Winter 2015 TLJ

can recommend books to her peers and
encourage them to participate in clubs.
We know that the digital divide still
exists. The digital divide separates
students who have access to tools like
tablets, smartphones, laptop computers,
or printers at home and those students
who do not. Students who do not have
access need to have extended library
hours so they can utilize these tools at
the library or, even more importantly,
have tools like laptops and tablets that
can be loaned to them so they too can
download digital books and read them at
school and at home. I know Mr. Heath
and his administrative team are making
the library available to students before
and after school by providing budget for
staffing. Thank you.
Recently Darvin Koenig, Sharyland
North Junior High librarian, shared an
article with all the district librarians. The
title of the article is “Neil Gaiman: Why
our future depends on libraries, reading,
and daydreaming.” I’m going to share
some of Mr. Gaiman’s words with you.
Mr. Gaiman is a popular young adult
author and library advocate.
Libraries are places that people go to
for information. Books are only the
tip of the information iceberg; they
are there, and libraries can provide you
freely and legally with books. More
children are borrowing books than
ever before – books of all kinds: paper
and digital and audio.
The simplest way to make sure that
we raise literate children is to teach
them to read, and to show them that
reading is a pleasurable activity. Show
them reading is pleasurable by helping
them find books that they enjoy, give
them access to lots of books to select
from, and letting them read during
the school day so that they will want
to continue to read on their own.
We need our children to get onto
the reading ladder: anything that they
enjoy reading will move them up rung
by rung, into literacy.
Mr. Gaiman chose to close his article
with a quote from Albert Einstein. Albert
Einstein was once asked how we could
make our children to be intelligent.
Einstein said, “Read them fairy tales. If
you want them to be more intelligent,
read them more fairy tales.” Mr. Einstein
understood the value of reading, and
of imagining. I hope we can give our
children a world in which they will
read, and be read to, and imagine, and
understand.
It is with pride and enthusiasm that
we all gather to dedicate this beautiful
new library in honor of David Garcia.
Mr. Garcia was an involved and caring
community member of Sharyland. I’m
positive that the Garcia family – his wife
Irma, his daughter Bianca, sons Rico and
Sam, and nephew Willie McAllen – will
take a vested interest in contributing
to the library by volunteering time and
contributing to the library outreach and
programming through sponsorships.
Thank you.
This week is Teen Read Week. The Young
Adult Library Services Association or
YALSA began Teen Read Week with the
sole purpose of encouraging teens to be
regular readers and library users. Our
secondary librarians have been hosting
guest speakers, creating Six Word Memoir
Walls, encouraging students to enter
the 2014 Creative Writing Competition
hosted by the local public library,
having book club meetings, and most
importantly, reading stories to students.
Mrs. Flores came to my library Thursday
morning at 7 am. She was there to borrow
a book of stories to read aloud to her
students as part of her Teen Read Week
Celebration. She was borrowing the
anthology of cuentos titled Stories that
Must Not Die by Dr. Juan Sauvageu. She
knows and understands the message that
Albert Einstein shared. Reading stories
and reading for pleasure is key.
She also picked up a class set of books
for Pioneer advance placement history
teacher Diane Butcher. The book set was
I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai. Malala
was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for
her tireless commitment to the education
of all girls in Pakistan and around the
globe. Malala is the youngest recipient
of this award. It is very possible that the
next Malala is going to be a student who
uses the Pioneer High School Library.
The potential of students who discover
the passion of education and the love
of reading is unlimited. The guides to
reading and education can be found at
each library. They are the librarians.
In closing, I ask all of you to reach into
your pockets today and support the
Pioneer High School Library with a
donation. Today, I have a gift for Mrs.
Flores from the district librarians. The
librarians all contributed personally to
present this gift card to Hobby Lobby
to you Mrs. Flores to assist you with
making your library the welcoming home
to students now and in the future. As
the lead librarian, I am also donating to
the Pioneer High School Library. I know
the support for all libraries in Sharyland
ISD will continue to grow and multiply
to benefit all of our students as well as
faculty, staff, parents, and community
members. Working together, we can
support the libraries and librarians of
Sharyland ISD to ensure success for
all students.
Thank you. J
SISD Students: Ben Ho-shing, Angela Gomez, Sele​na Aguirre,
Karla Acuña, Rocio Villalobos and Cassandra Alaniz.
Nicole Cruz is the lead librarian
at Sharyland ISD.
2015 Annual Conference Edition: SYNC UP! 7