Beyond the Books: 5 Things You Didn't Know about the Helen Temple Cooke Library

5 Things You May Not Know about the Helen Temple Cooke Library

1. More than just books

While the Helen Temple Cooke Library is home to over 30,000 print titles, we are also Dana Hall students’ one-shop-stop for all of their technology and crafting needs. Our highest circulating items are our lightning and USB-C chargers (each with their own distinct name and personality so patrons are motivated to return them to their home on time). Students can borrow iPads and laptops to complete their schoolwork, as well as more eclectic devices like GoPros, digital cameras, podcasting microphones, and even a karaoke machine—which has been a favorite of 5th graders. 

Beyond the stacks, we maintain relationships with outside cultural organizations, including a partnership with the Wellesley Free Library and a library pass program that offers free and discounted entry to places like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the New England Aquarium, and the JFK Library. Another popular resource via the library is the Sora app, which provides access to the Massachusetts Library System Commonwealth Collection’s thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines. 

2. Over a dozen paid student pages support our work

The Helen Temple Cooke Library page program is the best student job on campus! (And, okay, the only one.) 

Each year, the library employs 14–16 student pages who help the librarians with a wide range of tasks. In addition to shelving and checking library materials in and out at the circulation desk, our pages help prepare new books before they hit the shelves, accession magazines, create displays and collectible library ephemera (bookmarks! zines!), and help with special projects including programming and all-school presentations.

Beyond day-to-day responsibilities, the Page Program is designed as a job training experience. Students participate in a structured hiring process, receive hands-on training, and learn practical workplace skills like time management, communication, and goal-setting through annual reviews. Pages also gain experience managing schedules and timesheets—skills that are essential in any professional setting.

Whether students are interested in library work or simply looking to build a strong foundation for future employment, the Library Page Program offers meaningful, paid experience in a supportive environment.

3. We have an Archives!

The Nina Heald Webber 1949 Archives contains a wide range of materials dating from just prior to the founding of the school in 1881 to the present. Our Archives collects institutional records, publications by and about the School (bulletins, newsletters, literary magazines, student newspapers, yearbooks, and more), and video and photographic records of school ceremonies, traditions, and performances. Clothing, letters, scrapbooks and memorabilia donated by alumnae, faculty, and their families are also present. Many former print or analog materials are now collected digitally, and digitization of older items is ongoing. The Dana Hall Authors Collection contains a collection of books, videos, and music by alumnae and current and former faculty and staff—and these books circulate! You can browse our ever-growing list of Dana Hall Authors Collection titles on our Libguide.  

The mission of the Archives is to identify, collect, organize, preserve, and make accessible records of the Dana Hall School and its alumnae and faculty for future generations. Alongside our Archivist, the Archives also employs students! Every year two pages from the Library Page Program serve as Senior Class Historians, who are responsible for documenting their graduating class’s time at Dana Hall in a scrapbook and written accounts of that class’s experience with Dana Hall’s many traditions. 

4. Embedded library literacy instruction

While we love it when students visit the library, you don’t have to set foot in the HTC to benefit from the expertise and experience that the librarians have to offer—we come right to you! Your librarians are trained information professionals who are eager to assist with research. Teachers often request librarian assistance on class projects both large and small, and the librarians provide instruction on finding and evaluating resources, extracting and organizing information, and creating citations. We also pop up in class for lessons on media literacy, helping students learn how to navigate an increasingly complicated media landscape of mis- and disinformation, sneaky ads, clickbait, and echo chambers. Curious about how artificial intelligence is changing how the world works, learns, communicates, and entertains? We’re experts in this emerging technology, too!

5. We do fun things!

Dull, silent libraries (and librarians) are a stereotype of the past, and our library is a space of fun, imagination, creativity, and exploration! We host numerous initiatives, programs, and fun competitions each school year. Students look forward to our March madness brackets, featuring favorite dragons, literary villains, and more, and each school year culminates in a Summer Reading book fair. We also run regular reading challenges, including our biannual Read the World challenge, designed to encourage our patrons to read books by authors native to every continent (...and outer space). Our latest ventures are a Library Bingo challenge and a Library Page-led Book and Film Club, which meets through the academic year to screen and discuss film adaptations of popular books. Our programming roster is led by our beloved Library mascot Bubbles, whose name was selected via an all-school vote last year!