Sarah Walsh: Building Readers for Life

Lower School Librarian Sarah Walsh believes that libraries are about much more than books. In this episode, she discusses how the Bullis Lower School Library helps students become curious readers, thoughtful researchers, and confident seekers of information in an increasingly complex world. The conversation explores the evolving role of school libraries, fostering a love of reading, teaching information literacy, and creating a space where every child feels welcome. Sarah also shares her passion for historical reenactment and how bringing history to life helps students see stories, books, and the past through a new lens.

Bullis Voices is produced by the Bullis Office of Communications in Potomac, Maryland.

Questions or ideas for future episodes? Email communications@bullis.org.

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Transcript

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Welcome to Bullis Voices, the podcast where we take you behind the scenes of what actually happens in our classrooms and why it matters. I'm your host, Mark Britney, Director of Communications at Bullis. And today, I'm talking with Sarah Walsh, our lower school librarian. For many children, the library is where they first discover that reading can be more than a school site. It can be a source of wonder, adventure, and lifelong curiosity. At Bullis, Sarah helps create that experience every day. The Lower School Library is a place where students find books they can't wait to open, learn how to ask good questions, and begin to understand how to navigate a world overflowing with information. Sarah's work is about much more than matching students with books, though she does that exceptionally well. She helps children develop as readers and thinkers, meeting them at many different reading levels, and making sure every student feels they belong in a world of stories and ideas. She also brings a remarkable personal passion to her work. Sarah is deeply involved in historical reenactment, an immersive practice that brings the past to life through clothing, objects, and lived experience. That same love for history and storytelling informs the way that she helps students see that books are not just static objects on a shelf, but gateways to other times, places, and perspectives. Today, we'll talk about the evolving role of the school library, how young learners are nurtured, and how curiosity, history, and imagination come together in one of the most vibrant spaces in the lower school. Sarah? Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really delighted to be joining you. I'm really excited. I think let's just start by talking about what it looks like to be in the lower school library. And then I want to talk a little bit about you and how you came to Bolus. But first, can you just describe what a really good day looks like in the lower school library? Yeah, so the day starts right at arrival. Students can come into the library before eight o'clock before school starts, and they can choose a book to read, they can do a puzzle, they can play a game with their friends, they can just have a quiet conversation. It's an available space in addition to the playground now. This is new this year, being able to do that with the library being integrated in the lower school with the new lower school building. So it's an option for students to just kind of hang out in a quiet indoor space before school starts. So there's usually a handful of kids who come in on nicer days. It's usually fewer, but it's it's really lovely for them to have that as an available option to them when they first arrive at school. And then depending on the day, I might have two or three different classes come through for instruction and book return and book checkout. I sometimes have my fifth grade library leaders come in during a recess to assist with keeping the library tidy, keeping the library organized. If there are other students there during the recess, they might be helping them find a book, or they might be helping me with other kind of small tasks around the library. And also depending on the day, I might have parent volunteers who come in and help with shelving and book organization and all of that. And then close out the day with whatever tasks I need to do, such as covering books, adding books to the collection, buying books, whatever it might be. Those are kind of my tasks when there aren't classes or students in the library. The lower school library has always been a really lovely place on campus, both in its old location and now, especially in its new location. And it's always been a great place for young readers to get engaged with literature. But I also have seen that the lower school library has evolved significantly since you got here. Can you talk about sort of how you came into BOLIS, what you wanted to do with the lower school library, and how you've achieved that? Yeah. So when I started, the lower school library was part of the Marriott family library. It was in that same space. So it was separate from the lower school classrooms. The other specialists were also kind of scattered around campus. And I admit it was sort of difficult to integrate what the library was doing with the rest of the lower school schedule and the lower school vibe, kind of just feeling like, you know, the students had to come across campus to come to the library. If there was a book that they just wanted to pick up that hadn't been available when they came for class, it was harder to have them come and do that just walking across campus. And with the library being part of the lower school building now, that's so much easier. A teacher can just send them down the hall or right up the stairs, or, you know, if they have a question for me, I'm right there. It's very visible, it's very central, it's very much a part of the rhythm of the lower school. And that's kind of what I'd been hoping and dreaming for. And that's what made the library recess times possible. That's what made library leaders possible. That's what made so many things that I've been wanting to implement come into being. And the other thing, too, is really the books are more visible. They're easier to find, I think. I hope. I'm trying, even with you know, having