Laila Ramirez
A&E Editor
As a librarian and media specialist, Dana Berglund has many roles and responsibilities to fill. Many involve supporting students academically and helping them navigate literature.
“I’m here to work with students on all kinds of resources like finding the book that’s right for them, or the digital resource that’s appropriate for them, how to spot good online articles, how to cite sources, do research lessons with classes, and lessons on digital citizenship,” Berglund said.
Students planning on attending higher education levels such as a university or college of any sort especially should know how to properly cite sources and use appropriate sources for their works.
Apart from her librarian duties, she loves to read and find the right book for the right person, at the right time.
“Having someone come back and telling me it’s their new favorite book or that they recommended it to their friend is really pretty satisfying,” Berglund said. She enjoys helping students find books to read outside of class that they will enjoy.
“I’ve always loved to read, I read as much as I can and this gives me an excuse to read all sorts of really great books,” Berglund said.
While she is a librarian, she also has an advisory class. She wanted to be able to connect with a set group of kids over the course of four years in addition to the many interactions she has with students in the library setting.
“I do also have an advisory class, when I initially began here we didn’t have advisory but when we added it to the curriculum I wanted one because I wanted to have a homeroom group of kids that got to stay with me,” Berglund said.
Prior to being a librarian, Berglund was an elementary classroom teacher at a couple alternative schools in Oregon.
“I started out as an elementary teacher and I always wanted to be a teacher when I was a kid. When I was in second grade I was going home and pretending to be my second grade teacher and reteaching my stuffed animals the lessons we had just learned at school. I was pretty much always on that track and never really deviated from it,” Berglund said.
After being a classroom teacher, it still wasn’t quite enough for Berglund. She enjoyed education and working with students, but a classroom teacher wasn’t satisfactory for her. After some thinking, Berglund decided she most wanted to be a librarian. She then went back to school to receive a Librarian Endorsement and ended up at Sandy High School where she remains now.
“Moving from having one class to the whole school being my class was great. I like having that many people and having small interactions with so many students. I also really appreciate that I have a small group I’m able to meet with four times a week,” Berglund said.
Berglund keeps busy at SHS and is even involved with tech support in addition to her many other duties.
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