There are endless reasons to go to the school library, whether it’s checking out books, printing out papers, or even asking a question. Running a school library is a lot of work, and Mrs. Amy Titus does it all.

If you need to check out a book, Mrs.Titus will be there to answer any questions after you sign in. If you need to find a book, you can use the guest stations at the middle of the library. “Checking out books is easy because we don’t have library cards,” Mrs. Titus said. You can check out books under your name, just like checking out a textbook, instead of having to open a library card.

“Printing is a little more complicated,” Mrs. Titus said, “and a lot of students struggle with that.” In order to print, students have to log into the computer with their own login. Sometimes, students are in a rush, and they try to go up to a computer already logged in as someone else. When they go to the printer, there isn’t anything there for them. “Students just need to remember that they log in on the computer and on the printer with their R2.D2 and password,” Mrs. Titus said, “and they do have to pay for printing.”

Printing is 10¢ per page for black and white, and 50¢ for colored.

Mrs. Titus decided she wanted to be a school librarian when she was student-teaching to get her teaching degree. She saw a school librarian working and was surprised that she hadn’t thought of the idea of being a school librarian before. The idea of doing something different every day excited her.

In addition to being a school librarian, she also sponsors the school morning show, Storm Watch TV, PHU’s TV production club. “When I came to Palm Harbor, another teacher was already doing it,” Mrs. Titus said, “and it was a little complicated because she left, and then another teacher took it over, and he really didn’t produce any shows.” When Principal Christen Gonzalez asked Mrs. Titus to run TV production, she was happy to run the program, since she had loved doing TV production in middle school.

“It was hard starting it from scratch,” Mrs. Titus said, “but it is now a very successful news show.” Storm Watch is now the best high school news show in Pinellas County and the state of Florida, having won the Jim Harbin Media Festival in the news show category.

Whether you are in the library every day or not at all, Mrs.Titus has made huge contributions to PHU and the school library is a great resource. Mrs.Titus encourages students to take advantage of the library and read books not only for school assignments, but also simply for enjoyment during their leisure time as an escape, even if they have busy schedules.