When Dana Raven flipped on the lights for the first time, she set her eyes on the Craig County High School library, tears fell from her eyes.
In that moment, those were not tears of joy.
“When the paperwork was all done and I came in for the first day, I’ll be honest, …” she said.
“… I cried.”
First impressions faded quickly, Raven said. Maybe the library was not looking its best right then, but it was only June. The first day of school was still more than two months away, and while this may not have been the exact challenge she envisioned when she first decided to delve into the world of library sciences, it was certainly in the vicinity.
Craig County’s school board was provided an update to the middle/high school library by Raven during its regular October school board meeting, which she presented in a grown-up version of the old “what I did during my summer vacation” essay — she included a slide presentation to tell her tale.
“The HR department told me that the library was a little messy, but it was great, and I would do fine,” she said as she began her school board report. “That was a lie.”
Raven had accepted the library position shortly after deciding to part ways as an elementary art teacher in the Franklin County School District. Due to budget cuts, she was reassigned to a position that she did not want to fill. Plus she had recently completed her master’s degree in library science from Old Dominion and wanted to pursue something in that area.
“I said yes to Craig County because of its small size – I wanted to get to know my readers!” she said. “Plus there was enthusiasm in the Craig County administration to support a real library program.”
Still, the tasks facing Raven were sizable.
When she completed an audit of the more than 9,000 books, she found that the average publication date of those books was 1988.
“I was 7 in 1988,” Raven told the school board during her presentation. “I promise you, no teenager wants to read a book from 1988.”
So Step 1 was to start a serious purging of content.
First to go were any books that showed signs of water damage or had been “checked out” by mice or other creatures that might have interest in old books.
Next on the chopping block were books that had proven to be unpopular, or at least not a good fit for a modern Craig County Rocket reader. Books that had not been checked out for more than 10 years, and outdated pieces of fiction and nonfiction were also removed.
The final tally of the thinning process numbered more than 6,000. Then it was time for Raven to build back what she broke down.
Raven may be new to Craig County, but she isn’t new to library building. She learned plenty of tricks of her trade.
Lesson 1, she said, was don’t be afraid to ask friends and family to help. She said she had built an Amazon Wishlist site for past jobs she held, and gave it another try last summer. Her friends and family came through with nearly 100 book purchases that immediately became part of the Craig County collection.
In addition to the donations, the school district also provided a one-time increase to the standard library budget, which so far has been used to buy 430 new books, of which 60 were titles students specifically requested.
Finally, a DonorsChoose campaign raised more than $600, which was used to start building the library’s graphic novel collection. Raven said the library currently carries about 100 of these books, and many are in constant circulation. Eventually, she would like to have about 1,000 available.
“Graphic novels have been our biggest push,” Raven said. “You can think of a graphic novel as like a super comic book, but they’re a legit real book.
“It’s been a great hook for kids that are not necessarily ready to read a full 500-page novel. So getting a graphic novel into their hands is a real great gateway to regular novels.”
There’s more money coming — Follett Destiny, the school’s electronic catalog provider, is awarding the school with $1,000 because Raven’s library underwent the greatest overhaul in the state.
When Raven talks about her room, she refers to it not as the library, but rather the “bookshop,” which makes sense when she adds that she wants the shelves to resemble more of a Barnes & Noble.
Instead of traditional organizing methods, books are separated by genre and subject matter. Mysteries are all together, as are dystopian publications, and so on.
“Spines don’t sell books, covers do,” she told the board. “I tell my kids please judge this book by its cover. They spend millions on those covers, so we make sure they can be seen.”
Raven is also doing her part in “selling” her product.
The school’s English teachers accepted an offer from Raven at the beginning of the school year to set aside 30 minutes a week of their classes for library time. Raven puts together some sort of presentation on each visit, including discussion of different types of books, researching skills and helping the kids discover what they like reading.
“We figure out what they might want to read,” Raven said. “The first thing I usually get from them is ‘Mrs. Raven, I hate reading.’ No, you don’t hate reading, you just hate the books that you were made to read. … Let’s find something that you like.”
And for those who want more than just a half-hour in the bookshop, Raven has let the other teachers know that if they have kids with idle time on any given day, she’s open to as many library passes as they want to write.
The plan appears to be working. As of her last count, Raven said there are now 3,198 books available to students, with an average publication date of 2007.
More importantly, there is evidence that the students are reading more.
Raven told that board that in looking back to the start of the 1999-2000 school year, Craig County students checked out and returned a book about 861 times per year. In just the first nine weeks of the 2026-27 school year, students checked something out 1,315 times. If that rate remains steady, that could mean more than 5,000 books checked out by the end of school year.
“And we have waiting lists for some of our most popular titles,” she said. “I’ve even seen students follow another student in when they are returning a book just so they can check it right back out.”
The resurgence of the library caught the eye of Craig County superintendent Jason Wheeler, who then asked Raven to share her progress with the school board.
“She has transformed the CCHS library into a welcoming space where students can discover new interests, explore books, and connect with one another,” Wheeler wrote Friday in an email. “Her work to update the collection and to create an inviting environment has made the library a valuable hub for learning and student engagement.”
His invitation also came with an ulterior motive. He planned to name her the district’s employee of the month, but wanted the honor to be a surprise. So he asked her if she could share a few updates with the board at the next meeting.
Raven, who said she always makes sure she looks prepared for any task, put together a graphic and data-filled presentation. Then she found out it was a bit of a setup.
“I completely had no idea,” she said. “… I just caught a little of the tail end of what Dr. Wheeler was saying about the employee of the month, and I asked one of the other teachers who they were talking about, and they said ‘you!’
This is all a good start, Raven said, but the work continues.
She told the board that she will consider the library to be at capacity when it gets back to about 5,000 books and the publication average moves into the late 2010s.
She is also planning another DonorsChoose event, with this one focusing on nonfiction and careers and trade books.
“I really wanted more titles that are based on careers and trades because I have a lot of kids who are interested in what comes next after high school,” she said. “They’re really thinking about what they’re going to do next, and I really don’t have anything to offer them right now.”
“[The school board] asked for a list of what I was thinking about, so I’m putting together a list right now for them. Hopefully somebody will say ‘hey, here’s some dollars put that way and help get that section filled in a little bit.”
