Hello and welcome to the Mount Saint Joseph Academy Library!

The other day, a student showed me the brand new Nook she found under her Christmas tree.  The e-reader was encased in a leather cover embossed with an inspiring literary quote from Marie de Sevigne.  "When I step into this library, I cannot understand why I ever step out of it."

This reflection by the seventeenth-century French noblewoman and accomplished letter writer struck a chord with me.  From the first day I walked through the door, I have loved the MSJA Library.  The large space on the fifth floor is bright and cheerful.  In the late afternoon, the sun floods through the west-facing windows, filling the room with a golden light.  Sometimes, I feel like God is peeking in to say "hello."  I find it charming that in the olden days when the Mount was still a boarding school, the wing where the library now lives was used as the dormitory.  Rows of curtained beds once filled the area now lined with book shelves.  The older Mount yearbooks contain some nostalgic photos of those long-gone days.

 Presiding over the library and managing its collection has been a challenge and a joy over the past twelve years.  So many young women have climbed the endless staircase and stepped through the doors of the library to use our computers, do their homework, find resources for a research project, log-in to their Virtual High School classes, look for a good book to read or attend a club meeting.  I hope they have all felt welcomed and enriched during their time here.  A good library is a treasure for all who step inside.  Information, whether it is printed in a book or digitally broadcast, is a valuable key to open whole new worlds for our students.  I look forward to providing the opportunity for many future classes of Mount girls to read, imagine, discover and learn at the MSJA Library.