Meet WHS Librarian, Amy Fiske

Amy Fiske is the new Winchester High School Librarian. With years of experience relating to teens as a librarian at the Boston Public Library, she was keen on moving to a school library position to be more embedded in students’ lives and have a greater impact -- as a teacher as well as curator of a library collection.

“Libraries are not book museums,” she told me, “They’re supposed to be collaborative learning spaces. If you can keep kids reading, that’s how you keep them curious and learning. Besides, I just really like teenagers.”

Of course, she had to invest time in the additional training required to be certified -- education courses and a practicum working under another high school librarian.

Ms. Fiske wants to strengthen and expand the library’s online resources. “Reference information has become more and more digital. The students could definitely use more of these resources.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, for example, is not only continually updated, but also available from any computer, even when the school building is closed. (As in, late at night when many teens are doing assignments.)

She is also working to foster more recreational or leisure reading done voluntarily by students. “Reading to be really immersed in a book, to ‘check out’ for a time, is just good for kids. It’s key to have titles students will like. I overheard one student saying, ‘Yeah, the library has good books now,’ so I think they’re noticing.”

National studies have shown recreational reading correlates with higher scores on reading and writing tests and other positives. To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence  The concentration and sustained attention involved in reading contrasts with the fast-changing, distracting experience of multi-tasking with electronic devices, which teens spend more and more time doing.

Overall, she wants to be sure students become adept evaluators of information, particularly from electronic sources. “Years ago, when you walked into a library, you knew everything in it had been vetted. Nowadays, the Internet comes into the library; I can’t vet the Internet.”