Northside Libraries are the heart of each school community, creating meaningful and diverse learning opportunities, nurturing in our students a love for reading and learning, and developing in them the skills necessary to fully participate in society.
Our libraries purchase and maintain a current, relevant, and diverse collection of over two million print and digital materials for both study and pleasure.
Striving to Support Learning
#NISDLibraries
82 Elementary School Libraries
21 Middle School Libraries
13 High School Libraries
1 Professional Library
Northside ISD has a total of 116 campus libraries and 1 professional library located at NAC.
All NISD libraries are staffed by professional, certified librarians. High school libraries also have a paraprofessional library assistant.
Studies consistently find positive relationships between having access to full-time, qualified school librarians and student performance.
Welcome to the NISD Library catalog! Our catalog boasts an extensive collection of books, e-books, audiobooks, periodicals, and multimedia resources that cater to all reading levels and interests. With a focus on promoting lifelong learning and fostering a love for reading, our carefully curated collection includes the latest in children's and young adult literature, essential reference materials, and a wide range of digital resources.
Recently, all Northside libraries enjoyed a range of improvements: from major renovations to redecorating. This ensures every student an updated, enjoyable and flexible learning space.
Please visit our photo gallery for more images of our newly renovated libraries
Northside ISD Libraries - 2023-2024 Yearly Report
#NISDLibraries serve as hubs for our schools: gathering places for students, staff and families. They are a safe space for everyone on campus, offering a variety of lessons, activities, and opportunities. Students can use the library to read, study, create, explore, and more! This number represents individual visits by students, teachers, parents, and other patrons.
NISD Librarians strive to build collaborative partnerships with teachers across the campus. Collaboration can be pulling materials to support the curriculum, teaching lessons that connect to what's being taught in the classrom, planning lessons or units of study with teachers, and even the librarian and teacher coteaching lessons together. Librarians are an important part of the instructional team on NISD campuses!
NISD Librarians are certified teachers who hold masters degrees and a K-12 library certificate. NISD librarians served nearly 70,000 classes this school year in a variety of capacities. These include literacy lessons, read alouds, collaborative lessons, makerspace and STEM lessons, research lessons, class check-outs, and more, all supporting the curriculum as well as student learning and engagement. Academic achievement increases when students receive instruction from school librarians both with classroom teachers and independently.
Author visits increase interest in reading and writing. Seeing performers and speakers connects students to the arts and the work world. NISD Libraries hosted over 450 authors, speakers, or performers this school year, either in-person or virtually!
Northside librarians keep students engaged and reading through creative programming during the school year. Reading programs, Book Fairs, various clubs, interactive displays, story walks, makerspaces, STEM projects, and so much more were offered this year. A robust library program increases student engagement at school overall.
Access to both print and digital books is a critical part of learner growth and helps close the poverty gap. A professional librarian curates the collection to meet the needs of the school community, and helps students choose the right books and other materials for academic and pleasure reading.
Students who read more, including just for fun, consistently do better in school and life.
Access to both print and digital books is a critical part of learner growth and helps close the poverty gap. A professional librarian curates the collection to meet the needs of the school community, and helps students choose the right books and other materials for academic and pleasure reading.
Students who read more, including just for fun, consistently do better in school and life.
Access to both print and digital books is a critical part of learner growth and helps close the poverty gap. A professional librarian curates the collection to meet the needs of the school community, and helps students choose the right books and other materials for academic and pleasure reading.
Students who read more, including just for fun, consistently do better in school and life.
This year, 11 NISD librarians received NEF grants totaling $40,848. These grants supported various programs, including book vending machines, principal's reading clubs, little free libraries, mentor texts, bilingual books, makerspace items, and more.
Additionally:
- Six grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts were received, providing author visits to 25 schools.
- Ross MS Librarian AJ Talamantes received a $15,000 Eco Scholar grant from the City of San Antonio to support his work with gardening on campus.
- Valley Hi ES Librarian Jennifer Grimes received multiple grants: a $4,000 Dollar General Literacy Foundation grant, a $5,000 Laura Bush Grant for multicultural and foreign language books, and a $1,000 Little Free Libraries grant.
- Burke ES Librarian Yilsa De Los Santos received a $500 grant from the Alamo Soil and Water Conservation District to expand their pollinator garden.
- Allen ES Librarian Pam Parisher received a $5,000 Laura Bush Foundation grant to increase the number of books per student and ensure a sufficient number of bilingual books in the collection.
Librarians are teachers and serve as an essential part of instruction on campus. This year, three NISD librarians were named Educator of the Year for their respective campuses:
- Kimberly Chavez, Boone ES Librarian
- Kristen Shaheen, Hatchett ES Librarian
- Jennifer Grimes, Valley Hi ES Librarian
This year, several NISD librarians received prestigious awards:
- Sheryl Stoeck, O'Connor Librarian: 2024 Texas Library Association Young Adult Round Table Reading Incentive Award winner for LibraryPalooza.
