The Triton High School once again has new staff working at the library. With this new staff comes new rules and regulations.  Student Brady Lindholm spoke about an instance where he was punished for not tightly following the new rules.

“I was passing time and went to check with my friends if I had any homework and I got moved from my table for being on my phone,” said Brady.

This is a very common story told by Triton students across the school. There’s no denying the library has changed drastically in the past few years, but just how much has it changed?

Mrs. Jones and Theresa Karol are the newest faces of the Triton High School Library. Although Karol is not new to the school, she did not work exclusively in the library in previous years. Since their arrival in the library, there have been many substantial changes and newly added rules.

Triton student Austin Silverstein spoke about his opinion on the library. “We come here to relax with our friends and do our homework for that night, and it is ruined by the librarian’s threats to kick us out them making us take out more work to do.”

This sort of complaint would have been more rare in previous years at the High School. The library used to be a place where students could come during studies and count on not being expected to carry out typical classroom behavior. It was a place where students could do the work they needed to do, and still be able to have fun with their friends.

“In my freshmen year, you could really just do whatever at the library. If you wanted to do work, you could sit down and do work. If you wanted to just relax and enjoy the only free period of the day, you could do that too. I don’t understand why they changed it,” said student Harry Weston.

However, not all changes in the library are for the worse. All students across the school can agree on the fact that not limiting each study class to five library passes for students is a great new change. Now, all students can access the computers and do their work. Also, Richard Fisher stated that he liked the fact that the library now printed articles from The Wall Street Journal, which gives everyone access to credible news. These positive changes are all results of the librarians image of what the library should be; a place for all students to be able to work without interruption.

Following all these changes, the question stands; Why change so much? Initially, it was believed that the library was stripped of its free nature in an attempt to create a more suitable environment for teachers who bring their classes down to access the computers. However, upon asking several Triton High School teachers what they thought of the changes, none of them would give a specific answer. An anonymous source even went as far as to say “My mother taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” This leads to the conclusion that the changes in the library can not be a result of appeasing teachers.

Triton High School Principal Kathryn Dawe spoke about what the goal for the library is this year. Dawe’s goal was to, “ have a common place of learning” hence the name “learning commons”. She wants the library to be the place for students to access resources and technology and she also wants it to be a place where students can go to so they can have a different atmosphere than a classroom. In previous years the library, “Became more of a commons then a learning environment” says Dawe. “We’re trying to work with staff to find a balance for students and teachers in the form of a respectful environment.”

Dawe hinted at the idea that there should be an adjustment made so that the library is still a place to relax and learn. One potential solution to this problem would be to reinstate the Student Lounge, which is currently being reserved for National Honors Society students only. Karol spoke about the purpose of the former student lounge. She stated that it was indeed reserved for N.H.S students “who work their butt off and deserve a place to relax… one to two students of the N.H.S use it daily.” Instead of saving an entire classroom for 1-2 students, this room could be used as a place for students to access so that they can relax and enjoy coming to school during their study period.