Library & Information Skills
Library & Information Skills
The Library provides an environment that is conducive to individual study, while providing additional space for small group work. Middle School students perfect their Information Literacy Skills through research and the use of digital information. The program focuses on students learning how to find, utilize, summarize, evaluate, create and communicate information effectively and ethically.
A portrait of St. Thomas Aquinas, painted by local Madison artist James Reid, was donated by his brother Thomas (a St. Vincent Martyr School 1964 graduate) in memory of their mother, Lois Ann Reid. The painting depicts the Dominican philosopher as a young man, sitting at his desk, but looking at the viewer as if you had just walked into his room and were engaged in conversation with the Saint. A quote attributed to St. Thomas cautions people to “Beware the man of one book.” How perfect it is that this painting now lives among 12,000 books!
An annual book fair is held during Catholic Schools Week (February). The profits fund a searchable reference database for students who will be able to access current encyclopedias and magazine articles from home along with the school’s library catalog. Library and information services are being continually improved so that St. Vincent Martyr students will be prepared for the challenges of high school and beyond in this very advanced world of technology. Students need to understand how to access and organize information regardless of whether that information comes in book, digital or electronic formats.