What do you like about being a Librarian: I love helping students make connections and explore multiple perspectives. You can learn something new everyday if you actively listen.

Description:
Velear Schrupp is the Library Director and a member of TVT’s Innovation team. This is her third year at TVT and she oversees the running of the day-to-day operations for the Lower and Upper School Libraries. She works with TK-12, creating dynamic learning spaces and continues to refine the curriculum taught during Library classes and LS Maker classes, and oversees/works in both the Imagination Station and the Design Studio (Makerspaces).
Velear loves working with students of all ages and collaborating/integrating with teachers to enhance the learning process.
She enjoys learning about the interests of her students, assisting with finding resources, making connections, fine-tuning thinking skills, and building diverse collections that reflect a variety of perspectives.
She became a Librarian because she believes that the library provides a unique avenue for child advocacy. She has worked to assist children/students in making connections and providing access to resources, to think more deeply.
She has a Master's in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from San Jose State and 15 years of Library experience with 13 years in an independent school setting. She has been integrating Design Thinking concepts for the past 6 years and takes an integrated approach to teaching Library skills by combining Information Literacy, Social Emotional Learning, and Maker-informed practices/Design Thinking.
She continues to fine-tune her skills by actively seeking out best practices from many fields (education, library, psychology, science, engineering, history, humanities, art, business, etc) and integrating them into the running of the Library and teaching so that students can strengthen and grow their skill-sets (creativity, curiosity, thinking, evaluating, communicating, decision-making, reflecting, resource use, connecting, listening to understand to name a few).
The ability to connect and learn from the stories of others is a powerful tool and one that informs the way Velear thinks about how to cultivate a Library collection.
She enjoys using picture books to facilitate making deeper connection to complex topics as well as for the pure joy and life lessons one can often find within their pages.
Outside of school she loves spending time with her family.