The Ruth Hallowell Gray Library
Serving students in grades 6-12

The Ruth Hallowell Gray Library is at the center of academic life in the middle and upper school.  Located on the second floor, the library is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.  Students visit the library to conduct research, borrow books, study quietly, or work in small groups.  Teachers also bring groups to the library for instruction and research.  A librarian is always available to assist students and faculty with their research and to offer library instruction. 
 
The computer lab, located adjacent to the library, is available for students to work independently and for teachers to conduct classes.  The main library has several desktop computers, as well as a cart with laptops that can be borrowed for students’ or for classroom use. 

The library is designed to support and enhance the middle and upper school curriculum, and to encourage recreational reading.  Some highlights of the library’s collection include:

• The Millennium online catalog at http://library.friends-select.org where students and faculty can search the collection.

• A variety of electronic resources, available both at school and remotely, that includes over 2,200 e-book titles and fourteen databases.  A sample of the databases includes: 

o Jstor
o Accessible Archives
o ABC-Clio's American and World History databases
o Historic New York Times
o Greenwood Daily Life Online
o Proquest Psychology Journals
o Proquest Platinum 

• On-line writing and research tools such as Visual Thesaurus, Noodletools, Oxford World Languages Dictionaries and the online OED, and Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

• Non-text databases with the visual learner in mind, such as Artstor, American History in Video, and Discovery Education (which includes PBS titles). 

• Materials available via interlibrary loan from the statewide library consortium through Access PA, which also provides a collection of databases through POWERLibrary. 

• Support for students with learning differences, provided through specialized audio books and supplementary software, to students with qualifying needs.  
 
Sandy Guild joined Friends Select School as director of libraries and academic technology in September 2006. She formerly worked at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, where she was a middle and upper school librarian for six years. She has served as an adjunct professor at Drexel University’s School of Library and Information Science, a lower and middle school librarian at United Friends School and a reference intern at Van Pelt Library of the University of Pennsylvania. Sandy earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English literature, both from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master's degree in library science from Drexel University.
 
Maureen Haurin is the middle and upper school librarian and also teaches middle school research and technology.   Maureen received a Master’s degree in library science from Drexel University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from Temple University. She joined Friends Select School in 2004.
 
Elizabeth Wallace Library
Serving Students in pre-K through 5th Grade
 
The Wallace library, open weekdays between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., serves lower school students and faculty.  The recently-renovated library was designed with the lower school learner in mind and provides a child-centered space where students can explore the collection for research and recreational reading. A librarian is always available to help individual students and teachers.  Integrated library instruction is provided to classes on a weekly basis to help students develop 21st century information literacy skills, as well as to promote independent library use and selection of reading materials.  Laptops are available for teacher and librarian-led instruction and guided student use. 
 
The lower school library collection supports the lower school curriculum and provides a variety of carefully-selected materials for pre-emergent, emerging, and proficient readers and researchers.  The print collection is enhanced by a vibrant collection of on-line resources and databases specifically chosen with the young learner in mind.  These databases include CultureGrams, World Book Online and PebbleGo. In addition, students have access to POWERLibrary databases designed for younger students and made available through state funding. 
 
Paula Cairo, the lower school librarian, has taught at Friends Select since 1985.  She holds a Master's degree in English from Temple University. She has done postgraduate study at the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, and also at Temple University.