It is safe to say the great old library at Amphitheater High School ain’t what it used to be.
The card catalog case has become storage space for stickers, staples and paper clips. The long lines of tables are gone now. The kerthumping sound of Xerox machines is a thing of the past, too, but rest easy Amphi alums.
“Different” in this case may mean “better than ever before.”
Classes resumed last week, and on the first day of school, the Amphi library was packed with more than 100 students during both of the school’s staggered lunch breaks.
Dozens of teens worked on library computers. Perhaps 50 more chattered happily about summer break in a central area arranged “café” style, and no one was happier to see them than Taryn Burlison.
“I missed them!” the school’s head librarian confessed. “It’s too quiet when they aren’t here.”
“Too quiet” aren’t words we often hear from librarians, but they may explain why Amphi has become a shining example of what school libraries can be in a world that often views them as expendable.
Shrinking budgets and political pressures are making life hard on all American libraries, but school libraries seem especially vulnerable. Many new schools, in fact, are designed without libraries at all. So far, at least, Tucson’s second-oldest school district has resisted the trend.
All 21 Amphitheater schools have libraries and librarians. Amphi High has perhaps one of the largest library spaces of any school in Pima County, a library staff of three, and a collection of 20,000 books.
“I’m the luckiest librarian in Tucson,” Burlison said, but even luckier are the students who are drawn each day into her “office.”
Burlison began her career as a student teacher at Amphi in the early 2000s, then spent 15 years as a librarian and teacher at Flowing Wells. She returned to Amphi five years ago as the school’s head librarian.
“I still consider myself a teacher, but honestly this works better for me,” she said. “As a teacher, I spent a lot of time talking at my students. Now I can speak with them, asking what what their interests are, what they like to do, helping them find books that tap into who they are. I’m not here to grade them. I’m here to help them.”
As a teacher, Burlison said, she felt more like a mommy. “Now I’m the auntie. I think I’m better at that.”
Burlison pushes back on the notion that today’s young people are less interested in reading, or in books.
“From my perspective, no, I don’t think things have changed that much at all,” she said. “There have always been kids who have hated to read and kids who love it. What has changed is how they read … and what they read.”
Like their parents, some students now read books on Kindles, Nooks and laptops. Others prefer audio books. As for what they read, it’s a whole new world out there.
“Right here in my office, I see two books with people of color on the cover — both female. There’s a ‘Black Panther’ novel. An adventure sci-fi. Kids go mad over graphic novels and manga. There is a lot out there now for young people to read. No matter what a young person looks like or what they like to do, there are books that speak to them — featuring young people just like themselves.”
“Auntie Taryn” has learned to listen when a student begins a question in a whisper.
“I’m about to learn something about them that not everyone knows,” she said. “They may ask for a book about LGBTQ, or depression, or a medical challenge. I need to be there for them.”
“Mommy Taryn” steps up as a technology teacher, checking out Chromebooks and guiding students to the best tools for online research.
Burlison wears another hat, too: bookshop manager.
Nonprofits such as First Book and Books for Classrooms help schools acquire free or deeply discounted books. “You might be surprised how many ways we’re able to get books,” Burlison said. “I’ve gotten really good at begging.”
Some of these new copies go onto the shelves at Amphi. Others are given directly to students, many of whom come from families that are stretched tight, financially.
“We have a Free Book Room,” Burlison explained. “If we see a student’s eyes light up when they see a book, it’s theirs.”
At last count, Amphi librarians had given away more than 3,500 books in the last five years. Students learning English as a second or third language are often her best customers.
Burlison is troubled by the fact some legislators, and even some educators, undervalue the importance of school libraries.
“I once belonged to a robust book club of Tucson school librarians,” she said. “That group is a lot smaller now, and it’s a shame. Here at Amphi, the library is the heart of the school. We’re full every day at lunch time. We have students who feel safer here than anywhere else in the world; who grow up here, right before our eyes. It’s just an amazing place to be.”
FOOTNOTES
Tucson’s community of readers and writers will not soon forget Aurelie Sheehan, who died Aug. 3. She had been a professor of English at the University of Arizona since 2000, but no one knew her as Professor Sheehan. She was Aurelie, a kind, supportive mentor and friend. Sheehan was also a gifted author who published two novels and four collections. “Demigods on Speedway,” released in 2014, was a collection of short stories about Tucson. Until recently, Sheehan chaired the Department of English. A public remembrance will be held for her this fall on campus.
The Sealey Challenge, a monthlong readathon created by poet Nicole Sealey, will continue through Aug. 31. The challenge: read one book of poetry every day, all month long. It is being co-hosted this year by the UA Poetry Center, which is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more at poetry.arizona.edu.
