SHOSHANA FIALA: GRASSROOTS LIBRARIAN

Proviso Math and science PMSA has about 900 students. 70%
academy is a blue ribbon identify as hispanic and 20% identify as
black.
school servicing west “it was my first
cook county library job”

P
M
S TO REFLECT THESE DEMOGRAPHICS, Ms. fiala
A focuses on diverse authorship within her
collection.
dUE TO LOW CIRCULATION STATS, SHE HAS STOPPED
PURCHASING NON-ENGLISH TEXTS, A BUDGETARY
sHOSHANA fiALA HAS BEEN THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN SINCE 2010 DECISION WITH CONSEQUENCES FOR ELL STUDENTS.

DURING HER TENURE, THE SCHOOL HAS HAD 7 PRINCIPALS AND 4 SUPERINTENDENTS. HER
RESPONSE TO THIS ADMINISTRATIVE INSTABILITY HAS BEEN TO CULTIVATE A “GRASSROOTS”
LIBRARY PROGRAM.

“more tech=more risk”

“I focus on the
things within my
locus of
control..greeting “My responsibility is
every student, to make a safe, quiet
making eye contact, space”
Because the district shares only 2 it
my rapport with
personnel and each admin team has adopted students and
a drastically different approach to tech,
ms. fiala has focused her energies on other teachers”
aspects of the school library program
 pmsa has an open, responsive library
schedule, sTUDENTS PRIMARILY VISIT
DURING THEIr LUNCH PERIODS. MS. FIALA
HAS ESTABLISHED HER OWN SIGN UP SYSTEM.

pmsA used to offer before and after school

dESPITE THE ABSENCE OF ROBUST DIGITAL
LITERACY PROGRAMMING OR MAKERSPACES, MS.
library time, but funding has been cut. as a
FIALA IS PROUD TO HAVE VUILD A QUITE SPACE result, one of ms. fiala’s challenges is to find
FOR STUDYING AND READING time during the school day for student’s to visit
(FROM THE GROUND UP!) the library.

Pull books and

“i’VE NEVER BEEN databases for
teacher requests
ASKED BY ADMIN
TO BE PART OF
THE CURRICULUM Teach database
classes
PROCESS”

(covid) How to narrow

down topic

Pre-covid lunch hours would see see upwards of 50-70 students. post- thIS IS WHERE HER
covid, it has grown from a handful of students to an average of 20-25 RELATIONSHIP WITH TEACHERS
per lunch and rising. COMES IN TO PLAY

A big collaboration success with ela teachers was setting students up on a “blind date with a book”

SO UH, WHAT DO
YOU DO FOR A ...i’M A BOOK
LIVING?

Because of the success of this program in supporting individual literacy, ela teachers now regularly sign up for circulation time in the
library.
 PROS cy IN
ra FO
Because of the lack of l it
e LI R M
TE A
administrative support d ia R A T IO
Me CY N
THE
for tech, ms. fiala has
establish an analgoue But this has the added SWEET
SPOT
benefit of supporting
“old school” holds
relationships with
system
students and building a Ms. FIala no longer refers to standards on a
discourse around books regular basis: “after 14 years, i know why i
teach what i teach.”

CONS
and reading preferences still, the core i-sail pillars of media and
digital literacy are well integrated into her
isntruction.

WHEN ASKED BY CLASSROOM TEACHERS TO ASSIST WITH INSTRUCTION, all group LEARNING is
supplemented with 1-on-1 instruction when needed. hER LIBRARY WEBSITE ALSO
INCLUDES VIDEO TUTORIALS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH VIRTUAL ASSISTANCE AT THEIR POINT
OF NEED. she encourages students to advocate for themselves when they need extra
support.

She has found that the growing popularity IN THE MEANTIME, TO compensate and
of dynamic shelving has led to a decrease improve the functionality of her space,
in familiarity with the dewey decimal ms. fiala’s library has robust signage.
system.
she is now considering the move to dynamic
shelving herself. “I focus on the
things that are
Biographies
important and
IO N

HERE! that i can

history

F IC T
science

MYSTERY

control”
S T IC I
REAL

she also knows her collection really,

really well. suPER DUPER WELL.
sHE IS VERY PLEASED WITH READING AND
CIRCULATION AT HER SCHOOL. THIS COULD BE
CREDITED T0 HER EMPHASIS ON BUILDING
RAPPORT AND CREATING A WELCOMING AND
SAFE SPACE. HER MOTTO? “ORGANIZED,
ORDERLY, CLEAN, AND FRIENDLY.”
RELATIONSHIP
READING BUILDING LEARNING

While ms. fiala’s library program at pmsa may not be the most innovative or tech-
circulation forward, she has built a system that touches each of the shared foundations of the aasl
ahead! standards framework. her students are taught core resarch skills, information access,
and media literacy. the most notable impression, however, is of a school and student
body that values reading and learning.

ms. fiala has only ever faced one book challenge from her school OVERALL, MS. FIALA HAS FOUND THAT THE
community...and it was from her own principal objecting to an lgbtq+ “OLD FASHIONED” WAY OF RUNNING HER
title on the summer reading list LIBRARY HAS BEEN VALUABLE. IN FACT,
SIGNS POINT TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF
SUCCESSFUL RESULTS.

red tape “it encourages

conversation
and teaches
students to ask
for help”
MS. FIALA DEFENDED THE SELECTION, CITING BOOK REVIEW PUBLICATIONS. AND
HER DEFENSE WAS SUCCESSFUL!

aND THOUGH THIS PRACTICE

STARTED OUT OF NECESSITY,
“IT IS NOW BY CHOICE”