[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Inspired by a love of reading and summer, English teacher Donna Friend and head librarian Liz Harrison are starting the “Dog Days of Summer.”

Current students can come to the library on Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m. every week during summer right after school ends.

“So much information and knowledge is lost over the summer,” Harrison said. “Our brain just goes on vacation and so I think it’s a good idea to keep up with it over the summer, to keep up with your skills.”

During the two-hour period students can check out books, talk with teachers and other students about books, and have a safe and calming atmosphere to curl up with a good novel.

“I just want this continuation of the importance of reading and building the literacy community we’ve started this year,” Friend said, “More teachers, more students are talking about reading, and so it’s just keeping that momentum going by offering open library. The best way to get students to read is to make the books as available as possible.”

Students will be able to enter through the door closest to the faculty parking lot. Also, students will be able to check out books the same way they would at school.  Books can be checked out for two weeks, but can be renewed for a longer time period.

“Mrs. Harrison is amazing, and she has a lot of exciting ideas about ways to make the library more accessible or to highlight the cool books the library has,” Friend said. “Once a week with her is going to give us time to collaborate together and maybe do a little evil masterminding of other cool reading things we could do next year.”

According to Harrison, this is a great time for students to catch up on books that they were not able to read because of school academics.

“The whole purpose is to continue our reading lives and not to drop that off in the summer time,” Friend said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]