"There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love."

...Christopher Morley

School Life

Library

With the goal of creating lifelong readers, the library promotes an atmosphere of exploration and autonomy by introducing literature relevant to student concerns at each grade.  Our library has a deep and diverse collection that supports academic pursuits as well as personal enjoyment.  Seven Hills students discover books and materials that suit their interest and their level of reading, year after year.

The large, airy library offers room for multiple classes.  Many of the students love to take their books and projects up the ladder and into the loft where they can have a deeper interaction with the literature or with their buddies.  Other students enjoy our storytelling area, surrounded by windows that look out onto the tree-tops and nature.  It is the perfect spot for a live poetry reading or a quiet chat with a classmate.  There are window seats and book-reading nooks that also promote curling up with one’s favorite book, be it of dinosaurs or fairy tales.  Students have access to computers spread throughout the library.  Middle school students have their collection of fiction and non-fiction housed in a separate room where they can engage in serious research or find just the right thing for leisure reading.  We also have an extensive collection of reference materials, both in hard copy and in the Gale/Infotrac online databases.

All grades visit the library once a week to hear a story and check out books.  Students are also welcome to come to the library during most recesses and lunch times, to read or play a variety of games and puzzles.  As students progress through the library curriculum they acquire the skills to understand how libraries are organized and how subjects are classified.  They learn how to convert their questions into the language of subject headings and how to navigate an increasingly information-dense world to find the relevant items for their projects.  They acquire a spirit of active inquiry which serves them well in their lifelong quest for information literacy.

Our 18,000 piece collection contains not only books, but other media as well.  We support the classroom teachers by having an extensive collection of realia (“real things”), CDs, DVD’s, and videos.  The entire school community is invited to check out from this wealth of resources.  We welcome visits from parents and encourage the whole family to check out books of interest. 

Both the avid reader and the reluctant ones find a home at the Seven Hills Library.  The students here engage the world in a variety of ways, from the child who desires all the books on dragonflies to the child who wants a biography of a Civil War spy or a book of poetry by Muslim poets.  At Seven Hills, our student body looks very much like our library:  diverse, eclectic, and full of knowledge.