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By Diana Bowley, Of the NEWS Staff - GREENVILLE - Linda Hubbard McBrierty, K-12 librarian of Greenville schools, remembers the first year the Nickerson Elementary School library was organized. Parents and teachers worked together at fund raising in 1976 to purchase reading materials and to create a little nook that children could visit the one hour a day the library was open, McBrierty recalled Monday. Then a movement in 1987 to create a separate school for middle school pupils uprooted the elementary pupils and their library, both of which were absorbed into the high school building. The middle school pupils then took over the former elementary school. But budget cuts in 1992 made school officials reassess the decision to separate middle school pupils. With the need to share teaching staff in the high school and middle school evident, another shuffle was made and elementary pupils were returned to the Nickerson School building, but the library remained behind because of the limited staffing. Today, however, pupils no longer have to walk next door to get reading materials thanks to a federal grant and the dedication of parents, pupils and staff, whose help has established a new and expanded library in the all-purpose room of the elementary school. Although the library was opened in March, a dedication of the program was held May 31, when about 65 people, including children, celebrated the opportunity for expanded learning. For McBrierty, it's a dream come true. "Opening this library has been a total rejuvenation," she said. She no longer teaches western civilization classes in addition to her duties as librarian. While she still helps her assistant with the needs of high school students, McBrierty can now spend more quality time assisting elementary teachers and encouraging pupils to read. She wants to get young children hooked on reading early. That would not have been possible without a $67,000 federal library grant that McBrierty and others won for the school system in September. That money paid the salaries of two teachers who taught the Western civilization classes she previously taught. It also purchased a network of six terminals, two staff computers and 12 laptops for children. In addition to those funds, parents and staff members raised $4,125 that helped purchase about 500 award-winning and hardcover books for the library. "We're touting this as a children's and family literacy library," McBrierty said. Parents who home-school their children and pupils in day care are encouraged to use the facility as well, she said. "I hope that having the library here we can take a really good, close look at what student-centered learning is," McBrierty said. |