I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN AWARD

Sponsored and supported through the Carnegie Corporation of

New York and The New York Public Library
http://www.ilovelibraries.org/lovemylibrarian

Nomination for Mrs. Katherine McGinnis

Check Out One Local Librarian Making a Big Impact on Our Small Town!!

While students at Burton Street Elementary strive to 'Catch the Wave' by modeling the school's
core values, one of their teachers has been busy making them! It is no secret that the smiling
face of the school librarian becomes a child's partner in building early childhood literacy skills,
but Cazenovia's Mrs. Katherine “Katie” McGinnis has made a big impression on more than just
her elementary students. She has inspired a community to come together to provide an
environment where our children can foster a love of reading and explore the world beyond our
small town.

Going above and beyond!

Katie McGinnis knows that healthy reading habits start early and that getting students excited to
read takes a special kind of person. Four years ago, Katie McGinnis became the Library Media
Specialist at Burton Street Elementary School in Cazenovia, New York. Mrs. McGinnis improved
the physical library in the school, upgraded the library’s virtual presence through it’s website
(http://burtonstreetlibrary.weebly.com), and, in turn, changed the way students felt about
reading.

Katie realized that the students at our kindergarten through 4th grade elementary school
needed more than just a place to check out a book - they needed a space that could unlock
their creativity and potential. She researched costs, secured the funding, and acquired the
necessary support to overhaul the school's library and create a Maker Space. This addition
gave ALL students access to the tools that cultivate interest and build skills in STEM areas
(Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics). The Maker Space included a LEGO wall,
computers for programming, and electric circuit stations.

Katie brought the Battle of the Books to Cazenovia. This program paired teams of four to six 3rd
and 4th grade students with a coach to navigate through seven challenging books. The teams
leveraged their peer networks to discuss the characters and understand the intentions of the
authors. The Battle culminated in a well-attended, Jeopardy-style showdown hosted by Mrs.
McGinnis that determined which Burton Street elementary team would represent the district
against other Central New York area schools. The competition at Burton Street consisted of
approximately 60 students (16-18 teams) which represented nearly a quarter of Burton Street’s
3rd and 4th graders! Mrs. McGinnis inspires students who have never participated to join this
team effort and has even gone so far as to encourage last year’s 4th graders who have moved
onto the middle school to join the middle school’s competition.

Mrs. McGinnis has also offered her artistic talents to capture memories during in-school events
as the official photographer. Her photos are used to create community-friendly content for the
school's newsletter, yearbook, and websites. We rely on Mrs. McGinnis for this assortment of
candid and organized photos to capture our school spirit and provide parents a glimpse inside
Burton Street.

From old and dated to new and energized - our library gets a boost
Katie gave the dated elementary library a much needed makeover. She transformed the space
to feel like a friendly bookstore by updating the interior to cheerful colors with eye-catching
displays. An assortment of comfortable (and hygienic!) seating was added to give the children
options for enjoying a good book. A coat of fresh paint and bean bag chairs made the library an
attractive place to start enjoying a book and to hang out.

The addition of Mrs. McGinnis to the Burton Street Elementary community has dramatically
changed the engagement and experience of children during Library class. She created a child-
focused atmosphere and has gotten to personally know each of her students. The children love
that she remembers what their favorite subjects are and offers book suggestions based on their
interests. Oftentimes, Mrs. McGinnis sees a student in the library and lets them know the book
they were seeking out on their last visit has been returned or that additional books in their
favorite series are now on her shelves. Just this morning (November 9th), Mrs. McGinnis sent
this message to remote teachers to forward to parents, “Hello! A while back a student requested
the book below. I was just able to locate it. I can't seem to find the student who was looking for it
though. Can you please ask your students if they were looking for this book [Bunbun &
Bonbon]? Or forward this email to your parents? Thank you so much! - Katie”. This is just one
example of Mrs. McGinnis fulfilling the needs of her students. As the parent of a remote student
(in a school where 90% of the students chose to return to the building for 5 day a week
instruction), reaching out like this sure makes students feel connected to the school that they
are missing so much.

