Interview with Robert Walsh: Veazie Street Elementary School Librarian
Robert Walsh is the school Librarian at Veazie Street Elementary School in Providence RI. I had the opportunity to be on the interview committee that hired him for the position back in March 2021. I worked with Mr. Walsh last year when I was a first-grade teacher. It was nice to set up the interview with him, but I feel like I have been interviewing him since I decided to change careers.
We started with a quick check in. Mr. Walsh described this year as better than last year regarding his school librarian position. The collection at Veazie Street School currently has 9,720 books. The average age of the collection is from 1997 making the average age of the books, 26 years old. The average age of fiction books is 2003 and 1996 for nonfiction. He feels nonfiction books are older. He gave the example of the average age of the social science collection is 1992. In his first year at Veazie, he concentrated on developing the fiction collection.
He is currently selecting books to support the mandated reading program that the Providence School Department adopted. For example, the American Reading Company (ARC) asks second grade students to research jobs in the community. His collection did not support materials needed to complete the research. This is how he is currently selecting books to support the teaching and learning of the community. I asked if the books he is selecting will be useful if the current reading program is replaced. He explained the books have a wider audience than outlined in the curriculum and would be useful to second-grade students doing a reading research project.
Mr. Walsh follows different librarians on Instagram. He integrates the materials and information shared by others to help guide his discissions when selecting new material. He watches the books that are recommended and then looks at other reviews. If he feels that they would be a good fit for his library, he adds the title to his Follett wish list.
We then discussed strategies he uses to get his students to look beyond graphic novels and certain series. We talked about the circulation of nonfiction. He explained a strategy that he is employing is to try to get students to check out a variety of books. He has started making mini collections in bins and making them visible and accessible. He decided to do this because the students do not want to search the stacks. The books’ covers can be seen as the students look through the bins. He has had success with widening the students’ interest in, and selection of new materials. He has been rotating the bins monthly.
He began weeding the collection looking at books with multiple copies. He removed them from the collection but saved copies that teachers have used. He then looked at the library circulation data to determine if books should be removed because of lack of interest by the users of the library. He suggested that I wait for the three days at the end of the year when the Providence School department provides librarians with three working days to cull through inventory. He found that he did most of his weeding during this time.
Currently, he has started a school newspaper with some of the fourth and fifth grade students. He does this during his scheduled “open library” time. With the schedule constraints, he does not have time in his day for many other programs.
I asked what he struggles with as a school librarian, he spoke about the 30 minute blocks being a struggle. The transition and stacked classes eat up library instruction time.
He is most proud of the relationships he has built with the students of Veazie Street Elementary School. He uses the time during morning duty to greet students and their families. This has allowed him to gain greater understanding and trust of many of the families.
This assignment allowed me to gage how my first year as a school librarian is going. I think of this year as an introduction to my current job. Mr. Walsh has generously provided encouragement and suggestions to improve my ability to do this job. The one thing that I am truly looking forward to is getting to know the families of my new students. I have not had that opportunity yet, but it is something I am looking forward to.