Meet the woman behind the books who wants to make change
Photo by Lilah Lee
Ever since the library was converted from an auditorium in the 1960s, it has gone through many changes. Most recently, after bidding goodbye to long-time Librarian Deborah Gallaher, Roosevelt welcomed Andrea Redmond (“to you all my name is Ms. Redmond”) to take over the central position. Already, she has become remarkably involved in the school community, even auditioning for the theater department’s annual play series Dramafest, a historically student-only affair.
Redmond says it is “absolutely true” that she received an acting role. ”I’ve been cast as a librarian, and a counselor.” Redmond will be performing in the play “Perfect” on Nov. 15. Although she spent time working as a thespian in New York, she found the nighttime and weekend hours coexisted poorly with the early mornings and lesson plans of teaching. “I love theater, but there hasn’t really been room for it lately in my world,” said Redmond. Dramafest provides her a nice balance, as well as a way to interact with more of the student body. “I meet the people that come in the library, and I’ll meet the artistic thespians and others.”
Redmond seeks to foster an environment around this kind of connection with students, “I want [the library] to be a place of community and collaboration. I want it to be a place of study and support. And I want it to always feel like you belong here, regardless of what crowd you roll with.”
At the beginning of the year, to create this communal atmosphere, she surveyed students on what they wanted for the library, “There were so many answers of what the students imagined, and I am going to try to incorporate those things.” One of the first things she did was order the books students said they wanted to read.
When asked what drew her to the librarian position, Redmond looked back to the pandemic, “When we were all locked down, I was thinking about what I missed about education. And I missed literature, students, and books … So I started a YouTube channel where I was reading books aloud that I liked … and I started to kind of look into upgrading my skills to include library science.” About her former job mentoring teachers, she said, “One of the things I loved so much about my work was how many students I got to interact with. Like, last year, I think I was at 17 schools. And at every school, I knew my students and they knew me.” She wanted to keep this aspect in her new job and found the opportunity at Roosevelt.
With the students who come into the library, Redmond said she has “great conversations about life, but then also what they’re looking for, what they’re interested in, what they’re trying to find, what they’re learning or what’s frustrating them. All the personalities, … I love the diversity of students I get to know. It makes me happy.”
