2,446 books. That’s a lot of books circulated to the students at Govans Elementary School (GES) for the 2024-25 school year – nearly 70% of GES’s entire library collection.
It was also the 4th highest circulation in all of Baltimore City for Bibliovation Circulations.
“This is a remarkable achievement and a direct reflection of your dedication, creativity, and commitment to meeting the needs of your school community,” noted Brooke M. Grams, J.D., M.S.Ed., Coordinator, Library and Media Services for Baltimore City Public Schools, the educational partner for Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP), the neighborhood conversion charter school operator that manages GES. Kate Walsh-Little and a class of excited readers.
Ms. Grams lauded the work of Kate Walsh-Little, GES Librarian, and her “engaging displays to thoughtful collection development and meaningful relationships with students and staff.”
Ms. Walsh-Little, GES Librarian for the past year and a half, knows exactly what it takes to get kids excited about reading. Prior to her full-time role as Librarian, she was the Library Media Specialist and a reading intervention teacher at GES.
“I just completed my Library Media Specialist certification and learned a lot in my classes about how to encourage circulation,” says Ms. Walsh-Little. “One key factor is that I surveyed students about which books they wanted to read. My Principal, Bernarda Kwaw, helped me secure some funding through a City Schools reading grant, and I created a lot of Donors Choose projects to get those very books.”
She made other improvements to the library including genrefying the collection, grouping the books according to themes, and even moving the books to be forward-facing. Each quarter she hosts a Book Challenge for all Pre-K through 5th grade students. Every student who completes the challenge and returns a signed paper, receives a book to keep and a medal. “A few lucky students earn a bigger prize as well through a raffle,” she says. “I think some of these strategies have improved circulation, but I have more ideas for the upcoming school year!”
Students have library once a week at GES. Students can check out one book at a time. In addition, Ms. Walsh-Little collaborates with her colleagues to pull books teachers request for certain classroom units. “I look at each grade’s curriculum and choose related books and teach lessons based on what students are learning about in the classroom,” adds Ms. Walsh-Little.
City Schools praised her “true hub of learning and connection” at GES, something Ms. Walsh-Little strives for in every student interaction: “My goal is to inspire each student to be curious, to be life-long readers, and to think critically about what they read. I also want to encourage them to ask questions and find the answers to their own questions, whether it be in a book or from online research.”
Kate Walsh-Little with the 2024-25 Battle of the Books team from GES.
Last summer, Ms. Walsh-Little was honored with the national Siegfried Engelmann Excellence in Education Award by the National Institute for Direct Instruction for her exceptional work at GES since 2014 as a paraeducator, teacher, and reading specialist. She brings her reading expertise and devotion to creating young readers to her new role as Librarian. “It’s absolutely thrilling to have students who are passionate about reading!” she says. “As a reading teacher, obviously I’m grateful to have students who want to read, but it’s just as exciting to have reluctant readers become interested in choosing books.”
As a Librarian teaching digitally savvy students, she sees technology and screens as opportunities to spark new interest in books. “Students are exposed to digital platforms at a young age, and the role of librarian has changed to meet that demand,” she explains. “I have learned about many online resources to encourage reading, such as Sora, which is basically an online library, endorsed by the district and included on Clever, a learning platform.”
She allows students to check out books on Sora to read and teaches lessons on internet safety, ethical research, and how to create things such as Google Slides. She’s also learning how to incorporate Makerspace projects that stem from books in the GES collection so that students can be creative and make sense of the world through exploration.
Another innovation is the “Living Library” speaker series she created. “People are the sources of information instead of books, with speakers or guest authors I invite who read to the kids and do activities,” she adds.
Congratulations, Ms. Walsh-Little, on your amazing accomplishment and thank you for the joy and mastery you bring to your role!
What Were the Top Circulated Books at GES?
For the older students: Dog Man by Dav Pilkyy and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
For lower grades: Mo Williams’ Elephant and Piggie series and The Pigeon series
Ms. Walsh-Little’s Recommended Reading List:
“I have so many favorites it’s hard to narrow it down to a few! Classics that I have always loved are Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Our school celebrates a different cultural heritage each month, and I read books and create lessons about each of those cultures. There are so many books representing these cultures such as:
All the Way to the Top by Annette Bay Pimentel for Disability Awareness Month
Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard for Native American Heritage Month
Ablaze with Color: a Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Harvey for Black History Month, etc.
