New Library Not Like Our Old Study Hall

When I stopped by the new Central High School to pick up a copy of the Centennial book, I couldn’t believe I was in a high school library. It felt more like a coffee shop than Mrs. Wilcox’s study hall that served as my freshman homeroom.

The first thing you see when you walk into the library is a small lobby with a catalpa and sycamore sculpture by art instructor Robert C. Friedrich III. The work, “Mind, Body & Soul,” was commissioned by librarian Julia Howes Jorgensen “To Honor Her Family’s Three Generations of Central Graduates.”

She said that the “experts” would consider the small alcove wasted space, but she thinks it’s important to have a place where students can scrape off teenage angst and “decompress” before entering the library. “You remember all the drama, with the cat fights between boyfriends and girlfriends…”

Bright, airy, inviting

Julia said she was given extraordinary latitude in designing the space. She figured it was because she was “Old Cape;” a Class of 1969 graduate “along with Rush Limbaugh” (and, Koran-burner Terry Jones, I added), and had been librarian since 1985. “I live here. I know Cape and our students. I’ve taught here. I knew what we needed.”

It is clearly a non-shushing library. There’s enough space that students can collaborate on projects or talk quietly without interfering with their neighbors. The facility is open from 7 a.m. to 3:30. Julia says students are frequently waiting for her to swing the doors open in the morning.

Craig Thomas murals and art

She brought in local artist Craig Thomas to do paintings and murals. It was a great learning experience for the art students to see him set up his scaffolding and create his work. He was able to communicate to them that “it’s great work, but you really need a spouse with life insurance, too.”

The fireman’s pole in the corner of the room came from the Pacific campus.

The Bookend raises money for books

The coffee shop feeling is enhanced by The Bookend, a self-serve, honor system counter where students can buy popcorn, hot chocolate or cappuccino for 50 cents. The money goes to buy “extra” books. “The district buys the first copy of a book, but I use the proceeds from The Bookend to purchase the second, third or fourth copy of books that are ‘hot.'”

She also tries to stock bestsellers, when appropriate, so that students and faculty members have an opportunity to read a book by an author they saw on a late-night talk show .

Scrounging 101

Julia is an expert at scrounging useful items. Some of the tables in the library came from a Barnes & Noble bookstore that was moving. They were destined for the dumpster when she stepped up to take them.

Links to the past

She’s also rescued key items from the Pacific Street and Caruthers high schools. This artwork and books came from “our” Central. There are patriotic posters and a room directory taken from what is now Schultz Senior Apartments.

There’s a whole shelf of Girardot yearbooks. “That’s how you can tell I’m not a real librarian,” she said, “because I make them available to the students. It’s their school. If they want to look up what grandpa or an aunt or an uncle looked like, they shouldn’t have to beg my permission. They’re always available.”

Students can look into library

There are small windows set high in the room that allow students in the second-floor classrooms around it to look down into the library.

Her father’s uniform

One of the items on display is Julia’s dad’s uniform from World War II. When students remark about how small he was, she tells them that “when you walk the length of Italy, you get that way.”

Cape Central High through the years

If you want to see how the high school and the students have changed – and remained much the same – over the past 100 years, you can order the Cape Central High School Centennial book from a link on this page. Or, you can stop by to see Julia and her showcase library. That, alone, is worth the $50 book price.

Photos of Central’s library in the ’60s

Photo gallery of new library

Here are additional photos of the new library. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

 

11 Replies to “New Library Not Like Our Old Study Hall”

  1. Stop in and enjoy a cappuccino or a bag of popcorn…my treat…when you come home to Central during our Centennial year! We are incredibly proud of our academic and inviting space and think all alumni will be pleased.

  2. WOW! Julie you have given Central a live and vibrant showplace! It is more than a wonderful library. It is an art gallery, a museum and a gathering place. You should be proud. Thank you.

  3. Wow!…it almost seems too nice to have a 2:00 pm coughing attack by all the boys in study hall…well, I did say almost too nice.
    This looks like great place to study and learn…nice work.
    If it is really free then I might stop by for a quick cup while I am running around today.

    1. Your taxes would be a lot higher if Ms. Jorgensen wasn’t such a good scrounger.

      She’s also keeping your taxes down by doing innovative things like The Bookend, which raises money to buy additional, non-taxpayer-funded books.

      And, not getting personal, but your spelling would make me believe that you could have profited by spending a little more time in a library like that.

      A library that encourages kids to study and read is an investment in our future. I’d like to see a comparison of how much was spent on the library vs athletic facilities and staffing.

  4. Julia has done an absolutely BEAUTIFUL job of keeping the “old” while applying the “new” for the kids of Central. Very impressive….Makes me want to go back to high school!!

  5. Modern libraries aren’t the stodgy places they used to be. The new Cape Girardeau Public Library features bright colors, bean bag chairs for the kids, airy sculptures, art work and creative architectural delights!
    Of course, not all schools and/or towns are able to modernize thusly. At Advance, we’re still struggling to keep our little one-room library, which was created in 2004.

  6. here in surprise az, our library allows us to go on line and request books from any of our county libraries, that way i can always keep mom in large print mystries and me in whatever. julie the “new” central library looks like it is a place where fun meets learning. good job

  7. It is good to know that there are people like Julia that really care about the future of our children… I agree that what ever amount of money she spent is worth every penny to the students of Central High School. Sorry to disagree with you Bud.. Whoever you are..

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