School Librarian of the YeaR FINALIST

Tatanisha Love, Southwest Academy Magnet School for Science and Engineering, Baltimore Courtesy of Tatanisha Love

Growing up the daughter of a marine, Tatanisha Love got used to moving around. Traveling to a new home every two years didn’t make building relationships easy, but one thing was a constant wherever she ended up: the library.

“That’s a big reason why I’m so adamant about students having access to reading, because whenever I moved, I went to the library,” Love says. “Books were my friends.”

Now she does everything she can to ensure that books are her students’ friends, too. Because of that hard work, Love—in her third year as the school librarian at Southwest Academy Magnet School for Science and Engineering in Baltimore—has been named a finalist for the 2025 School Librarian of the Year Award.

The Tiger’s Den, as the Southwest Academy library is known, is small, but Love has transformed it into a space that students can’t wait to visit. She’s always growing her graphic novel and manga section, and she has worked to design spaces within the library for lessons as well as quiet spaces for students to read, draw, and play games.

The library sits at the heart of the building, but Love spreads her resources throughout the school, which serves nearly 850 students in grades six through eight. She visits classrooms, working with teachers to create lessons aligned with the curriculum; sets up book displays in the science wing; and offers pop-up events in the cafeteria so kids can check out books. She’ll even hand deliver titles to classrooms when students request them online, so accessing books is as easy as possible.

All of these efforts are part and parcel of Love’s favorite aspect of being a librarian—converting reluctant readers into bookworms.

“Working with students that love to read, that’s great, but quite a number say they don’t like reading,” Love says. “I ask them about their interests so they can find their perfect match. It’s always cool to find a reluctant reader and turn it around for them.”

With only a modest budget, Love has managed to increase her collection thanks to grants she has won over the past few years, including STEM Inspire Grants from AASL and grants through the Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools. Because of the foundation, Love has been able to diversify her growing comics collection with titles featuring superheroes of color, like Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) and Miles Morales (Spider-Man).

“That’s been great for students to see themselves because we have a very diverse school,” Love says about Southwest, which is predominantly Black, Asian, and Indigenous.

In addition to curating her shelves for students, Love personally plays book matchmaker for interested students and staff. In her “Book Matching” program, they complete questionnaires, sharing everything from their favorite color or sport to career aspirations, and Love selects several books from different genres she thinks will appeal to them.

Love’s passion for getting books into the hands of readers also extends to the wider community. Intent on helping to end “book deserts” in her county, Love has organized several book drives, collecting new and gently used books that she and her students have donated to organizations around Baltimore County, including Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.

It reflects Love’s desire to provide her students with truly transformative learning experiences, ensuring that students not only read but are encouraged to give back to their community.

And Love models that commitment in her own life.

As president-elect of Citizens for Maryland Libraries (CML), president of the Council of Educational Administrative and Supervisory Organizations of Maryland, and former president of the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL), Love has led initiatives that advance the importance of libraries in education, especially for marginalized communities, including creating an online newsletter with resources on how to protect the freedom to read. And through her role as chair of the Advocacy Committee for MASL, as well as her work with the American Library Association (ALA) and CML, she has been a tireless advocate for school libraries and librarians at the state and national level. Love supported the Freedom to Read Act—which bans book censorship and was signed into state law in April 2024.

In February, Love was elected to serve on the ALA Executive Board.

“After working with several ALA committees, roundtables, and organizations, I’m excited about this opportunity to work with the Executive Board and membership to assist with the vision for ALA,” Love says. “In my first year, my main focus is to learn from those around me and to serve with dedication and passion.”

Love credits encouraging words at the right time with inspiring her to pursue advocacy work.

“Some years ago, I didn’t pass the exams for a PhD program,” Love says. “I was a little down, and I was talking to my friend and colleague, and she said, ‘Just because you didn’t pass the comps doesn’t mean you can’t still make a difference.’ That stuck with me.”

Love works to make more school librarians feel empowered to join the conversations around literacy and education and to take advantage of opportunities to make their voices heard. Perhaps her proudest moment came in 2022, when then-governor Larry Hogan officially proclaimed April as School Library Month after much advocacy work by Love and the Maryland Library Association.

“I just feel like it is work that has to be done,” Love says. “The more people that do the work, the better off we’ll all be. It’s a passion of mine and it’s something I’m driven to do.”

That drive hasn’t gone unnoticed. Before becoming a finalist for School Librarian of the Year, she was twice been named a finalist for Maryland School Librarian of the Year. She hopes to use this latest recognition to further amplify her message that libraries can change lives.

“I want more people to realize the work school librarians do and show our value for our schools and communities,” Love says.
 

Freelance education reporter Andrew Bauld writes frequently for SLJ .