Warmest Environment in the School: The Library

It’s 2:30 pm on a Friday afternoon, the schoolwork has become unbearable, and for more than one student the idea of being locked up in a class with 20 other classmates is not a viable option; the school’s library offers a mild space for individuals to either deepen their understanding or have a place to de-stress.

For more than 20 years the library has become a place where students hang out as they work and has shown how the library’s environment is suitable for them to not do various things including non-academic.

 

What Does The Library Have?

The middle and high school library have been the place for more than 700 students, and TCS staff members to be able to find the resources they need, the help they’re seeking, and the ambiance for a quiet work session. The school’s library helps many individuals each day accomplish tasks from a peaceful reading or writing session to an undisturbed time for you and your mates; it’s the place where not only students but also the school’s faculty have access to use when pleased.

“In the library, you can find a collaborative ambient where you can find other people to discuss your work, or to discuss a problem you weren’t able to solve, but it is also an area for independent study,” said Carolina Penagos, Senior at TCS.

It offers a sitting area, a resting area, and a computer area for you to do the tasks you need to work on; not to talk about the many books and resources provided to find useful answers to the many questions each of the 700 students and staff have each day. Not only that, but it’s also a place for individuals to have some time away from the heavy school environment, a time to be used as you want where there are no teachers bugging you.

“It is a space where students are freer, they come by their own will, while in a class they already know that they have to comply with a behavior demanded by the teacher and sometimes it’s better for them to have a space to be alone,” said Lina Isaza, one of the school librarians in High School at TCS.

 

Why is this Library different?

The upper library of the school, in comparison to the lower library located in first grade at TCS, can mainly be separated by the amount of work done and the environment each of them produces. The lower library gives the elementary students a more quiet and rigid kind of structure where the upper can be more free with the reasons to be there.

Regarding other libraries, this school library is not the typical one; in a way it has more free passes to kind of discuss with others and do what you want; it’s more liberal with the talking but it still a library so you are not allowed to eat, be disrespectful, and of course interrupt others workspace and environment

“It is not the typical library where you have to be silent and be quiet, but here you feel relaxed to talk about what is personal or academic. There are certain restrictions but I feel that the welcome we give them makes them feel calm in a certain way,” said Isaza.

“The library is always available to you even before class starts, its a good workplace with caring, enthusiastic and amazing people that work here,” said Felipe Hoyos, Sophomore at TCS.

The library includes an area dedicated for you to rest, read, and talk with the people you want to; its a way for students to come and have either reading time or a place to de-stress and be in a calmer environment away from the loudness of High School.

“The carpet area could be used as a place to rest for people that are tired and need to relax,” added Hoyos.

The school’s librarian, Connie Gonzalez, is confident that the resting area is necessary and a great way for students to let out steam and be in a harmonious place to think of anything but academic work. It portrays a corner in the school for everyone to have some alone time.

“Every single time you come to every single place in the school, the purpose is just academic, so you need a place wherever you can have a time for not thinking at all or just relaxing, having a rest. Even though we are in an open place,” Said Gonzalez.

For some students like Penagos, a resting area is just a place where students take up valuable space to sleep, where other students could use to finish their work or do something academic. “The area of the poofs are very comfortable for reading and I personally don’t like it when people are sleeping there because I think they are taking up space for people to read comfortably.”

 

How’s The Library Environment

From the second you enter to the time you leave the library gives you a safe and soothing environment to be able to have a space to do what you need and the space to find the right tools for your work.

“It is a space that breathes a calmer atmosphere than in the whole school, a space of relaxation,” said Hoyos. “We come by our own will, while in a class we already know that we have to fulfill with a behavior demanded by the teacher.”

Students feel they can concentrate more on this type of ambiance and always find the motivation to be judicious and a place to be more focused than in another part of the school. The library is the right place for students, teachers, and staff members to find a co-operative surrounding and a place to think of nonwork-related topics.

“In the four years I ’ve been working in the school’s library, I believe it’s been a dynamic environment with a good energy of the students, cheerful and with an academic interest, “ said Isaza.