moved into the new space and everything, I'm really trying to be thinking about what makes it easiest for a student or a teacher to find a book that they need, where it's located in the library, is it clearly visible? Is it clearly labeled? All of that. So I'm even doing some kind of recalibrating now just to make sure that books that the students want or need, or that the teachers want or need are easy to get to. And this new space, I think, makes it a lot easier than the old space did. You clearly are so thoughtful in the decisions that you're making. How do you view your role as a lower school librarian in 2026? It's really not just checking in and checking out books. It is creating an environment where students feel like they can explore and they can browse and they can find something they might not otherwise think of reading. And it's also the space where we talk about how information is so much more than just books. We're looking at research databases, we're looking at online searching. We're even talking about AI, even with our fifth graders, how to know that the information you're finding or the content that you're looking at can be trusted, right? And some of that is, you know, yes, you can open a book and you can see on the pages that there's information there. And the book collection has been vetted, it's been, you know, carefully determined what's going to be added to the collection, what's going to be removed from the collection, but I don't have that ability to filter the entire internet for them. So it's a matter of really giving them that sense of like, we're in this space where you can find facts, you can find books that are entertaining, you can find a variety of topics. Now we also have to think about what that is when it's online and how much more difficult it is to sort of parse through all that and figure out what you can trust. And the databases that we have, I encourage them every time they're going to be doing a research project or looking at any kind of question they have, the databases are the place to start because those have been carefully curated and vetted, and the information is constantly updated and re-evaluated and refigured so that it's the most accurate, the best possible information you can get. And they'll say, you know, I'll do a Google search. Let's do this instead, because we know that these sources have done that work for you. And it's the easy way is almost never the way that's going to get you to the best results. So that's the conversation that I have with them during instruction time, as well as just they're coming into the library and we can kind of just talk about those things. They're they're easily, you know, flowing from one space to another in the lower school. So that can happen more organically than again, than was possible previously. Obviously, discovering information and learning how to parse it is a skill that they're going to use well beyond the lower school. How do you think about the way that you're preparing students for middle school and beyond? I think that it's just a constant conversation. It can't just be, all right, we taught it, now we're done teaching it. It's it comes up again in various other contexts, whether it's a project they're doing in their classroom or something that I'm having them look at while we're in the library. It has to keep being part of that conversation, even with the very littlest ones, because it's just a fact. They're accessing things online, they're looking at games, they're doing all these different things that they need to start having that awareness that not everything that's online is true or real or reliable really, really early on. So it has to be integrated into almost everything we do in some senses because it's just gonna come up. It's gonna be something they're gonna encounter all the time. So yeah, it can't just be that's one unit, we did it. It has to be top of mind all the time. How do you partner with homeroom teachers? I tend to meet with them early on in the school year and look at their curriculum plans and make sure that the library collection supports those plans. So if they need a whole bunch of books on different weather disasters or a whole bunch of books on animals or shelters or whatever it might be that the library collection can support that when the students then come in to search for those books. The databases that we subscribe to also make sure the teachers know that those databases are available, that the databases are part of Bulissa's holdings. They're free to use to students and teachers, and we make sure that, again, that we're curating a broad variety of resources on those topics that the teachers are going to be teaching so that, you know, they're not having to necessarily use classroom funds or scramble to find something on Amazon or whatever. We've got it, it's ready, it's here. So that's that's a big thing, is making sure that the collection and the resources that we subscribe to fulfill those needs. And then it's also just making sure that the library collection meets the kids where they're at. And there's so many cases where a kid has said, I don't know what to read, and I'll say, well, what have you enjoyed reading recently? And we'll come up with something that they might not have thought about, that they, oh, I didn't know that that book was there, or you know, I didn't know there was a sequel, or whatever it might be. So, you know, kind of having that reader's advisory conversation. I also just have a vase in my library that kids can drop suggestions into so I know what it is that they really want to be reading, and making sure that if they really want to have a certain book, I can have it in the collection so that other kids can learn about it too. So it's it's an ongoing sort of process of just making sure that the kids have access to the books they want to read and the books that they need for classes. Well, you kind of anticipated my next question, which was how do you stay current with what students want to read? I mean, you you can't have a physical collection of books that's infinitely growing, right? Aaron Ross Powell Right. But it is. It is a matter of just asking them what books have you enjoyed, what books do you think I should add to the collection? And