CAPE LIBRARY TRYING TO BOOST STUDENT USE

One step into the library at Cape Girardeau Central High School and you realize libraries have changed a lot over the years.

The low lighting and narrow passageways between stacks of ancient books have been replaced with bright colors and best sellers, and "flying" books and kites strung from the ceiling.

And is that music playing?

Yes, said Julia Jorgensen, Central's librarian for the past year and a half. Jorgensen said students today are very visual, and they want a library that looks inviting and contains books they want to read.

"The stereotypical library is no talking, no eating," said Jorgensen Friday as she served hot chocolate and cookies to students. "We do a lot of both of those and we always have music playing."

The refreshments were served as part of "Latte in the Library" day, one of many programs Jorgensen hosts to get students into her library. English teachers brought their classes in for about 20 minutes every hour, just long to get a snack and browse the newer reading selections, or perhaps pick up an old favorite.

"I am really marketing the library so that our students have a good image of the library as a friendly place and they see what books we have," said Jorgensen. "I think because this generation is so visual, we must have a library that looks inviting. If we don't, then they're not going to come in and they're not going to read, and then we're missing something very valuable in education."

In addition to students, Board of Education members, parents and community members also attended the event. Jorgensen specifically reaches out to the community for her projects so that students see their role models reading.

"Our parents and our community people are the ones who pay the taxes, so they're the ones who fund the library," she said. "We really do hope to get community people in here so the students can see adults do read."

Although she's trying to master "a Barnes & Noble kind of feel," Jorgensen said her library is still the learning hub of the school. On days when teachers sign up for a research day in the library, she said she makes the library's 24 computers available and helps students find the information they need among the school's more than 17,000 books, 87 magazines and 10 newspapers.

"We do the other part of librarying, too. We don't just party all the time," said Jorgensen. "We are a teaching library, but we try to create an environment where teen-agers feel welcomed and are just encouraged to read."

Program refreshments are purchased out of grant funding Jorgensen has received this year. The grants were needed to fund programs like Latte in the Library, as well as to buy extra copies of books for a monthly book discussion club and the upcoming Live in the Library series.

The programs promote the library, but the budget in necessary to ensure a good number of new titles are kept on hand.

"I don't use the library budget to buy hot chocolate," Jorgensen said. "Certainly in the areas of science and health we are very up-to-date because the Missouri School Improvement Program requires certain key areas that have to be very modern."

Jorgensen said she is enjoying discovering new ways to get students and adults to visit the school library. Existing programs are proving effective in enticing students and community members to check the new titles every month, but students are also using the library as an educational resource.

"It's very exciting to be in the library, and we try to keep something happening here all the time," Jorgensen said. "If we can't get people in here, it doesn't matter what kind of good stuff you have because they'll never see it."