Libraries
A passport to other worlds and key resources
The novelist Zadie Smith has said, “The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential.”
The libraries at Paideia live up to that top billing. An essential part of educating our students, the libraries are well resourced, thoughtfully curated and filled with knowledgeable staff constantly opening doors to our students — through books, journals and an array of digital resources.
While students are our main focus, we have made the libraries gathering places for learners of all stripes, including faculty, staff and parents. To enlarge the circle of readers, we encourage parents to check out books that can be shared at home with all members of the family.
A culture of eager scholarship has always existed at Paideia, and we recognize — and celebrate — the library’s central role in facilitating research, enabling knowledge acquisition and broadening knowledge of what it means to be human. As a rich resource and place of welcome, the libraries do their part to set students on a course of lifelong learning.
In an internet age, libraries are anchors, one of our most reliable sources of information literacy. By some estimates, the volume of human knowledge is doubling every 12 hours, which is why Paideia’s libraries are central to the educational enterprise: they help users acquire the skills to use information competently and ethically.
As students progress through the school, the library provides increasingly sophisticated pathways for them to conduct research with a variety of media, know how to locate sources, evaluate the reliability of the information they are accessing and synthesize what they learn.
Library Resources
Junior High & High School Library Online
Search the library catalog, link to research databases, summer reading, ebooks and other resources.
Elementary School Library Online
Visit to access library catalog, reading lists, research databases and parent resources.
Summer Reading Lists
The Elementary library fosters love of storytelling
There is always something special about going where the books are and unlocking their treasures. Located in Python Hall, the Elementary library is a beloved spot on campus, getting young students excited about reading early.
The Elementary library staff work hand-in-glove with faculty to support the curriculum. Beyond having access to so many appealing stories, students visit the library for regularly scheduled classes that promote, among other things, reading comprehension and cyber ethics. And as their perspectives are broadened through reading, students delight in inclusion and actively express empathy for others.
The library is a regular go-to place on campus. Kindergarten through 4th-5th-grade students visit once a week and 5th-6th-grade students come every other week. Always a hive of activity, the Elementary library features read-alouds and book discussions, opportunities to read for pleasure and seek information, and rich chances for students to lose and find themselves among more than 13,000 titles. The read-alouds generate thought-provoking discussion about current events, history, social issues and life experiences. Children will also begin developing early research skills to prepare them for Junior High and High School.
The Junior High and High School library advances mature scholarship
As class material grows more sophisticated for Junior High and High School students, the library is a reminder of a firm promise kept at Paideia — namely, that reading for pleasure never ends. Making themselves available for classroom book-talk visits and individual consultation as well as compiling summer reading lists, our librarians are always teeing up something special to expand the mind and stir the imagination.
Research skills are crucial for students at this stage, and they are reinforced both in the curriculum and in programming at the library, which also delves into related issues such as copyright and academic integrity awareness.
“Book” your summer fun
Thankfully, the joy of reading never has to take a holiday. Our librarians issue summer reading lists for Half Day and Elementary, Junior High and High School.
Half Day & Elementary
There is no required summer reading for Half Day and Elementary. However, our collection deserves a careful look over the summer because it includes many of the best books new to our library during the past year. And how’s this for service? If you can’t get to the library during its summer hours, email our librarians; they can check books out to you and leave them in the outdoor bin.
Junior High
In Junior High, there is a required summer book and assignments related to it that are completed through Google Classroom. Each rising 7th- and 8th-grade student is required to read a minimum of three additional free-choice books over the summer and complete a response form for each one.
High School
And all rising 9th-12th-graders will read a minimum of three books over the summer, including one specific title assigned by your fall-term English teacher, plus any two free choices.