The James Cardinal Hickey Library has over 27,000 books including picture books, early readers, chapter, nonfiction, audio books, young adult, and Spanish language books which are available to be loaned out to the staff and students. It also includes a teacher resource room, a reference room, and a video library. The classes are scheduled to visit once a week but students can stop by during recess and after school as well. The Kindergarteners may check out one book and the older students may check out two books each week provided they have returned the books from the previous week. When the Kindergarten and First grade classes visit the library they enjoy a story time before looking for books. Parents are encouraged to sign up to be Mystery readers for these classes. Lost or damaged books can be paid for or replaced with new or like new books of the same reading level. The Library is a quiet zone for silent reading only.

 

The Library was awarded the ‘We the People Bookshelf” award in 2008 and 2009 as well as the “Picturing America” award in 2009. These are grants that are awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. The purpose of these grants is to encourage young people to read classic books and to explore themes from American culture and history. These books are available to the staff and students for borrowing as well.