I always say to them when we do the Black Eyed Susan Awards, which we wrapped up right at the end of April, there are book awards that lots and lots of teachers and librarians and educators, they nominate the books, they vote on the books, they decide which books are gonna win. The Black Eyed Susan Awards are Maryland's kid choice awards. And that's worth more than gold to an author, an illustrator who has poured their heart out writing these books and illustrating these books for kids. They want to know that the kids love them. They want to know that the kids have enjoyed their books. And so, you know, the Caldecott and the Newberry and all of those, you know, awards that are given by ALA, the American Library Association, those are prestigious, they're wonderful. But I always say to the kids, you can have a voice in determining which books get these awards, and that's really special. That's a really amazing thing for these authors and illustrators to know that the audience they're hoping to reach has appreciated their work. So that's really special too, is just being able to give kids that empowerment and that voice to say these are the books that should win honors and awards. Aaron Ross Powell Can you brag a little bit about how much reading our students did and how much they contributed? Aaron Ross Powell So the lower school as a whole from K to five logged 1,445 books. Aaron Ross Powell Amazing. And any kind of reading counted. So from K to parent volunteers, thank you, parent volunteers, came to the classrooms and read eight books out loud to those K to two classes. That's awesome. From third to fifth grade, it was more self-directed. They decided which books they were going to read in which genres and then voted in those genres. So the third through fifth graders were also reading a bunch of the picture books, but that's great too. I think that those they're coming at them from a slightly different perspective and a slightly different life experience. I love it when even the high school students have assignments where they need to come into the library and find their favorite children's book to do a project on. So I mean, I I have never said, you know, no, can't read those books. You're too old. You won't ever hear me say that. So obviously having books that kids want to read is so important. How do you help students build a love of the practice of reading? I think part of it is having just the variety, the broad collection that covers lots of interest areas, lots of different topics, lots of different reading levels, lots of different areas of life that some kids may just really want to read all about sports. And I want to have the sports books for them so that they can read about sports. There's some kids who only want to read books about unicorns, and you bet I'm gonna have the books about unicorns. Like the ability to find the book that matches that reader is I, you know, it's a skill. I am still building that skill, but some of it is just, you know, making sure that whatever that kid is interested in reading, I can grab the book that will spark their interest, that will spark their curiosity, that will spark joy. So I'm never gonna say to a kid, I don't think you should read that. I'm gonna say, this one may not be a just right book, you know, this one may be a little difficult for you, but it's very rare for me to say no, you can't read that book. I always defer to parents if parents have, you know, particular subjects or reading levels that they would rather the kids steer away from. But no is a hard word for a librarian to say. So it's usually a question of, you know, I want to make sure this is a book that you won't struggle with, that this is a book you'll be able to enjoy fully. And I also encourage the kids if a print book isn't working for you, try the audiobook. I'm so much of an advocate for audiobooks because I struggled in my adult years to just sit and read a book. I love audiobooks. And finding that I could listen to a book while I'm on my commute or while I'm sewing or whatever it might be, I can read entire books faster and with more, even more retention than I don't know, the past 10 years of my life. I've been reading voraciously using audiobooks. So I will always tell a kid, you know, if you're struggling with picking up a book and sitting and reading it, get the audiobook. And we've got Epic and we've got Sora that we subscribe to that the kids can actually use through our library. So there's as few barriers to reading as possible, is the goal. Aaron Ross Powell I love it. Audiobooks have become the way that I consume literature. And I was an English major in college and I've always enjoyed reading. And I think back, how did I do that? How did I sit and read for hours on end? I remember at the beginning of every semester I would lay out all of the books that I had to read, and there would be like 50 novels. And I'd be like, I guess I read a novel or two, I two novels a week. Yeah. That's wild. I can't even imagine doing that now. Audiobooks would help though. Yeah. But I I absolutely love audiobooks. And it it seems like what you're saying is access to literature is more important than the medium that they're consuming it in. Absolutely. And I think with younger kids, obviously the mechanics of reading and the learning to read are super duper important. Once you know that they've mastered reading, then you can open up this other option of audiobooks or even there's read-alongs on YouTube, there's Kindle, whatever it might be that makes it easier, I'm all for it. I think of you know upper school English classes being all about literary analysis and going really deep into texts. But I know that literary analysis is something that you build in starting at the youngest grades too. Can you tell me what that looks like? Aaron Powell So generally, if I'm doing, if I'm doing a read aloud, if I'm talking about the books in the collection, I'll make sure to pause and say, you know, what's this word all about? What's the author doing in this sentence? There was a book I just read to kindergarten the other day, and it talked about the it was a biography, and it talked about the young man devouring books. And I said, All right, let's pause here for a second. Did he really eat those