The Helen Temple Cooke Library is a complete information resource center designed to serve the students, faculty, and staff of Dana Hall School. Its primary goals are to support the diverse academic curriculum, to meet a wide range of student interests and abilities by providing multiple resources for learning, to develop the skills and self-confidence of students so they can operate effectively in any library, to provide a comfortable and caring atmosphere for individual and group study, and to foster a lifelong appreciation of reading, viewing and listening as sources of pleasure and personal growth.
The library’s resources include a collection of over 40,000 items (ranging from books, downloadable audiobooks and DVDs, to a karaoke machine), over 100 print periodical subscriptions, a photocopier, a digital piano, and the Dana Hall School Archives. The library catalog, a full array of databases and ebooks, 20,000 full-text online periodicals, the library blog, research guides and additional information about the library can be accessed through the library webpage. The library’s automated system gives access to a wide array of information through online databases and the web. The library houses both desktop and circulating laptop computers and iPads.
The current library facility opened in September 1998 and is a welcoming space that seats 160 users at tables, carrels, and armchairs. There are also a variety of smaller spaces within the library that are available for student use: three group study rooms, a classroom, and a multipurpose room. Orientation tours are offered to new students in the fall, and numerous courses visit the library for subject-specific information literacy seminars throughout the year. Librarians teach all Middle School students information literacy and research skills on a project basis, and all 9th graders information literacy, digital literacy and academic technology skills as part of the Skills 9 curriculum. All librarians are members of the academic technology team supporting initiatives such as the 1-to-1 iPad program.