Grier School

Grier’s Library is an information center that houses a high quality educational and recreational collection of physical and online resources freely available to students and teachers.

The library is conducive to individual or group reading, researching, and studying. Students may use the library during free periods, non-academic times, in the company of their teachers, and during evening study hall Sundays-Thursdays. In addition to daytime hours, the library is open most evenings and weekends.

Literacy Promotion

Borrow - Students may borrow books, magazines, audiobooks, eReaders, and DVDs from the Student Film Collection
Displays & Contests – the library features themed displays and contests throughout the year, sometimes linked to a teacher’s curriculum
Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Awards (PAYRCA) program – As part of this statewide program, students read nominated books and vote for their favorite. The library offers prizes and other incentives for participation.
One Book, One School - We invite everybody in the Grier Community to read the same book during the course of the school year and celebrate with discussions and other related events.
Author Visits
Scholastic Book Fair

Library & Information Skills Instruction

Librarian, Rebecca Woolfrey, partners with teachers to offer annual library orientation and other research and information literacy instruction to students through their assigned classes. Instruction is based on the standards from the American Association of School Librarians for 21st Century Learners and helps prepare students for college-level research and become savvy information consumers.

Library Orientation

Introduces students to the library staff, space, and services. The main focus is the library’s software Destiny, which allows users to create their own logins, search for print and digital materials, access digital content, and manage accounts.

Other instruction topics:

Evaluating Web Sites for Credibility
Avoiding Plagiarism
Using Online Databases
Paraphrasing
Introduction to the Research Assignment
Citation Using NoodleTools
Note-taking and Outlines with NoodleTools
eBooks and eReaders

Meet the Staff

List of 2 members.

Rebecca Woolfrey

Library Department Chair
Website Manager
Bio
Mrs. Woolfrey received her Master’s degree in Library Science from the ALA-accredited program at the University of Missouri before moving to State College, PA in 2006. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies & Interior Design, plus minors in Art and French from the University of Missouri. She has completed graduate courses in Educational Technology and is a member of the professional organizations AISL and PSLA.

She has worked as an interior designer and as a university library reference assistant where she helped both students and professors with their research. Mrs. Woolfrey enjoys spending her free time with her family, enjoying the outdoors, and pursuing creative hobbies. Some of her favorite young adult authors include: Judy Blundell, Suzanne Collins, Maureen Johnson, E. Lockhart, Phillip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling.

At Grier, her duties include directing the Library, chairing the Grier Workplace Safety Committee, and managing the Grier website.
Andrea Cheatle

Library Assistant
Bio
Andrea graduated from Penn State in May 2019 with a B.S. in Secondary English Education and a minor in English. She began working at Grier School in August 2019 as the Assistant Librarian, as well as helping out with the barn staff a few days a week. Through her equestrian background and English knowledge, Andrea enjoys helping students around campus in different ways and spreading what she has learned from her own studies.

Library Website

Library Catalog

Crochet Pattern Dedicated to Class of 2020
5/11/2020
While working from home, Grier’s Mrs. Woolfrey was inspired to create a crochet pattern in honor of the Grier students. Like their mascot, the students of Grier are fast, graceful, and agile athletes, riders, and dancers. They are clever and highly intelligent problem solvers. Foxes, like Grier students and alumnae, are found worldwide, on six continents.
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Novel "Love, Hate, and Other Filters" Is Student Favorite
5/6/2020
Grier students participated in the statewide reading program by reading books from a list of 15 nominees, and then voting for their favorite. The results of the student vote show that Grier students have wonderful and diverse tastes! Favorites included fiction, non-fiction, and graphic novels that reflected a variety of cultural experiences and genres.