books? You know, and the kid's like, no, of course not. But sometimes we use the word devour when someone is reading books so, you know, they're reading them so fast, they're reading them so energetically that it's almost as if they are actually eating, devouring the books. So things like that, just being able to pause in a moment in the book and point to a figure of speech or a word that they might not even be familiar with and just explore it, talk about it, and get them thinking about, oh, maybe I'll, you know, I recognize that from another book we read or whatever it might be. Um and we did that a lot too with April being National Poetry Month, just talking about the rhythm and the rhyming, and do all poems rhyme? And some poems have, you know, this format, some have this, and just looking at the structure of the words, thinking about what the author is trying to say by saying so few words, what's the bigger idea, right? I talked about haiku with the first graders, and the one line in the poem about an eagle was the five syllables with telescope eyes. And I had to just stop on that one and I was thinking, like, what does that mean? What does a telescope do? And they said, well, it helps you see things that are far away. And I'm like, but that's way too many syllables for a haiku, right? So they've condensed it down into just these five syllables to convey that idea that this eagle can see for miles with just its own eyes. And that's I love doing that. That's so much fun. And it's like showing them a magic trick. Right. It's you know, just thinking about how how few words or how few syllables could you say what you want to say. Yeah, that's all exciting. I know you're continually learning and evolving as a librarian. I'm wondering what drew you to library science in the first place. So as you had mentioned, you were an English major, I was also an English major, and my original kind of career goal was I'm gonna teach high school literature so I can really dig into these books that I love with students who can get into the weeds of it with me. And I kind of it went it went sort of circuitously. Um I then decided, no, I really want to start with young students and get them excited about reading at that beginning stage so that when they get to middle school and high school, they're in a position to have those conversations. And I started out just getting a classroom teaching degree and certification and everything. And then I realized no, I really do want to focus on books. I want to focus on reading and literacy. So that was kind of how I made my way into library science and the You know, the question of access and the question of choice and the question of readers being able to really just explore the things that are interesting to them, that matter to them. Those are things that professionally as well as personally are just deeply ingrained. So that's how librarianship ended up being my, you know, vocation. And I really do love s seeing that spark with kids who, you know, come into the library already readers finding something different than they thought they might, and also kids who are not as enthusiastic about reading yet and kind of having them come into the fold. That's all really heartwarming and very rewarding for me, too. Okay, can we switch gears and talk about history a little bit? I know that you do historical reenactments, and I would love to hear how you got into that and how that fits into your life. Aaron Powell Yeah, that was sort of also circuitous, and it was not the sort of thing where it was like, I am gonna become a historical interpreter, you know. I was in a production of the show 1776 in 2015, and I played Abigail Adams, and the costumer for the show, I also helped out a lot with the costumes. Exactly, Salt Peter John. And I helped out a lot with the costumes. I had been sewing for a long time. My my mom taught me to sew using a machine and patterns and everything when I was about 10. So I did a lot of sewing, and the putting on the show was very much an all-hands-on-deck effort. We were starting my my co-conspirator and the person who played John Adams was starting this whole new theater company from scratch, and we kind of had to just pull together everything for the show on a shoestring budget. And so a lot of us were pitching in to help with the costumes and everything. And then at the end of the show, the costumer gave me my dress that I had worn for the show. And the next year I wore it to a Revolutionary War reenactment event that was happening in like northern Washington state. And I wore the dress and I met reenactors who were portraying John Adams and Ben Franklin and Jefferson and all these different, you know, historical figures. This was the first ever 18th-century reenactment I'd ever been to, and I was just going kind of as a participant, as a spectator. And I got to talking with the guy portraying John Adams, and he said, Well, you know, I've been wanting to have an Abigail as part of the unit, as part of our, you know, reenacting group. Would you be interested? And I said, Well, um, they gave me a script for the show that's a little different than, you know, fully like embodying a historical figure. And he said, I think you've got it in you. Okay. Thanks. So that November was the first of many historical reenactment events that I attended as Abigail. Um I stitched together by machine very quickly, my first ever 18th-century gown for that event. I have finally now replaced it with a fully hand-sewn gown. So it's taken a long time to get my skills to where it's it's a it's a long process. It's not difficult, really. It's just time-consuming. But, you know, I've done a bunch of historical sewing workshops and just gathered wisdom from a bunch of my friends who have been doing this for many, many more years than I have. And just kind of learning the process to be able to make an entire wardrobe for the various events that I've done, the various programs I've given, presentations. And obviously, research is a thing I enjoy. And, you know, there's many, many rabbit holes when it comes to, especially Abigail Adams, because there's such a huge record of her life, of her life married to, you know, a lawyer who then became a delegate to the Continental Congress, who then became