A Hidden Haven: The Walls Library

The SWW library, a sunlit, quiet space in an otherwise crowded building, is rarely used by many Walls students.

Students said that the location of the library, and its lack of accessibility, was one of the key reasons they rarely used it. Lucy Mayer (‘27) said, “I never see it, so I have no reason to ever know it exists. It’s very inaccessible.”

Daphne Raviv (‘28) added to this point, noting, “It’s not possible, but if it was more accessible, like not on the fourth floor, it would be better.”

The library is so inaccessible and hidden that some students didn’t even realize it was an option. Penelope Hoppis (‘28) said, “[When I started at Walls] I didn’t know that the library even existed at first.” Even now that she was aware of it and used it regularly, she said, “Sometimes I don’t want to walk up all the stairs.”

Ms. Jahala Simuel, the SWW librarian, agreed, saying, “The library is hidden because we are on the fourth floor. For freshmen, if they don’t have a class on the fourth floor, they really don’t know where the library is located.”

The location and lack of accessibility had consequences. Ms. Simuel said that physical books were “rarely” checked out. E-books, from the SWW digital library, were more frequently used.

The library’s purpose isn’t just to provide books to students. The SWW library website stated that Ms. Simuel is available throughout the day to help students with research, reading recommendations, and avoiding plagiarism. However, many students don’t know about or take advantage of any of these provided resources.

Despite the trek, some Walls students do use the library.  With such limited space in the building, the library often becomes a lunch spot as well as a place to study or meet for group projects. Hoppis said, “I go to the library probably like 4 times a week, either to study, or to eat lunch.” Even with her frequent visits, she “had never felt the need to check books out from the school library.”

Mayer stated that the only time she had ever been to the SWW library was “once in my entire life to work on a project with someone during lunch.” She had also never checked out a book, noting, “I don’t want to [check out a book], I don’t need to, I don’t know how to, I have every reason not to do it, so I haven’t done it.”

Students had ideas on how to make the library more appealing. Mayer noted that she never had a reason to go to the library and suggested, “They could have things going on up there, [give people a] reason to go up there.” Raviv and Hoppis also echoed this, both saying that if people went to the library and talked about it more, they would use it.

While the library couldn’t realistically be moved to a lower floor, improving students' understanding of the library resources could help. “At Deal, they used to take us to the library during class and force us to check books out,” said Raviv. “It meant that people knew how to use the library.” The library was working on ways to bring more attention to it.

Ms. Simuel said she hoped to have some events and celebrations in the library during National Library Week, April 6-12. She said, “If the library didn’t have classes in it, then activities could be held or done here more.” Additionally, Ms. Simuel was working to add more books to the online library, allowing students more options through their preferred platform. Until then, try going up to the library and finding a good book, or logging in to Destiny through Clever for E-book options.