- Lucy Podmore, Clark HS Librarian: 2024 Texas Library Association Jack Alton Strawn Standing TALL Award for leadership in the library community.
- AJ Talamantes, Sul Ross MS Librarian: Sadie Ray Graff Educator of the Year Award from the Keep Texas Beautiful organization in recognition of the Ross MS Gardening Club.
- Kimberly Chavez, Boone ES Librarian: Phi Beta Phi's "Read, Lead, Achieve" Day of Service Award.
- Rebeca Fox, Hobby MS Librarian: PTA Honorary Lifetime Membership Award.
Clark HS Librarian Lucy Podmore won the American Library Association Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for her Freedom Walk program. It was the first time that a high school has won the award!
- 596 Campus Visits
- 137 Librarians sent to conferences
- 83 PD sessions facilitated
- Assisted with 22 weeding projects
- 85,151 Records loaded
- 9,119 Items processed
The Northside Library Services office, lead by Director Lisa Kulka, includes 3 Library Support Specialists, 2 catalogers, and 1 secretary/bookkeeper. This office works to support all Northside librarians by providing professional development opportunities, visiting campuses, helping with large collection development projects, maintaining the circulation/catalog system and district ebook collection, coaching librarians, opening new school libraries, making sure each library is fully staffed, collaborating with other departments, and much more.
- 116 Libraries staffed by certified librarians
- 1 Professional library
- 13 Full-time library assistants
Northside ISD has a total of 116 campus libraries and a professional library located at NAC that circulates material to teachers all over the district. All NISD libraries are staffed by professional, certified librarians. High school libraries also have a paraprofessional library assistant. Studies consistently find positive relationships between having access to full-time, qualified school librarians and student performance.
One new school was opened in 2023 - Reed ES. It's a gorgeous library and is already a popular place!
NISD librarians organized 4 district-wide events this year that were open to all. The goal of these programs is to promote literacy, connect students with authors, increase access to books, and promote the joy of reading.
- LibraryPalooza
LibraryPalooza is Northside's premier YA author fest and allows secondary students to interact with some of their favorite authors. This even has taken place annually since 2012, although 2021 was a much smaller virtual event. This year, the featured authors were Victoria Aveyard, Gabriela Epstein, Marc Faveau, Monica Magaña, Kasie West, and Kelly Yang. LibraryPalooza 2025 will take place on February 22 next year at Brandeis HS! https://www.librarypaloozasa.org/
- Great Book Giveaway
Spearheaded by Brennan librarian, Harry Ostlund, the Great Book Giveaway allows families to get bags of free books at 3 separate NISD locations. NISD librarians gather and sort books all year for the event. This event was borne of a desire to get books in kids' hands during COVID and has been going strong ever since. This year, nearly 20,000 books were given to students of all levels, as well as teachers for use in their classrooms!
- Storyfest
Story Fest is an author fest geared toward elementary students and is a great family event each spring. This year, the keynote author was Laura Numeroff. Students and even parents and teachers loved getting to meet the author of the classic book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
Story Fest also features breakout rooms where students can see various speakers and performers, as well as a table top games and activities.
This year, Story Fest featured Austin Reptiles, Storybook Theater, Miss Anastasia, Julian Franklin, reading with SA Humane Society dogs, and a Book Walk!
If was great fun and we can't wait for next year's! https://nisdstoryfest.weebly.com/
- Fiesta of Words
Fiesta of Words is an event of creative writing organized by Northside ISD high school librarians that invites students to showcase their creative talents through an original poetry contest.
Students are also invited to shine on an open mic sharing their inspiring poetry, and participate in enriching writing workshops.
This is the newest event, in its second year, and it has already grown! https://fiestaofwords.weebly.com/
NISD Library Services maintains subscriptions to a large collection of digital websites and resources to help your child access reliable and organized information in which to research or study. Your child can access this great collection on our NISD SSO portal
On our Library Services website on the NISD SSO portal we have an extensive variety of resources, games, and lessons to help students, parents and educators be better informed and obtain the skills to be smart and safe online. We offer parents resources and activities including reviews of the popular apps, movies, and shows our kids are using and watching. We have materials in Spanish as well as English. You and your child can access these on our NISD SSO portal
As well as great Digital Citizenship resources we offer parents and entire families books and resources on wellness and social emotional learning. We offer a collection of online makerspaces as well as an extensive collection of summer enrichment activities and resources for students of all ages. You and your child can access these on our NISD SSO portal
Contact Us
Library Services
| Zinnia Bayardo | 397-8185 |
| 397-8199 | |
| 397-7568 | |
| 397-8188 | |
| Dianne Sparks | 397-8189 |
Volunteers help make the difference at Northside
How can you help support your library?
FONL's (Friends of Northside Libraries) mission is to promote and support the vital role of the school library in the educational experience.
