At the end of last year, Santiago’s campus lost its librarian. After several years of dedicated work, our previous librarian decided to move on, bringing her expertise and enthusiasm to the Los Angeles School District.
Following months without a librarian, Santiago’s search has finally ended with the arrival of Mr. Francis Gardes. At a school as large and active as ours, the librarian’s role is essential—overseeing book checkouts, supporting AP Capstone classes, and managing the textbook system that keeps the campus organized.
As of early October, Santiago’s search for a librarian has come to an end, and I hope you’ve had the pleasure of meeting or interacting with Mr. Francis Gardes. I’m sure you’ve seen a man going in and out of the back of the library or even interacting with students in the past month. And if you have, that would be him. However, we couldn’t have someone new on campus without learning who they are or what they plan to do. As a result, I’ve interviewed him with a variety of questions, ranging from his personal interests to his plans for the library’s future.
It may surprise many to learn that Mr. Gardes didn’t begin his career as a librarian, but as a classroom teacher. Over the past twenty-nine years, he has spent twenty-five of them working as a librarian. He began his career as an elementary school teacher, although he has spent most of his career working as a librarian. He has worked all around California, most recently in Northern California. He has also worked overseas in international schools in Seoul, Korea, from which he has just moved back, and Beijing, China. It’s noteworthy that he has extensive experience working with children of all ages, from preschool to high school. However, he decided to come to Santiago because he had always had a job in Northern California. When he moved back to Korea, he wanted to be more open to all of California. Especially with a particular interest in Southern California, as it had been a while since I had lived there. He had attended graduate school in San Diego about thirty-five years ago with a change in mind.
His first impression of the school is, as many could imagine, what we all have felt when first stepping onto campus: a very nice school with a vast campus that seems like a maze. Especially being the biggest high school he had ever worked in. Mr. Gardes has noted his experience since first going through the interview process:
“Everyone has treated me really, really well since I first applied for the position, the HR department, the interview panel, including Mr. Torres, and Ms. Lozza, who’s the other librarian over at Roosevelt, and one of the APs, a few of the teachers.”
He commented on the nice vibes on our campus and how nice it was physically, which overall pushed him to continue with the interviews, especially given his interest in living in Southern California.
What To Know About Him
As a librarian, you are required to be a reader, as it helps you connect with students on campus and become more knowledgeable about books of all genres. So Mr. Gardes was presented with the question of what book genre is his favorite:
“The one I’ve been reading lately is a crime detective-mystery. I love fantasy. I love realism, especially for Y/A. I love realism. I’ve been pushing myself to read more science fiction because it’s not natural for me, but I know a lot of students like it, so I want to be able to talk to students about science fiction.”
When asked what he wants students and staff to know about him, Mr. Gardes shared something interesting:
“I’m a voracious reader, so I love reading and recommending books, but we also ask students who are going to check out a book that is on my reading list to come back and tell me if it’s any good or not…so I love getting feedback from students, but I also want students to know that I read a lot. So I’ll give authentic recommendations, and I’m telling you I can show you the books I didn’t enjoy, so I don’t recommend those.”
Mr. Gardes truly only recommends the ones he believes are perfect, and he can give you various reasons why each was a good read for sure students. And secondly, he wants it to be known that teaching is a second career for him. Interestingly, he was a party planner who joined the Peace Corps, which sparked his passion for teaching, and then returned to the United States to pursue a career in education.
Goals For The Library
Moving on to his goals for the Santiago campus, when asked about his current goal, he plans to build on what’s already going on and wants the library to be considered a hub—a place kids want to be for various reasons. There is an acknowledgment that the library is already a popular place, and a desire to build on that to give students more reasons to feel they belong and are comfortable, as well as to have reasons to get through the school year. Or even having students meet him as underclassmen and connect with classes beyond AP in English language arts and history, where they are introduced to him before reaching the AP classes, so they will know who he is and build on that experience.
This is especially significant given the many challenges our campus faced last year surrounding the library, issues highlighted in a previous article, ‘Found in Your School Library.
It’s interesting having an outsider on campus because, when asked about any plans for the library, he did not specify that anything needed to be changed entirely; instead, he has been observing the setup and how the kids have used it. This has piqued his interest in giving students multiple options in the library. This can be seen as students having the option to sit alone, sit with a group, study, or do whatever they please. It’s refreshing because he is focusing on and reflecting on his ideas about students, not on any prior changes he had in mind to implement. He has even approached a few students to ask about their preferences in the library. He primarily focuses on providing students with a variety of books that interest them or are on their reading list by creating a system that allows students to let him know which books they hope to read that aren’t present in the library. This will hopefully result in students enjoying the library’s company and not resorting to buying an online version of their own copy, thereby avoiding the need to visit the store themselves.
He notes that being a librarian isn’t exactly what most people picture. On a big-picture level, people don’t really understand what his job truly entails or what his position is about. This can be seen as a lack of awareness that he is both the research teacher and the literacy teacher for the students. And his directness is based on the age group he is exposed to; with younger children, you have to be more direct with research. Other than just being the person who puts the books on the shelf and helps you check them out.
It’s joyous to hear that he will be continuing his connection to the AP Capstone program on campus for students involved or interested in taking AP Seminar and AP Research, just as Ms. O was, especially when informing fresh juniors who are new to the program about the variety of advanced databases that come along with it.
His Current Implementation
If you have recently walked around the library, you might have seen a few clear book holders in front of bookshelves. This is a new, excellent implementation from Mr. Gardes that has been added to the library to make it more appealing for students. I personally love this and can’t wait for the many news stories in the library just this coming year.
