Librarian Melinda Wells scans some of the new books recently ordered for the high school library. Wells has seen an increase in the number of books checked out by students since her efforts to revamp the library.

DANIELLE SCHOOLEY – Hoof Prints Staff

She looked around, opened some books, dusted them off, read through a few and realized that something had to change. Students were no longer checking out books from the library and librarian Mrs. Melinda Wells knew exactly why.

Although Mrs. Melinda knew she would enjoy her new job she knew some changes had to be made before she could begin working in the library.

Before the school year started, Mrs. Melinda decided she would change up the library a little. She then realized that decorations were not the only thing that the library needed.

“This library was severely outdated,” Mrs. Melinda said. “No one was coming in here to check out books because they were all so old.”

The books were in bad shape and older than every high school student and even a few teachers. No one wanted to check books like that out. But Mrs. Melinda knew what she was going to do. It was time for some new books.

Mrs. Melinda spoke with Mr. Rose, received permission to start throwing books away and began the process of making the library better. Mrs. Melinda had no policy on which books she was going to throw away and which ones she was going to keep. If the books were torn or from the ‘70s or earlier, she trashed them. The only limit she had was to keep at least 3,000 books in the library, a legal requirement.

Mrs. Melinda ordered all of the books that are on Mrs. Cornish’s reading list, along with many others. Because she wanted to have books that all students would want to read, the majority of her orders consisted of fiction novels.

Since her complete overhaul of the library, Mrs. Melinda has noticed a major change in the number of students coming into the library and the frequency with which they check out books.

“There are students in and out of the library all of the time,” Mrs. Melinda said.

The library is new and improved with lots of new decorations and most importantly, tons of new books. Mrs. Melinda really enjoys her new job and hopes all of the students enjoy the new books she has brought into the library.

Though Mrs. Melinda is only in her first year of being the high school librarian, she is no newcomer to our school. She began teaching sixth grade in 2002. She soon realized that staying in a classroom wasn’t her thing, she wanted something different, a different routine. And the fact that she loves to read was just icing on the cake.

Mrs. Melinda now works in the high school library three days a week and at west elementary the other two day. She has really enjoyed the change in jobs. One might expect the tasks of a librarian to be quite dull and boring but Mrs. Melinda truly has a zest for her job.

Mrs. Melinda enjoys teaching everyone about the books and she like encouraging the younger kids to read. She often helps everyone find the type of books that they enjoy reading.

She, along with many of the students, is excited about the new changes she has made to the library.

“I personally feel that I have achieved my goal of making the library more interesting for students,” Mrs. Melinda said. “I really enjoy my job.”