School Library Life with Nicole Bennett of Young at Heart
School librarians are jacks of all trades. Our profession is not necessarily a starting point: it’s one people find. As I interview more school librarians, it’s interesting to see how their path to school librarianship affects their niches within the field. School librarianship offers a breadth of foci from reading and collection development to research skills to AI leadership, and it offers the flexibility that traditional classroom positions lack, leaving room to build organic relationships with students and pursue additional passions.
This is the case for Nicole Bennett, a third year school librarian serving K-6 students in San Diego, CA. When Nicole isn’t bonding with students in the library over books, she’s writing book reviews or middle grade and YA fiction, including her serialized novel Timing Is Everything, available for paid subscribers on her Substack, Young at Heart.
You can also find Nicole on Instagram @nicoleviolabooks, and on Bluesky @nicoleviolabooks.bsky.social.
Jennie: Tell me about your journey to school librarianship.
Nicole: It was a meandering path, but I made it to a job that feels perfect for me! In college I studied modern languages (mainly Spanish & French) and literature. I always loved being in academia and education and after grad school, I taught Spanish at the college level before deciding to stay home with my kids. Over the years since college, I worked with students at almost every grade level, whether as an instructional aide, substitute, teacher, tutor, or a homeschool mom (I never envisioned it before, but I ended up homeschooling my three kids for ten years through a public charter school). Homeschooling and writing are what really brought me back to a deep love of children’s books, and when I had the chance to lead small group book clubs with my kids or their friends, I was in my happy place.
Reading has always been at the heart of everything for me– personally, with my own kids, and with other kids/students I interact with (yes, I am the weird mom who will ask my kids’ friends what they’re reading). It was a longtime family friend who first asked me if I ever thought about working in a school library. This thought had crossed my mind, and as my kids transitioned away from homeschooling in the secondary school years, I started volunteering at my beloved local public library and taking library technology classes at a community college. I instantly knew I had found the perfect career to move into. I took two semesters of classes to learn the basics and along with what I picked up volunteering, I was then ready to look for a job as a library media specialist. I’m so thankful to have found a home at my current school and district (I have an amazing group of fellow LMSs in my district that I get to meet and collaborate with monthly).
Jennie: What’s your favorite part of the job?
Nicole: My favorite part of the job is connecting with students through books. I love getting to know my students’ reading tastes so I can make personal recommendations and gush about favorites we have in common. I still get to lead small book clubs (with 5th grade) and I absolutely love doing this. My goal is for kids to find reading fun and enjoyable rather than just required or something that’s there to teach them a lesson. There’s nothing like seeing kids truly delight in books and reading.
Jennie: If you could go back in time and give your new librarian self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Nicole: I would advise myself to take my time making the library my own. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with projects, but I’ve found a lot of joy in sprucing up and organizing areas of our collection little by little. I would also tell myself not to overthink the lesson plans too much. Allowing space for kids to react and reflect on the books we read aloud is so enjoyable. I try to let the conversation be as organic as possible as time permits. Finally, I’d tell myself to get kids involved in library leadership as soon as possible as that’s been one of the best things I’ve done at our school (in my humble opinion 😉).
Jennie: How has being a school librarian impacted your reading life?
Nicole: I always loved middle grade books but since I started working in the library, my percentage of books read in this category has skyrocketed. I now read less young adult than middle grade, which is a distinct flip from a few years ago. It’s also been fun to go back to picture books as I got out of the habit as my kids got into the tween and teen years. I bring them home and love seeing my older kids still enjoy them.
Jennie: You’re also a MG/YA writer! How did you get started on your writing journey, and how does it intersect with your work as a librarian?
Nicole: Yes! I’ve loved books, reading, and also writing since I was a little girl. When I finally was brave enough to jump back into writing fiction as an adult, it just made sense for me to write for young people. I thought of all the delight reading brought me as a kid and the desire to write stories my own kids or teenage me might like to read, and I just dove in. I think of myself as pretty “young at heart” (hence the name of my Substack newsletter), and I find it pretty natural to slip into a young voice when I create my characters and write from their point of view. There is also something inherently hopeful about children’s literature that really resonates with me as a writer. For my writing life, working in the school library has been amazing. I am with kids all the time, which gives me increased insight into childhood as I get farther away from my own. I also am able to be very current and knowledgeable about the market as I am constantly reading and researching books for work. Working with kids helps me stay awake to wonder and delight which I think only helps my writing. I especially love the moments of intersection at work when I get to talk about writing with kids. This isn’t a specific part of my job but sometimes it comes up in conversion with students, and that’s always fun.
Jennie: How do you balance librarianship with writing, both your novels and on Substack?
Nicole: Just one more reason why my current position is perfect for the season of life I’m in is that it’s not a full-time position. That means that on many days I get home a couple of hours before my kids do. I try to spend any afternoon time not at appointments or walking the dog focused on writing. In an ideal world, that would mean at least a dedicated hour or two a day for writing, but having three teens, a dog, and a couple of persistent medical issues has definitely made that challenging. ;) I try to squeeze in a bit of writing on the weekends when I can as well. As for my library job, the only library-related thing I do outside of work hours is read–whether that’s picture books or middle grade books–and luckily that is something that brings me a lot of joy that I would be doing anyway. The rest of my library work is done at the library. It can be hard to fit everything in, but I thankfully have some admin/library maintenance time worked into my work schedule so I don’t feel like I need to bring work home.
Jennie: Why should every school have a school librarian?
Nicole: The library is an amazing “third place” for students to be able to retreat to, and it’s such a gift for the kids in our district to have a specialized someone at their school dedicated to pointing them in the direction of books they might enjoy. I think students who have access to a library and a librarian at their school are much more likely to turn into lifelong readers. School librarians get the privilege of knowing every student at the school and get to play a special bonus role of reading-encourager and friendly book-pusher in these kids’ critical childhood years.
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Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your journey to school librarianship with me! Stay tuned for more interviews. 🧡