Joining us this week for our Staff Spotlight series is Hayock's wonderful librarian Jeannie Sklar.

How long have you been a librarian?

This is my third year at Haycock and as a librarian, but I've worked in libraries for much longer.

What do you love about Haycock?

Haycock is a place where students, staff and families work together and support each other. It's an amazing community!

What makes you smile or brings you calm?

Genuine laughter from kids is my favorite sound and always makes me smile. Small moments of peace during the day or outside in nature bring me calm.

What books are you currently reading?

Asking about books from a librarian is a big question, as I could take up a whole page with titles of what I'm reading now. 

To start, I'm reading the 30 books selected as part of this year's Virginia Readers' Choice program: 

• 10 picture books
• 10 elementary chapter books
• 10 middle school chapter books. 

Plus, I have a few adult book clubs, so I'm reading Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, and When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink. I'm also reading professional books like The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and The Collection Program for School Librarians by Marcia Mardis. 

My bedside table is stacked with books!

What other media entertains you?

I'm mostly a book person, but I enjoy the New York Times, Planet Money and Freakonomics podcasts.

What fills your time outside of school?

Most days I bike to school and my summer vacation includes a long bike trip on a tandem bike with my husband. One summer, we biked across Michigan. Last summer, it was across Southern Ontario, Canada. We always stop at public libraries and ice cream shops along the journey.
 

I'm a word nerd too so I collect fun words like palindromes and homonyms and enjoy word and number puzzles. I'm old-fashioned with my puzzles, so I do my crosswords and sudoku on paper, in ink. 

Our students love "fun facts" about people and topics. What's a fun fact about you?

Last summer, I biked to 32 public libraries across Ontario, Canada