a foreign diplomat, who then became vice president, who then became president. There's so much of their life that can be gleaned from their letters and from letters she wrote to her sisters as well. So yeah, there's there's an element of I don't think anybody has really fully plumbed the depths of what there is to know about them. But that also makes interpreting it makes it pretty easy because you have a lot to go on. You have a lot of information that you can formulate how Abigail thought about things and what she was what was important to her and how it all happened around her. So it's it's been 10 years? Yeah, almost 10 years since I first did that event. And I just keep on learning, same, you know, same impulse as in librarianship. Just keep learning about what I can do better, interpret more accurately, you know, improve my kit, improve my impression, all of it. So yeah. It makes me think of the Wax Museum project in lower school, and I figured that was your so it was really funny because Yes. So Living Wax Museum is a third grade project that happens in early spring, and each of the students studies a living or dead historical figure, someone prominent in whatever field, learns about them, studies them, creates a monologue to deliver as them, and then presents it. So families can come and hear all of the kids' different monologues. They're all kind of standing in, we do it in um the studio theater. And I say we, it's the third grade, you know, initiative. But in 2025, a third grader's family had won a an Abigail Adams uh appearance that I had donated to the gala. And so I did a third grade visit as Abigail, but it was the same day as Living Wax Museum. And for this year, I thought, well, I should really make that more something that can help the kids prepare for Living Wax Museum. Because this is something, you know, I do Living Wax Museum a lot. So I brought my whole, you know, sort of pop-up museum. I dressed up and gave a presentation to third grade, talking about both just giving kind of the the life of Abigail Adams, what she did in her life, and then giving them the opportunity to ask me questions about developing my portrayal of her, developing that persona. So that I think really kind of helped make the project come alive for them, getting to see it demonstrated as this is what this can look like. And being able to talk about, you know, how do you, what research did you do? And how do you know like what she would have thought? And how do you know one of the kids actually noticed that I was using the 18th century dialect that I've been studying and working to develop? And, you know, that I think it just was an opportunity for them to see, okay, this is one, you know, one historical person being brought to life in front of me. And we talked about like how can you add a costume piece or a gesture or something that kind of puts you into that person's, you know, embodiment. So that was a really great way to incorporate what had kind of been by happenstance that it sort of worked out the timing previously, that this year we were more intentional about it. I was really impressed with the portrayals, both this year and last year. Yeah. They're fully invested. Trevor Burrus, Jr. They really are. They fully do the they stand completely still, and then there's a little button, you know, like a little paper button on the floor, and when you stomp on it, they come to life, and then they go back to being completely still again. It's great. Aaron Powell It's such a great idea. Yeah. I love it. What do you hope that after working with you in the library, students bring with them into the rest of their education beyond lower school? Aaron Powell I hope that they remember the library as a place where they were welcomed and encouraged and that they could that they had the skills to find a book, to find a resource that they can then, you know, my hope is that we've talked about Dewey Decimal, we've talked about the online databases, all of those resources. If they go to another library, they have a sense of that library's layout. They have a sense of where to find. If it was in this area in the library in the lower school, chances are I'll be able to find it in that area in the other library. You know, that there's a kind of a sense of comfort with looking for books, with finding books, with seeking resources, that they feel confident doing that, that they feel like, okay, I know what I need to do, even if I don't know where a book is. I know the steps, I know what I need to do in order to find it. And I also hope that they feel comfortable asking, right? If there's a librarian there who's not me, that they feel like they can ask, that they feel like they won't be shamed for asking, that they feel like they can get help from that librarian, that the librarian is someone they can trust and that that's someone they can talk to, and that they feel that that's a person who is able and available to help them. Because I feel like sometimes a lot of librarians will have a little sign on their desk that says, please bother me. It's it's easy for people to see someone sitting at a desk and go, I shouldn't, you know, I don't want to disturb, I don't want to, you're busy, you know. I just want them to always feel like the librarian will welcome them and be available to them. So those are kind of my, you know, as I send them off into the world, those are my hopes and dreams for them. All right. Last question for you. Yes. What do you hope never changes about bolus? The level of support. I think there really is a lot of collegiality, and uh there's a sense of we're all here together to help the kids succeed and to help each other succeed. There isn't any sort of replacement for that. That's part of the fabric of how the school works. So that's what I would hope. Sarah, you have truly made the Lower School Library such a magical place. Thank you. I really appreciate you coming on today to talk to us about it. It has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you. That's our show for this week, and it's our last of the 2025 26 school year. Thank you so much for tuning in these past few months. I hope you have a really great summer, and we'll be back with new episodes in September. Until then, hail the blue and goal.