Librarian Wins a Petrick Award, But Her Revere Job May Be Cut

It was a bittersweet newspaper interview on April 21. Paul Revere Middle School’s librarian Cindi Murphy was excited about winning a Lori Petrick Excellence in Education Award, but had received a RIF (reduction in force) notice from LAUSD the week before, announcing that her position would no longer be funded because of budget cuts. ‘At this school, we know the importance of a library,’ says Murphy, noting that principal Fern Somoza had begun looking for alternative sources to fund the position for next school year. Murphy said that the current plan for LAUSD school libraries is to keep them open using aides, many of whom have only a high school education. Murphy, who taught eighth-grade English for 16 years (10 at Revere), switched to the library three years ago, and with her enthusiasm and devotion to making it the ‘in’ place to be on campus, she not only wowed the 2,100 students she serves, but also the Lori Petrick judges. The Revere library buzzes at lunchtime with ‘drawshops’ by professional illustrators Max Espinosa and Rubin Gerard, the visiting author series (the latest being Jim Jennewein, author of the Viking-based Rune Warrior series), and career talks by visiting professionals. Murphy has also arranged for a community volunteer to teach French on Mondays, and she hosts Game Day the last Friday of each month. Students play board games, video games and computer games that were designed by teacher Erik Matsubayashi’s computer elective students.   ’Gaming improves critical and spatial reasoning, analytical skills and visual processing,’ Murphy says, ‘and it draws boys to the library. When they see the friendly environment and the great books, they become return users.’ Murphy has implemented Reading Rocks, a monthly program that promotes a different-themed book each month (April was ‘Poetry Power’), and the earn-and-learn library program, which allows students to earn community-service hours by assisting other students in the library.   If she keeps her job, Murphy would like to start a creative writing workshop this fall, led by published authors. ‘I love the concept that kids go from the inception of an idea to having a story published,’ she says. When Murphy first came to the library, one of her goals was to increase the number of available books from an average of six per student to the district’s recommendation of 18 per student. ‘The first two years, I got my hands on every book I could find that would draw the students to the library for pleasure reading and also to support the curriculum,’ she says, noting that the collection is now 12 to one, despite budget limitations. Her 2009-2010 budget for new books was (Continued on Page 3) just $2,000, limiting her mostly to the 2009 award-winning books. Murphy’s goal is for a student to walk in and say, ‘I can’t believe you have this book.’ She calls it the Barnes & Noble mentality, which means she has enough books to have the right book for every student. She has a wish list, but admires her principal’s priority’to devote every spare dollar towards retaining teaching positions (including her own) at Revere. She also praises Somoza for ‘helping legitimize the library by asking the Charter Council (the school’s governing board) to mandate a library committee that meets monthly; for allowing my teen advisory board to have a home room, and for promoting library programs.’ In fact, Murphy nominated Somoza for the Los Angeles School Library Association’s 2010 Friend of the Library Award, which Somoza won. Murphy, a graduate of El Camino High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in English from UCLA, then received a dual credential in teaching and library science. She is a year away from completing her master’s degree in library science at Cal State Long Beach. Her husband of 18 years, Scott, is a middle-school teacher at Burroughs. ‘He’s so supportive,’ Murphy says. ‘I stay late; I’m here until 5 or 6 p.m. every night.’ The couple, who have no children, love to visit New York City, where they see plays, enjoy different restaurants and walk around the city. At Revere, ‘Even though I have a schedule, every day brings something new,’ Murphy says. ‘For example, a teacher might suddenly ask for online sites for the Middle Ages. You never know what’s next, but I have to be equipped to do it.’