Michaela Pisaro – Library Media Technician
What is your favorite genre?
I like to read a lot of nonfiction and realistic fiction. I read a lot about mental health, and recently, animal-assisted therapy. When [I was a child], most of my family members worked as nurses at a psychiatric institute.
I’m from the Czech Republic. This is a different time and place. When I was a little child, [mental health institutions were] a taboo place, and people there were labeled “crazy.” And on the other side of the fence, we’re the “normal” people.
Later on, a nonprofit organization started working with the institution, and right now there are festivals taking place. This basically has opened the institute up to the general public, which now is being educated about what mental illness means.
My mom became a patient when I was 14. I started visiting the institute library and that’s when I found out: “Oh my gosh, there’s so much that I can find out.” So my library work started with looking up information for my family members, and then just learning about mental illness and how to spread awareness.
What book are you reading now?
Right now, I’m enjoying a book I borrowed from [English teacher] Mr. Bravo. It’s a biography of Ruth Asawa, the Japanese American sculptor who grew up in rural California [and works with wire].
When she was young, she was among the families that had been sent to the Japanese American internment camps. She has several works in [San Francisco], including some fountains that are nice to walk along. She also did these face masks that are on exhibit [at the Cantor Arts Center]. I want to go see it.
Favorite part of the job?
I think it’s always been working with [students]. It’s just maintaining the collection, and then helping students find relevant sources for their assignments. We’ll help students look for what they need. And if it’s not in our physical collection, then we will look into the public library and the databases. We help students navigate the databases.
Libraries when you were a child vs. now?
When I was growing up, public libraries were mostly places to go and borrow a book. Be quiet. Check it out and leave. Now [libraries are] changing, and they do way more than that.
Public libraries [now] have huge potential, such as in presenting classes to help students looking for a job or applying for a job.
On top of that, you have all the guest speakers, [so] it’s really diverse. I love this place.
Libraries you’ve worked at in the past?
I interned at the Newberry Library. It was exciting because they let me look at their collection and compare that to what else [was] available on [African American studies.] I also worked at the Chicago Historical Society, which was open to the public and it was such a cool place because manuscripts were kept in its climate control rooms.
I also volunteered at a children’s hospital for five years in a library that was open to the public, mostly [to people who were] looking for information about medical conditions. There were children who would come, and we would do storytime for them. I would load up my bags with picture books, and I would read to them. I really enjoyed that. I also worked in a library in Washington D.C., and they would send me to the Library of Congress to retrieve cases. Sometimes I got a little lost so I could explore a little more. I was taking care of their collections and electronic newsletters and so I didn’t get to interact with the public.
Book recommendations?
Hellen Keller: A Life by Dorothy Hermann (Biography); Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Historical Fiction); Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin A. Saenz (Realistic Fiction & LGBTQIA+), Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens by Marieke Nijkamp (Young Adult); Running by Natalia Sylvester (Realistic Fiction & Activism); Every-Thing I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka (Sci-fi Bent & Romance); Two Truths and a Lie by April Henry (Mystery Thriller)
Anna Lapid – Teacher Librarian
Why did you become a librarian?
I was an English teacher at Vallejo High School. And then that was the only other school I worked at besides here. My experience [at these two schools] is different because there are different kinds of students. The students [at Vallejo High School] are much less well-resourced. I came here to Aragon and I applied to become an English teacher. And the principal at that time, Mr. Black said he wanted to hire me as a librarian instead. I love books and I love teaching, [so] it was great to find a position at a school that combined the two.
What book are you reading now?
I’m reading a book recommended to me by Mr. Silton. It’s called “How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures” by Sabrina Imbler [AHS ‘12]. I wanted to become a marine biologist [when I was younger], but I didn’t think I could handle the math. [This book] is grounded in [the] subject area I love.
Favorite book in high school?
My favorite book in high school was “Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter Miller. The novel is about monks in the desert after nuclear devastation who are preserving scientific knowledge (I just realized they’re the librarians of their world) while civilization starts all over again. [I liked the book] because it was so far removed from the world I knew and I just thought it was such an interesting premise: a world after nuclear devastation and to create life and civilization or culture from that was mind-blowing.
Day-to-day life of your job?
[Not only am I] teaching but I’m also doing the groundwork of checking out books and clearing prom forms. This morning I [went to] Ms. Perino’s [Health and Strategic English Support Teacher] classroom to assist with research instruction for juniors. That is the real work of librarians: to teach students how to locate and then synthesize information or use information effectively, which would be the mission statement of any teacher librarian.
Opinion on the books we read in school?
I like the direction that we’ve moved in finding texts that are more culturally relevant to our student population. I like that we’ve adopted books like “Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid, “There There“ by Tommy Orange, etc. I liked the direction of us trying to adopt more books that portray [more] cultural diversity.
Book recommendations?
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (Fantasy Fiction); Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Young Adult); To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (Romance); The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Young Adult); Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys (Science Fiction); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Mystery & Crime Fiction); Forever by Judy Blume (Young Adult); House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Science Fiction & Dystopian); Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Science Fiction & Dystopian); The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Post-apocalyptic Fiction)
