the students’ eyes when they saw our Library for the first time was amazing.

 

 

Author! Author!
A perfect author visit would be an author who talks about the writing process not just trying to sell their book. We had one of the best authors come to Sammamish High

Tina Bustamante talked about how she writes and how she comes up with her ideas. She presented her book, As Waters Gone By, which was written with a Washington island theme. She was great.

Thank you, Jolyn for your expert opinion on the importance of Libraries in schools and communities. Enjoy your terrific new library at SHS!

Let’s Link
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SammamishHS/

Note to Librarians: If you’re a Youth Librarian working in a school or public library we’d love to hear about you and your library. Email Janet via the Contact page on this website to set up an interview.

Note to Authors: If you’re interested in Roaring for Libraries on this blog, contact Janet.