To read more about TinyCat’s Library of the Month feature, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

TinyCat’s Library of the Month for September, in honor of Back-to-School season, goes to a school library very close to LibraryThing’s Headquarters in Portland, Maine. Hailing a few minutes away from the town of Freeport, congrats to the Pine Tree Academy Library!

School Librarian Laura D. was kind enough to take my questions this month:

First, what is your library, and what is your mission—your “raison d’être”?

We are the library of Pine Tree Academy, an Adventist school spanning pre-K to 12th grade. The library serves mostly the elementary wing. Our “raison d’être”, bottom line, is to give our students the love of reading—for life. It is perhaps a tall order, but one that is definitely worthwhile. How rewarding to witness young minds fall in love with a book, an author, a series or an entire branch of human knowledge! We are here to ignite their minds through the printed page, to counterbalance the pull of the electronic screen. Our school strongly values literacy and chose two years ago to transform the computer lab into the new library when it converted to laptops. Students are attracted to the new room, which they experience as an oasis in the busy school day. We also come alongside the teachers in complementing their curricula, providing books covering everything from friendship for kindergarteners to American national symbols.

Tell us some interesting ways you support your community.

Right now we are conducting Orientation for K to 6th grade, which focuses on caring for and valuing the books. We teach the students that the books are theirs, and that borrowing them means sharing them with the whole community, which comes with responsibilities. We discuss rules for book care in detail with the help of the P.E.T. Patrol, which includes Officers Finnigan Magee and Tartar O’Sauce (pictured right).

Our next focus is to bring to our students a framework by which to understand the wealth and breadth of Creation, which they are discovering. Through the Dewey Decimal System, we can show them how human knowledge has been organized to be accessed. In this digital age, it is vital that the students understand what constitutes information, how it is used, and can be retrieved. Walking into the library to research a topic or find a book provides the missing link to the Google search box with its instant hits. In contrast to the virtual display, the children can experience directly the permanent information on the printed page.

What are some of your favorite items in your collection?

I am crazy about children’s picture books—unique stories with beautiful illustrations that ignite the imagination and make a new world come alive each time we open the book and read. I am also proud of our ever-growing Maine collection, which includes titles signed for the students by local authors and illustrators, as well as ancient and out-of-print stories, harkening back to a Maine of long ago.

Among our older collection, I discovered a little gem: The Family Nobody Wanted, by Helen Doss (pictured left), recounting the adventures of a “one family United Nations”, comprised of twelve children of mixed ethnic groups in the 1950’s, then considered un-adoptable. It was amazing how the Dosses’ love and care overcame the prejudices of the times.

What’s a particular challenge you experience as a small library?

With some 200 books added each year, we are running out of space! We also need more “people power” for circulation and shelving as the library is becoming a victim of its own success. Through TinyCat, patrons discover our lesser known titles, bringing more interest and more circulation, a good problem!

What’s your favorite thing about TinyCat? Anything you’d love to add?

One favorite thing? No, there are many things to love about TinyCat:

• The clean design and simplicity of use.
• The ability to offer public access to a search platform and online catalog like the public library—we’ve joined the Big Leagues! Now we can provide our teachers and students with more book info than before—reviews, related titles, lists from awards, etc.
• It is wonderful to create links tailored to the interests of our patrons, ready to go right on the home page!
• Last but not least, I appreciate how Kristi and her colleagues are so responsive and willing to assist us with all our questions. Belonging to TinyCat makes us part of a special group of books lovers that spans the world, and though very diverse, all sharing this desire to enrich the lives of others and open new horizons to them, regardless of our size or resources.

Want to learn more about the Pine Tree Academy Library? You can explore their library on TinyCat.

To read up on TinyCat’s previous Libraries of the Month, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

Calling all TinyCat libraries: become TinyCat’s next Library of the Month—just send us a Tweet @TinyCat_lib or email Kristi at kristi@librarything.com.