Marshall University faculty members read children’s books from across the globe to help usher in a new collection of international children’s books into Drinko Library.

“Just getting the word out that the books are here,” associate literacy education professor Isaac Larison said. “This is a way of pulling people together and probably most important is that we realize that Drinko Library is a tremendous resource that we have right here at our fingertips.”

Drinko faculty set up a display of the new collection of children’s books in the Drinko Library atrium Wednesday and allowed students and faculty to browse through the collection and explore the various stories and illustrations.

The new collection of books is part of an effort by Larison and Zana Sueme, Drinko technical services associate, to update Drinko’s selection of children’s books.

Larison and Zueme said the new collection of books includes winners of the 2017 International Board of Books for Young People awards and features stories and art from different countries and cultures from across the globe.

“We just wanted a way to celebrate and show these books off and to really reinforce the benefits we can get from learning about other cultures and seeing the art of other cultures,” Sueme said.

Larison and Sueme read their choice of books out loud to the audience of students and faculty. They said they chose these stories because they contained messages that crossed cultural barriers and everyone could relate to them.

“You can make kids feel more welcomed in your classroom if you have a lot of diverse books in your classroom,” freshman elementary education major Rachel Myers said.

Sueme said she hopes students will check out the new book collection and utilize library services more often in the future.

“We want to be your library,” Sueme said. “We want to serve you and make materials available to you and we’re doing our very best to do that.”

Drinko Library’s new collection of international children’s books is now available to rent and explore. Students and faculty may visit www.marshall.edu/library to request new materials for the library to consider adding to its collection.

Ryan Murphy can be contacted at [email protected].