Curiosity, Collaboration, and Connection

By Greta Cunningham '23, Communications Apprentice
November 15, 2021

Cretin-Derham Hall students are lucky to have access to a wide range of resources at the Library Learning Center, best known as the LLC, and even luckier to have librarian Rebecca Strauss as the space’s steward. 

“On a surface level, I’m here to manage the LLC for students and staff, but as the years have gone on, I’ve learned that I get to enjoy a different kind of relationship with everyone in the school. I’m here for any sort of help, collaboration with different classes, and to provide a really enjoyable, safe space for everyone,” said Strauss. 

Strauss has now worked as a librarian at CDH for five years. 

From Curiosity to Career

“It wasn’t a total accident, but it wasn’t my plan from the get-go,” said Strauss. 

After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in English, Strauss went straight to France to become a teaching assistant for a year. 

“That’s when I really realized I wanted to be in a school setting. I’d already thought about librarianship, having worked as a circulation assistant at law libraries as an undergraduate, but it was working in France that really cemented my desire to work in a school,” said Strauss. 

After returning to the US, she worked as a reading tutor with AmeriCorps and applied to St. Catherine's University to earn her master’s in Library and Information Science. Post-graduation, she served as an elementary and middle school librarian but has now found her home working with high schoolers. 

“What I love about working here is that I get to have a different kind of relationship with students. I love getting to see them go from tiny, nervous ninth graders to seniors who are ready to go off into the world,” she said.

Collaborating for Student Success

In addition to connecting with students, Strauss also works across departments in collaboration with teachers. 

“I have some really amazing coworkers,” she said. “CDH is one of the nicest groups of people I’ve ever worked with.” 

Strauss offers essential resource support for teachers, helping them strengthen their curriculum with everything from specific book recommendations to digital media. 

“I work the most in-depth with English and social studies teachers, especially in US History classes for National History Day, but I’m always looking to collaborate more. I’m there for whenever a teacher has a new unit or wants extra materials to further their and their students’ knowledge. I love getting to go into a classroom or have classes visit the library in addition to helping teachers develop resources behind the scenes.” 

English teacher Jenny Markert ’83 collaborates frequently with Strauss to diversify the way she presents information to her students and help them develop their informational literacy and citation skills. 

“This year with my new Climate and Culture class, Ms. Strauss has helped me get different magazine subscriptions, such as Orion, that my students have access to not only in the library, but digitally on their iPads. When I need contemporary literature on a certain topic, I go to her. She’s able to look at the materials I have planned to share and fill in any gaps in what I’m providing so there’s something for every student to connect with,” said Markert. 

By offering different ways to engage with the curriculum, students are able to develop their own excitement and interest.

“[Using these materials] helps kids come to me with ideas. It’s great to hear them say things like, ‘Did you see this article?’ They help guide what we’re going to do in class,” Markert said. 

Students come to the LLC independently for a range of purposes including research for a school paper, books to check out for pleasure, technology resources, and the school makerspace, but it also serves as a unique place for classes to gather. 

“I enjoy working with kids in the library. I don’t have ownership there and neither do they, so it can be a neutral space. And personally, I love having all the books around. I think it creates the sense that all the writers who have come before are whispering their support,” said Markert.

Markert is of course not alone in her love for being in the library. 

“I pretty much lived in my middle school library,” Strauss says. “I probably read more in middle school than the rest of the years combined.” 

Connecting Through Literature

Growing up, reading was a family affair for Strauss as one of three sisters, a common literary trope she notes, who all had a passion for literature. 

“I grew up with Harry Potter, and when the fourth book came out, my mom refused to buy more than one copy for the house. For the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh books, we would all fight over who got the reading time,” she remembers fondly.  

Now, Strauss has the opportunity to impart the same joy among CDH students, partly by serving as adviser for both the Creative Writing Club and Book Club.

“I love these clubs because it’s really important to offer a range of opportunities for students to stretch themselves in different ways,” she said. “A moment that really made me appreciate my job recently was when a group of students approached me who had never done Book Club and told me about how they had really gotten into reading over the summer. They were so excited to join.” 

Book Club conversations exemplify how the LLC is designed to cultivate curiosity, collaboration, and connection. 

“I think it's important for students to see the collaboration between teachers. It reminds them that not one person, teacher, or member of staff knows everything. It emphasizes how important it is to share knowledge,” said Strauss. 

With Strauss’ work, the LLC continues to be a place that enriches students’ lives and learning inside and outside the classroom, striving to make the space as welcoming and formative as her school libraries were for her.