The Librarian With a Plan
By Madison Slusser
“I did not enjoy reading all of those books.” Mrs. Diane Lynch confessed when speaking about reading over 250 young adult books from April of 2017 to February of 2018. She read them in order to select the best fifteen books with the High School Sequoyah Reading Committee; in turn, the students of Oklahoma have the opportunity to vote on their favorite books as well. She found that many selections were just the same story being told again and again, which was very frustrating and boring. To get through her gigantic to-read list, Mrs. Lynch took at least one book everywhere she went and often stayed up past her bedtime. “I like to meet interesting characters, explore their culture, and travel with them on their adventures,” Mrs. Lynch says about her favorite genre, fantasy. She appreciates the plot usually being “good v. evil” and not just a series of problems that we face in reality. She would rather have a break from those problems that we live with every day and escape to another world through a book.
As a reward for the countless hours spent reading these hundreds of books and being a part of the Sequoyah Committee, the high school library receives around three hundred free titles. These books are crucial in maintaining an updated library as the library does not receive a budget to buy new books. Managing the high school library while simultaneously accomplishing this task is not quite that simple. She usually has more than two activities that need to be dealt with all at the same time, which inevitably ensues just a little bit of procrastination. However, Mrs. Lynch admits that she loves doing it, even with all of the work that comes with it.