BELLVILLE — When I step back into the library media center at Clear Fork High School, it feels like coming home.
The book shelves are right where they were when I was a student, shelving returns during my study hall period.
Two students sit behind the checkout desk, reading in their spare time. They scan barcodes and stamp due dates the old-fashioned way, like I did more than a decade ago.
Some people feel a rush of high school nostalgia when they step back into the gym or out on the field. Some feel it floating through the air of a favorite classroom. I feel it here.
I barely notice the blue carpet is missing, replaced with the luxury vinyl plank that’s become so popular. I’m focused on the new lounge space. The clunky desktop computers I wrote research papers on have been replaced by comfy blue chairs and barstool style tables.
After all, who needs a computer lab when every student has their own school-assigned Chromebook?
The new student lounge is one of the biggest changes Denette Mottayaw has implemented during her time as Clear Fork’s Middle and High School librarian.
But another big change is around the corner. After more than two decades, Mottayaw is retiring at the end of the school year.
Meredith Wendling, a middle school English Language Arts and literature teacher, will step into the role.
“Mrs. Mottayaw has been an excellent mentor and teacher to me,” Wendling said. “She has high standards and takes pride in everything she does in the library, from her lessons to the activities she creates and the relationships she builds with students.”
Mottayaw began her career at Clear Fork 25 years ago as a substitute aide, helping students behind in math.
She started working in the middle and high school library a few years later. When she found out the school’s librarian, Carol Johnson, planned to retire, Mottayaw decided she wanted to be the one to take the helm.
I was a sophomore in high school when Mottayaw took over, but I had no idea the hard work she’d put in to get there until we sat down for a chat this week.
Mottayaw held an associate’s degree when she worked as an aide. In order to become a school librarian, she had to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree, all while working and raising three teenagers.
She enrolled in a hybrid bachelor’s program at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
After that, she earned her master’s at Wright State University, loading up on summer classes and night classes and driving down to Dayton a couple of days a week.
She took over as the school’s head librarian in 2010.
‘She’s all-knowing when it comes to everything in here’
“A place for everything and everything in its place” is a fitting description for the Clear Fork Middle and High School library.
Mottayaw said colleagues and students are often surprised at how quickly she finds things.
“She’s very structured and organized. That is so crucial to a library,” said Gwen Jones, a junior and second-year library volunteer. “She’s just all-knowing when it comes to everything in here. It’s crazy.”
But Mottayaw does more than just ensure a tidy spaces. She also teaches lessons, typically to sixth- through ninth-grade students.
Those lessons focus largely on information literacy — how to pick a research topic, how to cite sources, how to evaluate whether or not a source is credible.
Mottayaw continually stresses to students that the best sources of information aren’t always the first ones to pop up on a Google Search. And just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s true.
When I returned to the Valley to chat with her, I found she’s as passionate about databases as ever.
“I’m proud of the amount of research instruction that I’ve been able to give. That’s something I really worked hard at,” Mottayaw told me. “I didn’t even know how at the beginning, I just kind of learned along the way how to do it better.”
As a reporter, the ability to think critically about where information comes from has served me well. But in the digital age, it’s a skill everyone needs.
In a study by Common Sense Media, more than one-third of teens reported they’d been misled by fake content online. About one in five said they had shared content they later learned was fake.
The study also found that only 50 to 60 percent of students can correctly distinguish between regular news content, opinion writing and paid advertising.
As technology changes, so have Mottayaw’s lessons. She recently prompted a group of students to think twice about the AI summaries that now pop up at the top of Google searches.
Where does that information come from? What’s the source? Is it even true?
“Our Language Arts teachers visit our library nearly every week to promote reading (and) proper research practices,” said Logan Slavinski, a Clear Fork graduate and the district’s middle school principal.
“Mrs. Mottayaw does a fantastic job of educating our middle school and high school students on the importance of using accurate and legitimate web based sources.”
Mottayaw has also added a new resource for students — to ability to check out ebooks with their student library card. She partnered with the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library to expand the digital titles available to students. When the pandemic hit, she worked with the district’s elementary librarians to expand the service to younger kids.
During the 2023-2024 school year, Clear Fork students checked out more than 4,000 e-books.
Mottayaw said she keeps track of that data each year and presents a report to the school board in an effort to keep the library’s importance top of mind.
After all, some schools are doing away with libraries.
When Lexington Local Schools built its new high school, the district opted for an architectural design that included open concept spaces with bookshelves throughout the building rather than a single library or media center.
The library at Shelby High School is being renovated into a STEM room this summer. Books from the library are being reallocated to different classrooms across the high school, Supt. Michael Browning said.
“Students need to be able to sift through information themselves and determine what they think is important, and not just what the internet tells them or what their AI tells them. Books force them to process information that they normally wouldn’t have to process.”
Libraries have to evolve, Mottayaw said, but they’re far from irrelevant.
“I’ve fought hard to keep this a happening place — a place to be used,” she said. “Students still read here. We have high school kids that come down just to be in a quieter space.”
Fostering a love of reading
Mottayaw is passionate about her role as a research and information literacy teacher, but it’s only half of her job.
“You have to throw in an excitement for reading,” she said.
Mottayaw has launched several programs aimed at reminding students that reading can be fun. She’s hosted monthly book clubs. She’s recruited groups of volunteer readers for March Book Madness, where student reviews determine which books advance in a bracket that’s on display.
One of her favorite initiatives is “Blind Date with a Book.” Mottayaw wrapped books up in plain brown paper, then written a few clues and the book’s reading level on the outside. She said students enjoy the mystery. It also prompts them not to judge a book by its cover.
Mottayaw also launched a Student Library Advisory Committee, whose primary purpose is to come up with a theme, activities and decorations for the annual Teen Read Week.
But as more of the school’s juniors and seniors leave campus to take college classes, it’s getting harder to recruit committee members.
“When we have so many of our kids in college classes outside of the school, they’re not here to be in our in our clubs,” she said.
“But I get it, the kids are getting free college. Why wouldn’t you graduate as a senior with an associate’s degree?”
‘I’m hopeful I had a positive impact’
If you ask Mottayaw about information literacy or reading programs or the new student lounge, her enthusiasm is obvious.
But when asked about the most rewarding part of her work, she brought up something else — something that’s probably not even part of her official job description.
It’s talking with students about the books they love. It’s forming relationships, especially with the library volunteers.
I just listened. I’m hopeful that I had a positive impact on students who needed a safe place to be heard.”
Denette Mottayaw, Clear Fork middle/high school librarian
“(Mrs. Mottayaw) is very kind to all of the students. She’s always willing to help,” said Addison Hillard, a senior and second year library volunteer.
“She knows I’m in baton, and last year she made me earrings with batons on them. It was really sweet.”
Mottayaw said she’s enjoyed getting to know students, hearing about their ups and downs and being a listening ear.
“I think of the kids that laid down on the floor (in my office) or sat in that chair and just cried or were sad,” she said.
“I didn’t make them better. I just listened. I’m hopeful that I had a positive impact on students who needed a safe place to be heard.”