Katie McGinnis - a leader in the Burton Street community

Mrs. McGinnis works to bring parents and teachers together to support education. Historically,
Burton Street's Parent Teacher Association (PTA) was dominated by parent volunteers. Katie
was directly responsible for increasing teacher membership in the PTA by 300%! Greater
participation means teachers are involved in planning activities and have a voice in the events
that the PTA brings to the school. The parents know their child outside of the school, but the
teachers know what the students need within the school.

Mrs. McGinnis became an advocate for the students who chose to participate in remote learning
during the 2020-21 school year. She built virtual spaces for all of the Specials classes (Library,
Art, Music, and P.E) to house asynchronous interactive and related content for each week. Mrs.
McGinnis provides weekly multi-faceted Library assignments for her remote students to enjoy
which includes introductions to sections of the library (both virtual parts and physical parts),
recommendations for beloved authors and why she finds them special, and encouragement for
students to challenge themselves in choosing reading material that might be a little more difficult
than they’re used to in order to continue to improve their reading skills and possibly discover a
new topic of interest.

Every year, Mrs. McGinnis hosts a Scholastic Book Fair in the library. This is one of the most
anticipated library events of the school year. She promotes the fair throughout the school’s halls
and fills the library with colorful tables of books for purchase. Mrs. McGinnis shares her favorites
with students and parent volunteers eagerly assist Mrs. McGinnis. It is the library’s main
fundraiser which allows Mrs. McGinnis to update the library's offerings and to invest in new
Maker Space tools for students. While the fair can’t physically come to the school, Mrs.
McGinnis is taking time during library class to introduce the students to books available and
assist them in filling out wish lists so they can easily purchase from the virtual fair. The students
won’t be able to huddle together and excitedly flip through the pages of their purchase, but Mrs.
McGinnis knows her students look forward to receiving new books and will flex her creativity
during the 2020 Scholastic Book Fair.

Community members had the following to say about Mrs. McGinnis:

[Mrs. McGinnis] has made the library fun and inviting for the kids! From STEM activities to a
vast variety of books, the library has never been more diverse. Katie has taken the time to be as
involved as possible with the students, staff, and parents and she plays a major role in the PTA-
Staff connection which is huge! My kiddos personally love her and love library days. My
daughter says that [Mrs. McGinnis] always remembers what kind of books she’s interested in
and recommends great things for her to read! She’s a wonderful person as well, very
personable and kind! - BSE Parent & PTA Member

[Mrs. McGinnis] brought new and fresh ideas to our school both as a Librarian and on
committees she served on! She created a Maker Space - student lessons and free time in this
space allowed for students to use imagination and creative thinking like engineers or scientists.
She entered us in the Battle of the Books competition, which created teams of students to read
challenging books with a coach. - Former BSE Principal

I do not think there is a child at Burton Street that doesn't look forward to Library time. [Katie's]
enthusiasm for reaching spreads throughout her students. We are very lucky to have her at
Burton Street! - BSE Parent

Libraries are there to serve the children. They aren’t museums for books. Mrs. McGinnis made
the library an exciting, welcoming and happy place for children to associate positive memories
with books and reading. - BSE Parent & PTA Member

Mrs. McGinnis volunteered to be the teacher liaison for the PTA. She makes sure information is
passed directly to the teachers and is a voice for those who aren't directly part of the PTA. And
she is the perfect person to take on this role! Mrs. McGinnis often reaches out to ask what
information should be sent to teachers knowing what has been done at the same time of year in
past years. And after sending information onto teachers, she is very diligent about returning with
questions. Mrs. McGinnis strongly encouraged teachers to join the PTA and teacher enrollment
has increased from four teacher memberships in 2019-20 to twelve in 2020-21. Mrs. McGinnis
is very easy to collaborate with and open to new ideas. If the initial proposal of a new idea can’t
be executed in that manner, she digs deeper to see if something will work with a slightly
different approach. - BSE Parent & Current PTA President

Why do we love our librarian?

Parents, students, and fellow faculty members wish to recognize Mrs. McGinnis for the initiative
she has taken to improve our school and in turn have children excited to head down the hall to
her welcoming library. Katie inspires Burton Street Elementary and our community with her
vision, leadership, and drive!