New Ulm High School Media Center Specialist Ms. Formica and her assistant, Ms. Berzle, added 56 new books to the high school library on Tuesday, Oct. 22, augmenting students’ literacy and engagement after these being the first additions to the collection in six years.

Ms. Formica and Ms. Berzle came into this school year knowing the book selection at the New Ulm High School library needed to be updated, with the average age of the books being over 14 years old.

Ms. Formica went to Mr. Bergman to ask him about getting new titles in the library, and he was all for it. So Formica and Berzle later went searching for the books they would add to the collection for this year.  When asked about the next time they will order new books again, “We got approved for a grant through the public library, possibly looking to get some new books ordered again by December this year,” Formica said.

When talking with Formica, she said that Berzle and she both used a bunch of websites such as academic reviews, booklists, and Kirkus reviews, as well as looking at the American Library Association. These websites provide good insight into many different types of books from other librarians and teachers. “We use a website called Mackin to order books, the books already come with the barcode on them so all we have to do is scan the barcode and enter it into our system with a site called Alexandria,” Formica said.