With the season of research papers looming over the school like a storm cloud, students are flocking to the library in droves. But as classes file in, pondering theses and dreading the next few weeks of school, they’re greeted by a pleasant surprise. The tables are dressed in tablecloths and finery, plates aligned around the table ready for a dinner party, each with its own course: a book. Just as the awe begins to fade, a woman enters from around the corner in her full chef’s attire with a smile to light up the room.
Events like this may become a common occurrence in the library as students welcome Kim Garee, the new school librarian.
The process to hire a new librarian began last school year as the previous librarian retired from her role. The search went on for multiple months, with staff sorting through various candidates.
Since being hired, Garee has not stopped working on the library. Her ideas for the space were endless.
“She spent so [much] time coming in to the point where [Lori] Browning had to tell her to leave every once in a while and had a summer,” E.B. Smith, an English teacher and one of the committee members who hired Garee said.
But even after working through her summer, Garee has not slowed down. She has big plans for the library, starting in the little supply closet in the back, which she means to transform into a podcast/film booth.
“I want to mirror what we’re seeing in workplaces,” Garee said. “Because if you go and look where students who have graduated in the last ten years are working, [it] doesn’t look like some of the spaces we have in schools.”
Though Garee’s life has led her to our library, she was not always a librarian. In fact, her career started in journalism.
After majoring in English with a creative writing specialty, Garee wanted to pursue her passion for writing, finding that the only way to do so and get enough money to live on was working as a reporter for a newspaper in the Buckeye Lake area.
“I didn’t want to be a journalist,” Garee said. ” [but] it was probably the best thing that happened to me as a writer.”
Garee’s career soon led her into teaching English at Northridge High School for 15 years. She did not want to leave her teaching job, but after their librarian retired, the school was left without access to the library’s resources.
“We were missing a big, important part of what we needed as an English department,” Garee said.
So she took on the mantle of librarian and fell in love with the position. She began fostering change in her library, trying to transition the space into a more self-directed area.
In fact, that was what lead her to Granville.
Garee met superintendent Jeff Brown at a conference and they discussed Granville’s self-directed teaching style. Garee was so intrigued by this style of learning that when a position opened, she entered her hat into the ring.
“I thought: what would it be like to jump on board something that was already in motion like that?” Garee said regarding Granville’s implementation of more student-directed learning.
Garee left Northridge High School, to the chagrin of many students, according to social studies teacher Elizabeth Muhlenkamp, who formerly worked with Garee.
“[She was] so loved that [Northridge High School was] like: this hurts that you’re leaving,” Muhlenkamp said.
Although she took a winding road on the path to Granville, Garee has left a long and joyous legacy behind her, including a book series. In fact, Garee’s third novel has just been released, bringing an exciting new chapter to her “Together” series.
The novels revolve around a young reporter in the 1920s who finds love around the Buckeye Lake area. Garee used her own experiences in the area as well as copious amounts of research to bring these books together, and she intends to put that same passion into the library
So now when students enter the library, they can vote on all the different ways dogs can wear pants, paint rocks at the craft station or just enjoy how she decorates the area for every class that comes in. No matter what they do in the library, there will always be a friendly face waiting to help them, and that’s Kim Garee.
