AN EXCEPTIONAL LIBRARY
FOR EXCEPTIONAL MINDS
Our Program
The Lang School library is truly one of a kind, reflecting the spirit of our twice exceptional students. Unlike the design of most schools, our library is not a single room housing books and desks and computers. Instead, we have shelves of books lining the entire academic hallway, and a librarian who travels from classroom to classroom bringing lessons from the library with her. By design, our library is an interactive space, naturally integrated into each day at Lang.
We believe in student-centered learning, and our unique organization of the texts is a prime example of this, as it is the direct result of student input. For example, the fictional books in the middle and upper school section have labeled genres ranging from “realistic fiction” to “Earth, but there’s magic!” to “non-human POV” to “less realistic fiction.” Rest assured, as informal as this labeling may seem, all of our books are marked with the corresponding Fountas & Pinnell reading level letter, and the lower school shelves are solely organized by reading level. The result is an appropriate balance of quirky innovation and logical systemic organization.
While the organization of the library is reflective of our students’ input, the stories housed on our shelves represent not only the identities and experiences of our community, but provide a diverse lens into cultures and lived realities that our community members may be less familiar with - narratives and content spanning across the globe and throughout history. It is our mission to not only provide texts that act as “mirrors,” in which students see themselves and form a stronger sense of self, but “windows” in which students get insight into lives unlike their own in order to cultivate empathy and understanding among our young global citizens.
Our mission is to not only foster a love of reading among our students, but to also support them in their journey to become responsible and confident users and creators of information. We do this by providing high quality resources (both physical copies and online databases), teaching research skills and information literacy classes to students of all grades, and always considering the unique and exceptional interests and talents of our Lang students when requesting new materials and individualizing lessons and projects.
Although they have graduated, the library would not be what it is without student intern Sylver!
They provided insight and support with organization, engagement, and programming!
Lang's Librarian:
Sophie Rose Anger
This is Sophie's second year at Lang. She is currently in the "School Media Specialist" Masters program at Queens College School for Library and Information Science.
Before Lang, she taught 6th grade ELA in Harlem, and before that she was in Baltimore getting her BA in Elementary Education.
And...before that (!!!) she was a city kid too. She grew up in Brooklyn, and attended grades K-12 in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. She is passionate about information literacy, media literacy, and just plain literacy. She cares most about fostering a love of reading among students and helping you find a book
you won't want to put down. On top of managing the physical library, she teaches research skills and creative writing.
When not at Lang she can be found biking around the city, hanging with her kitten Arty, making and/or listening to music, or just hanging with pals.