Robert: On my very first day at Liberty Elementary, Mr. Dickinson sent me down to the library media center.

Mr. Dickinson: Bring back a couple of books you’ll enjoy, Robert.

Robert: You bet!

Narrator One: Robert hurried down the hall after Carmen Rosa Peña

Narrator Two: who wasn’t about to wait for him to catch up.

Narrator Three: Through the double glass doors Robert could see

Narrator One: the story alcove

Narrator Two: the animal skeleton collection

Narrator Three: twelve student computers with swivel chairs

Chorus: and thousands and thousands of books.

Narrator One: Everywhere kids were reading on bean bag chairs,

Narrator Two: typing at computers,

Narrator Three: or standing in the check-out line. 

Robert: More kids crowded around a tall blond woman holding a video
camera. 

Mrs. Skorupski: That was me!  My tarantula earrings dangled below my rhinestone glasses. 

Narrator One: Carmen was halfway across the room when Robert skidded to a stop in front of her.

Robert: What do you like to read?

Carmen Rosa Peña: Books about soccer and Sports Illustrated for Kids.  Why do you care?

Robert: I wondered if you knew where the animal books are.

Carmen Rosa Peña: Not a chance.

Robert: That’s okay.  I’ll ask the librarian.

Carmen Rosa Peña: Mrs. Skorupski?

Narrator Two: Carmen rolled her eyes.

Carmen Rosa Peña: Don’t even bother.  Our librarian won’t tell us ANYTHING!

Narrator Three: Carmen charged off to the shelf under the Kristine Lilly poster.

Chorus: What?  Librarians help people—like police but without the trouble. 

Narrator One: Robert marched over to the crowd surrounding Mrs. Skorupski and waited his turn.

Narrator Two: Mrs. Skorupski finally glanced at Robert over the sparkling glasses.

Mrs. Skorupski: New to Liberty?

Robert: Yep.  Mr. Dickinson’s class.

Narrator Three: Mrs. Skorupski stuck out her hand.

Mrs. Skorupski: Great!  I love fourth graders.  What do you like to read?

Chorus: Ha!  Carmen was wrong. 

Robert: Got any animal books?

Mrs. Skorupski: Any?  We’ve got so many animal books—

Chorus: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish—

Mrs. Skorupski: I could lock you in here for a year and you’d still be reading.  Well, if you didn’t starve first!

Robert: Awesome!  Mammals, please.  Where are they?

Mrs. Skorupski: Follow me!

Narrator One: She marched off across the room.

Narrator Two: Robert was so busy gloating that he smacked right into Mrs. Skorupski when she stopped at the first bank of computers.

Narrator Three: She swiveled a chair and gave him a gentle push onto the cushion.

Mrs. Skorupski: Have a seat.

Robert: Wait!

Narrator One: Robert bounced up. 

Chorus: Cool earrings but not much of a memory. 

Robert: You were taking me to the mammal books!

Narrator Two: Mrs. Skorupski twirled the chair again and pointed. 

Mrs. Skorupski: Sit.

Chorus: Her tarantulas bobbed near Robert’s cheek. 

Narrator Three: Mrs. Skorupski pointed to an icon on the screen.

Mrs. Skorupski: Click the online catalog and type  m-a-m-m-a-l-s  into the subject search box.

Robert: Just then, Carmen poked my ribs and hissed in my ear.

Carmen Rosa Peña: See!  I told you she wouldn’t tell you anything.

Chorus: Mrs. Skorupski just smiled.

Robert: I clicked SEARCH and got a long list of books.  I chose a few titles and read more about them.  Then, I wrote down the call numbers and titles of the books I wanted on the catalog slips she handed me. 

Mrs. Skorupski: Okily dokily.  Now use the shelf labels to find them!

Robert: Ummm, Mrs. Skorupski?  I asked YOU to show me where they are.

Mrs. Skorupski: (smile) Yes.  You certainly did.

Robert: I headed back to class with a stack of books—

Narrator One: one on the duck-billed platypus

Narrator Two: one on lesser bush babies

Narrator Three: and one from the display shelves on naked mole-rats.

Robert: Whenever I used the catalog to find books after that, Mrs. Skorupski said—

Mrs. Skorupski: Robert, you are a library success story.

Chorus: Who knew what she meant by that?

Robert: When Mr. Dickinson announced desert animal research in predator-prey
teams, I knew just the animal for me. <>

Mr. Dickinson: Mrs. Skorupski is scheduled to give us one hundred percent of
her attention for our library research on Thursday afternoon.

Carmen Rosa Peña: Ha!  She won’t tell us ANYTHING.

Mr. Dickinson: That’s enough, Carmen.

Robert: We each started by taking notes on the predators of ten desert animals
of our choice.  When we finished, we joined predator-prey pairs. 

Carmen Rosa Peña: I’ll be a predator.

Chorus: Big surprise!

Robert: Poisonous rufous-beaked snakes eat naked mole-rats.

Carmen Rosa Peña: Then I’m signing up to be Robert’s partner. 

Chorus: Oh joy!

