Welcome to another segment of Teacher Talk! (cue theme song) This week, I got to talk to our school librarian, Ms. Bryant.

Here are some of the fun things I got to learn about Ms. Bryant:

Nicole: So what is your favorite part of being a librarian?

Ms. Bryant: Oh, that’s an easy one! My favorite part about being a librarian is serving students. It’s just kinda connecting them with information. I love… Personally I love information, I love reading, and literature, and this is the hub for information and any time I can make that connection when students are doing research, it’s just kinda those AHA moments when they discover something about their world. That’s my favorite part of the job and serving them and being there for them. And encouraging them as well.

Nicole: That’s great. And how long have you been a librarian?

Ms.Bryant: I have been a librarian now for… I think we’re going… this will be 20 years.

Nicole: 20 years?

Ms. Bryant: Yeah, the time I spent here at Pitman, and then I was previously a librarian to another high school for 4 years.

Nicole: That’s cool.

Ms. Bryant: Yeah, yeah.

Nicole: And this one will be a fun question. What’s your favorite book?

Ms. Bryant: That’s a fun question but a challenging one. At the moment, hmmm… at the moment I guess the one that has my heart is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s a movie coming out as well to complement the book but it’s a really wonderful book and you can kinda get a glimpse into war times. It’s very historically accurate, and it’s an exchange of letters between friends about a particular part of the world, Guernsey. The isles of Guernsey is during World War Two and it gives you kinda a peep into what held this community together when they were under Nazi siege. And what really held them together was literature. They formed a reading club and they met secretly, and they kept their spirits alive during wartime. And just reading literature, reading to each other aloud. And they develop this bond of friendship, and they’re encouraged and hopeful during war time and things will be okay. And I love that idea.

Nicole: That’s a pretty cool concept.

Ms. Bryant: It’s one of my favorite books right now, at the moment!

Nicole: Yeah, I have… I have a lot of favorites.

Ms. Bryant: Yeah, you do, I know you do.

(Both laugh)

Nicole: So what are your other hobbies?

Ms. Bryant: My other hobbies besides I like to read, I like to garden a lot too. I have what they call a victory garden. I love to garden. I love spending time outside with family. I’m very close to my family and friends too. I have a close circle of friends that I like  to share good moments with, food, I like tea, we’re a bunch of tea drinkers. Um, yeah, that’s kinda… that’s kinda our thing.

Nicole: Yeah, I love to do that too. And the last one is what’s the best advice you could give to students?

Ms. Bryant: I would just hope to encourage them to remain hopeful and steadfast in… in their goals. Don’t be distracted. There is so much to be distracted now, with technology and all these you know, social media surrounding us at all times and getting us to compare ourselves with one another, and we need to focus on who are we. What is our identity? And what can we personally contribute to the world? I mean… I mean there’s only one you. You know, you’re the only one that can do the job. So… so contribute what you personally can, in helping others and serving others, and encouraging others. And just keep your personal dreams in your heart intact and go forward. Don’t be distracted, just march forward towards your goals and work hard.

Nicole: Yeah, I think like that too.

Ms. Bryant: It’s important, I think. We need to stay on course because sometimes we do get distracted, and it’s fine to experiment and explore, but stay focused and stay true to who you are. You know, your identity. Don’t try to imitate or impersonate anyone else. Just be you, because you’re valuable. You’re great value.

Nicole: (with awe) Awwww.

Ms. Bryant: It’s important to remember that. Remember your worth, remember your value. And how you can contribute, only you can contribute (with emphasis) what you can contribute to the world.

Nicole: That’s pretty amazing.

Ms. Bryant: Yeah, I think that’s important. And necessary, otherwise we’d have a world full of clones and that’s not necessary. That would be kind of boring I think. (Starts to laugh) That would be very boring.

And that is the end of this segment. Thank for reading and stay tuned for another segment of Teacher Talk!