Students voted for ten out of the 15 nominees as their favorites, with the book Love, Hate, and Other Filters taking the first place spot by earning the most votes. Love, Hate and Other Filters is the contemporary novel by Samira Ahmed. In the Ahmed’s book, high school senior Maya Aziz is caught between her Indian-born parents’ world of college and finding a suitable Muslim husband and her own dream to pursue film school and date classmate Phil when a terrorist attack upends her life.
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A Message of Hope from Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman
4/28/2020
The Academy of American Poets celebrates National Poetry Month each April, and this year, US Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recites a poem of hope from the Los Angeles Public Library in a video from television’s CBS This Morning.
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Celebrate School Library Month Online
4/13/2020
April is School Library Month, the American Association of School Librarians' celebration of school librarians and school libraries. Grier’s Library would normally mark the occasion with some extra contests, displays, prizes, and activities. This year, when we are distant from each other, Mrs. Woolfrey would like to remind students of the great Grier Library resources they can access online.
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Reading Program Voting Now Open!
4/7/2020
The Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards (PAYRCA) Program is an annual statewide program that gives students the opportunity to vote for their favorite authors. At Grier, students who participate in the program receive Grier Bucks and chances to win prizes throughout the school year. Grier students who have read titles from the nominees list are eligible to cast a vote for their favorite.
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Students Stick Together to complete Sticker Mosaic
2/6/2020
Students enjoyed working together to complete a mystery sticker mosaic. As they stopped by the library, the students could adhere a few color-coded stickers to the grid, revealing the image piece-by-piece. Carolyn and Ashley were proud to have placed the very last stickers on this brightly colored unicorn mosaic. Stop by the library to see the result of the result of their collaborative effort for yourself!
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Wolfpack Unites Grier in a Thoughtful Discussion
2/3/2020
Earlier this year, the Library launched the 2019-2020 One School, One Story school-wide read. This program challenges everyone in the Grier community to read the same book as a shared experience. This year’s book selection was Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game by soccer legend Abby Wambach.
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Research Skills Essential for College and Beyond
1/28/2020
Research papers are a regular part of each English and ESL courses at Grier. Knowing this, many teachers opt to partner with Grier’s librarian to give their students specialized lessons in accessing, finding, evaluating, organizing, and citing information.

These skills are essential for college-level work, and, as the decision-makers of tomorrow, today’s students must be able to critically evaluate sources of information for authority and bias. Grier’s Library continues to provide materials in the traditional format of printed books alongside online access to a multitude of searchable eBooks and databases of articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals.
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One School, One Story 2019
10/7/2019
Do you know just how powerful you are? Do you want to create a better world? Read what Olympic Gold Medalist Abby Wambach has to say about leadership, teamwork, and changing the world in her book “Wolfpack.” The library invites everybody at Grier to read this tiny little book with a great big message. Borrow a copy today. Be part of the conversation.
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Leave the Light On
9/20/2019
Every year, the American Library Association celebrates the freedom to read with a week-long event called "Banned Books Week." During this week, libraries across the country highlight the value of free and open access to information. This is in response to individuals and organizations that would like to ban, or remove, materials from library collections because they are not aligned with their own personal beliefs and values. It is the role of libraries to provide materials for all patrons, not just the vocal majority.
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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
9/15/2019
You can celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by reading a book written by a Hispanic or Latino author or that features a Hispanic or Latino main character. Many of these books on display in the Library right now, so please check them out!
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2019-2020 Reading Program Nominees
9/11/2019
The Pennsylvania Young Readerss Choice Awards (PAYRCA) Program is an annual statewide program that gives students the opportunity to vote for their favorite authors. At Grier, students who participate in the program receive Grier Bucks and chances to win prizes throughout the school year. To participate, students sign-up in the library between September and February and read titles from the list of fifteen nominees. Copies of the books are available through the library. Grier students vote before Spring Break and the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association declares winners in May.
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Lifelong Learning & Literacy

The library is conducive to individual or group reading, researching, and studying.
21st Century Learners

Instruction helps prepare students for college-level research and become savvy information consumers.
Love to Read

Colorful displays, reading programs, and events foster a love of reading..