The Staples library, appropriately located near the cafeteria and auditorium, provides a vast amount of books for students to check out. Some students utilize the school library, while others use alternative resources.
The main reason that students check out books at the school library is because of the convenience. Beatrice Gomes ’14 commented that the school library is “already at school.”
While some students rarely check out books from the school library, “there are 75 to 100 regulars” that check out books consistently, estimated Margaret Parkhurst, a paraprofessional at the library.
According to the library’s fall destiny software, more than 2,000 books have been checked out between August and October as of Oct. 14 at 11:22 a.m.
Raspati Horrigan, a librarian, said that out of all the books checked out by the student body, more are for class assignments rather than free reads.
Despite the high number of books that have been checked out at the school library, there are still many students that get their books elsewhere.
Robin Stiles, a librarian, explained that many students don’t check out books from the library because they are opposed to the $0.15 daily fine for overdue library books that can accumulate up to the maximum of $6 per item. In addition, if a book is lost, the student has to pay the cost which can range from around 10 to a few hundred dollars.
Therefore, Barnes & Noble is a popular alternative resource where some students prefer to buy their own books. Jon Osorio ’14 shared that he prefers to own the books he reads so that he can write notes inside them.
In addition, Sofia Weinberg ’15 commented that she likes “to own the book [so that she] can reread it.”
Another resource that students are using to get their books is technology. Karsten Guo ’15 said that he buys books on his Kindle through Amazon. He added that downloading books on electronic devices is “becoming more popular for students” and may eventually replace reading hard copies.
