Emila Quintana, newly hired documentation technician at Vincent Massey Collegiate in Montreal, describes her love of children and libraries in this film. Emila is joined by English Montreal School Board Librarian, Julia Wagner who talks about how Emilia brought spirit and warmth to the library by making it a social place through her collaboration with administration, teachers and students.
Julia describes how Emilia’s initiatives made the library a point of pride at Vincent Massey Collegiate. Within a few months, Emilia initiated a mural painting project, got new shelves for the library and bought new computers too, something that the students particularly appreciated. All this was a product of working together for the common good of the library and the school.
The film also highlights the literacy initiative, EMSB Reads, an online book club in which students write about the books that they read. Julia talks about how EMSB Reads works and how Emilia’s encouragement of students elicited interesting book reviews. This is another example of collaboration between school board and school, in advancing student learning and fostering literacy.
Collaboration is a key theme in the Canadian Library Association Standards. VMC is a perfect example of how cooperation with administration and teachers was able to move the library to being a library learning commons, a place where creativity and curiosity is encouraged.
