Although librarian Mathew Zuniga may be new to McCallum, he is certainly not new to libraries. Ever since Zuniga fell in love with reading at a young age, he knew that he wanted to work with books. He was first given the chance to pursue his passion at the Opportunity Center, a high school in Del Valle, where he worked as an English teacher.
“The last school I was at had a library but no librarian, so I thought that was a great opportunity for me to start the library program there,” Zuniga said. “So at my last school I started our whole library program and became our first librarian.”
Due to the Opportunity Center’s small size, however, they didn’t have the budget to hire a librarian, so Zuniga had to juggle teaching English while also running the library.
“It was the only way I could be a librarian at the school I was at because we didn’t have the budget to hire an extra librarian, so I had to split up my responsibilities,” Zuniga said. “Although I loved it, it can be stressful or tiring to switch from teaching classes to doing library stuff to teaching classes again every day. So I’m very grateful to focus on the library [at McCallum].”
For Zuniga, being the librarian at McCallum has been a very different experience from being the librarian at the Opportunity Center.
“At my last school, everything was there because I created it, whereas I came into this campus, and there have been a bunch of lovely librarians before me,” Zuniga said. “They’ve done a great job at the library, so a lot of what I’ve done here is been trying to upkeep the programs that have been going on, like the clothing closet and the crafts area.”
Zuniga’s work in continuing previous library programs has not gone unnoticed. When junior Elise Garza, a longtime member of the Banned Book Club, heard that there was going to be a new librarian, she feared that her favorite club might disappear; instead, Zuniga has ensured the opposite, growing the program by spreading the word to students, hanging up flyers, reaching out to Black Pearl Books to receive donations and organizing a reading schedule.
“Ever since the first day, he’s been really supportive,” Garza said. “He’s done a lot of work with other AISD librarians to figure out what he can do to help continue the Banned Book Club. He’s really just been networking for the Banned Book Club and has been really enthusiastic about making sure it still has a space at McCallum.”
Although maintaining the library’s many programs may seem tough, Zuniga has effortlessly transitioned into the position, according to library clerk Lauren Alindogan.
“Mat is a great fit for the culture at McCallum,” Alindogan said. “It has been pretty smooth introducing him to how things are working.”
Zuniga attributes his success in his first few months as librarian to the help he’s received from Jain Orr, the previous librarian, and Alindogan, who has been the library clerk for the past three years.
“It’s always good to move into a new position and be in contact with the person who was doing the job before you,” Zuniga said. “Lauren has been here, so to have them helping me is super awesome. Honestly, without the help of Lauren and Jain, I don’t think the library would be running as smoothly as it is.”
One of Zuniga’s favorite parts of working at McCallum’s library is its large number of interested readers, which Zuniga feels is different from other school libraries.
“I do think we have a strong reader population at McCallum,” Zuniga said. “Every day, we have books checked in and checked out, and I don’t think that can be said for every school. We have students requesting books. I already have two pages full of book requests, so I do think we have a strong reading population.”
Zuniga thinks that part of the reason people are into reading right now is due to trends on social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. Research backs up Zuniga’s theory according to a study conducted by the Publishers’ Association in the United Kingdom, 59 percent of teens have gotten into reading due to book influencers online.
“I do find that like many trends, reading has become more popular again, especially on BookTok and TikTok,” Zuniga said. “Reading is having sort of a renaissance where it can be like a personality trait or it’s pretty cool nowadays. I think that’s awesome because there are so many books being discovered.”
Besides helping students discover new books and continuing pre-existing library programs, Zuniga has grown the library. He recently started Analog Club, where students can appreciate and enjoy vinyls, VHS tapes and cassette tapes. In the long run, Zuniga would like to have more events in the library and eventually plans to invite guest speakers and bands to perform in the space.
“I would like to do more stuff in the library, like bringing people in to talk or even getting bands to play in here,” Zuniga said. “I would love to do that. I’m taking my time to learn more about the library and the school before I start doing those things, but my big goal is to get more programming or events happening in the library.”
Zuniga’s impact on the library goes beyond continuing old programs and adding new ones. Garza, who has four off-periods and spends a lot of time in the library, feels that Zuniga has established the library as a welcoming environment through his personality.
“He makes an effort to try and be a calm presence, and I think that resonates with a lot of people,” Garza said. “A lot of people sort of connect with him because he has such a laid-back personality.”
Garza anticipates seeing Zuniga’s effect on the library in the coming years.
“Hopefully, students will start spending more time in the library because he is very good at connecting with those students,” Garza said. “So, I’m just interested in seeing more circulation and more people getting into our school library.”
