In the information age, libraries and extraordinary librarians are the gatekeepers to 21st-century learning. At CCDS, we’re proud to boast two fine library facilities to serve our preK-12 students and faculty. We’ve deemed our librarians “techbrarians,” as they guide students through our print collections, online resources, electronic databases, and video archives. This year, our techbrarians have taken on the effort of making our complete circulation available.
The Hopple Library
Serving the Lower School, the Hopple Library collection and its librarian seek to instill in our youngest students a passion for books and a facility with information. Our goal is to promote lifelong learning by ensuring that students are effective users of information and ideas. During their weekly visits, students learn valuable information literacy skills with applications across the curriculum. To encourage a passion for and knowledge of literature, students are exposed to a wide array of authors, illustrators, and genres. Special events and celebrations are held throughout the year to promote further student literacy, including the following:
- Author Day
- Children’s Book Week
- DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Day
- Right to Read Week
The Middle and Upper School Library
The library that serves our Middle and Upper School students and the facility may be as unique architecturally as it is philosophically. The floorplan is completely open—no doors or gates—inviting browsing at all hours and leaning heavily on our core values for check out and return. Our Middle- and Upper-School students engage in research that builds in sophistication each year. Supporting that work is our fine collection of online resources in addition to our print media (see catalog). Our techbrarian visits classes to promote literacy skills, and even serves as an adjunct member of the history department to advise juniors in their research papers—the largest research endeavor in which students participate during their CCDS experience.
The Middle and Upper School facility also houses a large supply of paperback novels for leisure reading by faculty, staff, and students. The collection accepts on-going donations from community members, and borrowing from the collection is based on the honor system.
Upper School faculty and students participate in the “Read-In” during the month of October each year. During this program classes are cancelled and everyone is simply expected to read—whether it be a classroom text, best-selling novel, daily newspaper, or favorite magazine.