(Sun streams into a library empty of people. AI generated image)

By: Shaylyn Melquist, Jaynah Snyder, and Braden Boudoin

Heather Tome’s last day as school librarian at Warren Area High School is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8.   Unless the school board votes otherwise at its next meeting, WAHS will no longer have a full-time librarian. Heidi Colosimo will be available to students as the new part-time school librarian during seventh and eighth periods daily. 

Tome has been tapped to replace Rebecca Gnage at Beaty-Warren Middle School following Gnage’s retirement.

While students welcome Colosimo, some expressed their concerns over the loss of Tome, who has long been a fixture at WAHS. 

“It’s sad.  There’s no purpose in her leaving,” said Carrie Steinman, grade 12. “She’s a good librarian.  I don’t think it’s a smart idea for them to move her.” 

“I don’t like it. She’s been in this school and helps a lot,” said Isabella Smith, grade 11. “She puts a lot of effort into her work, and Beaty… needs to figure it out on their own.” 

Library resources will likely be limited when a librarian is only available two periods a day.  For classes that visited the library in recent weeks, Tome has been training students on how to use the Destiny Catalog to find and reserve books.  

Some questions remain, however, such as how Warren County Career Center students and others who have do not have an afternoon study hall will be able to access a librarian when self-help does not meet their needs.   

“It will affect a lot of people,” Smith said. “Mrs. Tome has helped me a lot in my years at this school.” 

Another concern is that teachers who use research projects in their classes will have to learn and teach the library resources themselves, as a librarian will not be available for most classes.  Teachers will also likely have to checkout and transport textbooks and novels for all of their classes during their prep periods, instead of bringing classes to the library for students to checkout their own books. 

“I think it will affect how I teach,” said English teacher Brandy Heathcote. “I tried to prepare myself to teach students how to use academic databases for research, but the Gale Center resources weren’t available through the library webpage where Mrs. Tome has shown me in the past.  They got moved to ClassLink this year, which took me by surprise.  That’s the sort of problem you run into when you don’t have the expert handy.” 

Tome expressed her own concerns about the future of libraries in the Warren County School District. She said she fears that if she leaves, WAHS may not get a new fulltime librarian next year, either.