This is a contribution from a Swampscott High School student, as part of the Swampscott Tides Big Blue Student News selection.
By Sasha Fafel
March is National Reading Month, which was created in 1998 by the National Education Association in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The celebration is meant to promote literacy among the youth in the country.
One of Dr. Seuss’ mottos is a leading example of the month: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
However, the motto has taken a new shape today due to the prevalence of technology, and the changes can be felt firsthand in the Swampscott High School library.
The space has become multi-purposed. It accommodates the school’s reading curriculums while also having a designated “Maker Space,” where students can “sew, 3D print or record podcasts” with provided technology and resources, Wilbur said. The aisles, lined with books, range from long-standing American classics to the newest graphic novel editions in the market.
“The library has become an incorporation of a library and technology, to adjust to the new trend of education,” said Brandy Wilbur, the head of the high school library and its digital learning specialist.
In 2015, the Swampscott School District introduced laptops in the classroom. Macbooks were only available in exclusive carts, or “Computers on Wheels” (COWS), where they could only be used through a sign-out system in the district. This system was piloted slowly with the Swampscott’s STEM Academy.
In 2020, however, the district took this tech initiative to the next level with students, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The chromebook rollout came during COVID-19 to make sure everyone had devices for online learning,” Wilbur said.
Students now have 24/7 access to their Chromebooks. Classes and assignments are managed through Google Classroom, leading to classes becoming predominantly technology-centered.
In 2020, renovations for the library also began, where new initiatives were rolled out to modernize and adapt to the importance of technology in the school.
“When we redid the library, we had stacks of books taken down, and we added a lot of furniture, which a lot of students use now,” Wilbur said.
The rate of checked-out books, though, has increased in recent years, according to Wilbur. There have been 194 books checked out in the 2025-26 school year, at the time of writing.
