Mid-Buchanan Librarian receives regional award 

By: Darren Doyle

FAUCETT, Mo. (KQTV) -- Students enjoy a good trip to the library, especially when the librarian puts in extra effort. Mid-Buchanan R-V Elementary Librarian Mary Kelly was recently awarded Northwest Region Elementary School Librarian of the Year. 

Kelly has been a part of Mid-Buchanan Elementary for over a decade. Her experience with libraries at a public level eventually brought her to serving readers in schools. 

Kelly's award was thanks to nominations from her peers in the librarian profession. Elementary School Principal Ashley Kountz said her work deserves all recognition.

"I have several relationship capacities with her. I've worked with her as a teacher and a librarian. I've worked with her as a mother to librarian as well as administrator to librarian," Kountz said. "She is honestly someone that you can consistently rely on. She gets our kids excited about our literature festival, which we attend each spring. She gets excited about new books. "

Kelly said she's proud to be part of not only a tight-knit community of librarians, but also to see students grow up in Mid-Buchanan's Pre-K-12 system.

"The older kids, I don't read books to them as much... when I pull out books and read to them, they're always just like, 'Oh, I love (still) being read to... even though I'm, you know, a fifth or sixth grader,' Kelly said. "Some of the junior high and high school students will come back every once in a while, and they're like, the shelves are shorter, and I'm like, No, you're taller. And they'll go look for a book that they, you know, enjoyed when they were in elementary school, to see if it's still here."

Kelly plans to continue welcoming elementary school students for some time, providing a fun and safe place to learn school subjects and life lessons.