Narrator One: Mr. Dickinson and Mrs. Skorupski handed out a Sources Criteria
Sheet.

Narrator Two: Robert wrote down their names on the sheet and hopped up from his chair. 

Carmen Rosa Peña: Where are you going?

Robert: Since I’ve read my naked mole-rat book three times, and I have animal
encyclopedias at home, I only need an online article. <>

Carmen Rosa Peña: Well, don’t bother asking Mrs. Skorupski.  She won’t tell you ANYTHING!

Narrator Three: Robert shrugged and walked over to a computer. 

Narrator One: When he typed n-a-k-e-d m-o-l-e-r-a-t-s  into the catalog, all he found was the book he already had. 

Narrator Two: No articles. 

Narrator Three: He flipped down his IN USE sign and zipped over to Mrs. Skorupski’s desk.

Robert: Will you please find me a naked mole-rat article online?

Mrs. Skorupski: Absolutely!

Narrator One: He followed her scorpion earrings as they danced across the room.

Narrator Two: Mrs. Skorupski swiveled the chair.

Mrs. Skorupski: Sit—and close the catalog.  The big blue e will open the kids’ search engine.

Narrator Three: Robert typed n-a-k-e-d m-o-l-e-r-a-t-s in the search box.  Up popped a list of links.  He clicked on each one to see the article.

Mrs. Skorupski: Okily dokily.  Now which article has the most interesting facts?  Print that one.

Robert: Didn’t I ask YOU to find me a good article?

Mrs. Skorupski: (smile)  Yes, you certainly did.

Narrator One: Back in class, Robert shared his print-out with Mr. Dickinson. 

Narrator Two: He also tucked a poisonous rufous-beaked snake article into Carmen’s desk.

Narrator Three: But he didn’t tell her who it came from.

Robert: Each time I helped my classmates after that, with the catalog, at the
nonfiction shelves, or online, Mrs. Skorupski said—

Mrs. Skorupski: Robert, you’re a library success story.

Chorus: Who knew what she meant by that?

Robert: When Mr. Dickinson assigned a desert animal multimedia product,
Carmen Rosa Peña and I finally had a huge fight.

Carmen Rosa Peña:  It’s not fair.  I missed the multimedia production lessons last fall.

Robert: No problem.  Since I hadn’t even moved here yet, Mrs. Skorupski will definitely help us.

Carmen Rosa Peña: (shout) Are you crazy? I told you, she never tells us ANYTHING!

Robert: (yell) She may not tell YOU anything.  But she ALWAYS helps me!

Narrator One: By the time Robert got to the library media center,

Narrator Two: Carmen was already there,

Narrator Three: taking notes on the poisonous rufous-beaked snake. 

Chorus: Again.

Narrator One: Carmen looked up. 

Carmen Rosa Peña: Oh look.  It’s Mr. Library Success Story.  Don’t tell me your research isn’t done?

Narrator Two: Robert sniffed.

Robert: I’m here to ask Mrs. Skorupski something.

Carmen Rosa Peña: Don’t even bother . . .

Narrator Three: He didn’t wait for her to finish.  He stomped off to the computers holding the Multimedia Product Format Sheet.

Narrator One: Robert typed  m-u-l-t-i-m-e-d-i-a  into the search engine. 

Narrator Two: He groaned when he saw the enormous list of links. 

Narrator Three: Mrs. Skorupski screeched to a halt behind him.

Mrs. Skorupski: What’s up, Robert?

Robert: Will you help me choose a multimedia product?

Mrs. Skorupski: Sure! Come with me—and bring Carmen along too.
Robert: Do I have to?

Narrator One: Mrs. Skorupski just patted Robert’s shoulder.

Narrator Two: Carmen scowled when Robert tapped her on the arm.

Narrator Three: But she followed Mrs. Skorupski and Robert to the Media Lab.

Narrator One: Mrs. Skorupski connected the data projector to her laptop and dimmed the lights.

Narrator Two: Then, she grabbed two DVD disks and a CD from the AV shelves.

Narrator Three: Her eyes sparkled in the dark room.

Mrs. Skorupski: Okily dokily.  Let’s view some student samples of each product and you two can decide.

Robert: Hey!  That’s a great way to choose.

Mrs. Skorupski: (smile) Yes.  It certainly is.

Narrator One: By the time Carmen and Robert headed back to class, Carmen’s grumpy mood had dissolved into excitement about making a claymation film.

Narrator Two: Carmen said poisonous rufous-beaked snakes would be easy to make out of clay--

Chorus: like pretzel rods but without the salt. 

Narrator Three: Carmen even scheduled a meeting for them to meet with Mrs. Skorupski the next day so they could begin their filming. 

Robert: Last week when Allison Chen moved to Liberty School, Mr. Dickinson sent her down to the library media center with me.

Mr. Dickinson: Mrs. Skorupski tells me Robert is a library success story.

Chorus: Who knows what she means by that?

Narrator One: Robert walked down the hall with his new friend Allison. 

Robert: You’re going to love Mrs. Skorupski.  Our librarian can teach you—

All: ANYTHING!