Laurie Brant - Library

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About The Teacher Label:


About The Teacher
Laurie Brant is a San Jose native. She grew up near Branham High School. She was married at Queen of Apostles Church in 1987 and came to Holy Family Parish in 1992. Laurie has three daughters all who have attended Holy Family School, Michaela who graduated in 2003, Sarah who graduated in 2005 and Amy who graduated in 2007. Laurie has many interests including reading, gardening and traveling.

Mission Label:


Mission
Laurie became the librarian quite by accident. At a PTG meeting in 1995 a call was put out to help in our little school library. The library at that time had just moved from the Sacristy to South 3 in the Community Center. The room had 3 free standing book cases and doubled as a meeting room/storage closet. Books were not arranged by age and there was no formal cataloguing system. At the time, our collection was approximately 2,000 books most were dated before 1960. Slowly a group of parents began working in the library until it finally took shape. Carpets were cleaned, the room was painted, blinds were purchased, computers were donated, books were organized, the school set a budget amount and most importantly an automative system was purchased. We weeded out the most outdated and worn books which brought the collection down to approximately 1,000 books. By 1996 we were ready to open the library doors to classrooms. At that time, most of the volunteers had moved on to other jobs and Laurie was one of two still remaining. She ran the library full-time as a volunteer until she was hired on part-time in 1997. The collection with the help of donations, school budget line and most importantly the Birthday Book Program increased the collection to 8,500 books. By 2002 we had outgrown South 3 and were actively looking for ways to expand the library. In 2003, the Capital Campaign took place to build a brand new wing of the school and the library would be included in those plans. In 2004, we moved into our brand new location at the back of the school. The new room accommodates a collection of 10,000 books, videos, parent resource section, books on tape and other resource materials. The library is a welcoming place to come. Laurie welcomes all students to come during their lunch hour. They can read, check out books, play games, talk, or do volunteer work in the library. Volunteers are always welcome. Please contact Laurie at laurie.brant@hfsj.org if you have any questions or would like to help out in the library.