I am finally at Jackson Prep!

My husband, Dr. John Cox, and our three children, Callie, Katherine and Bonney are all Prep graduates and now I can boast of a Prep experience myself!

I really didn’t see this coming…I had long been looking forward to empty nest, but after experiencing it for only a year, I soon knew that it had looked better from afar! I obviously missed my children, but I also missed having a real sense of purpose in my everyday life.

Books have always been a huge part of my world, and I believe that reading is one of the most wonderful experiences that life has to offer. Books are a vehicle through which we explore new worlds; meet fascinating people; gain greater insight into ourselves and broaden ourselves in ways we can’t even imagine.

To that end, I followed my passion and graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in Library Science and had the good fortune to work for several years as a K-12 school librarian, as well as a Reference Librarian on the college campus in California where my husband was completing his doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Once the babies started arriving, I left the work force and was able to stay at home with them.

Books were always in the picture, though, and several years ago I fulfilled a lifelong dream! With my mother’s help, I wrote the book, Camp DeSoto: A History. It is the story of my grandmother, Norma Bradshaw, and the journey which led her, in 1946, to purchase Camp DeSoto, a girl’s summer camp on top of Lookout Mountain.

For the last four years, I have worked part time at Lemuria bookstore here in Jackson and as wonderful as that experience was, I found myself longing for more. So I’ve dusted off my diploma and am thrilled to be the new Assistant Librarian at Jackson Prep. As a parent, I have long been impressed with Prep’s library. It truly is exceptional and the librarians who have worked here have been a very impressive group. I consider it a real privilege to work under Diann Arinder, the current Librarian, and I look forward to our time together.

I believe that school libraries enjoy a very unique position and provide a function within a school that is very special. Libraries should be places that draw children in and provide a resource not only intellectually, but socially, as well.

Libraries are a gateway and not an end unto themselves. All children must learn how to use a library well. We live in an age where enormous amounts of information are readily available and students need to know how to find what they need and possess the skills to know what to do with it. There is a method to gathering good information and our aim is to teach them those skills and send them off with the confidence that they are capable of getting the most out of any environment.

I can’t imagine a more exciting place than a library, and I hope to pass my enthusiasm along to not only those who enjoy books, but especially to those who don’t. I never have believed anyone who says they don’t like to read. They just haven’t found the right books yet!