The scoop
Why did the Library Stop Doing Halloween Shows?
By: Ana Sofia Padilla 10°C
Ever since I was in Pre-kinder up until I was in sixth grade, I had a class called literary workshop, in which a teacher would read to us, teach us about the library, and encourage us to read. Once every year, around Halloween, the teachers in charge of the class would darken and decorate a library room and would perform scary stories. This was one of my favorite traditions in school because, although they scared me, it was like reading a story and going to the movies at the same time. I could get into a world of ghosts, vampires, and psychopaths without leaving school. This was a beloved tradition for both students and teachers. Sadly, they stopped doing these shows some years ago. So, the question that has been presented among many students is, if this tradition was so important to the members of the school, why did they stop doing these shows?
To answer this question, more information was needed about the topic; thus, I talked to Julián Castillo, a teacher that works at the library. He told me how they haven’t stopped doing Halloween activities, but have been taking a different approach when doing them. This change was made due to three main reasons. The first one is that the girls focused mainly on this activity and other relevant activities were put aside or did not receive as much attention. The second is that many girls and parents didn’t like those horror stories; although there were many girls who liked these shows, there were also many who didn’t. And, when they did a show based on the story by Edgar Alan Poe, the Tell-Tale Heart, some girls manifested a particular dislike and rejection towards the performance. The last reason is that the shows demanded too much time and effort, and even though most of the process that took place wasn’t evident to the public it did make a big difference when it came to the end result. There was a lot of excitement from both students and teachers, but the cost was greater than the thrill. The change that the library decided to make wasn’t to push the students away; on the contrary, their idea is for the girls to view the library as a comfortable and secure space. The librarians have proposed many interesting topics throughout the last years, for instance, Hansel and Gretel, “El atrapasueños”, or black humor stories.
Julian also told me about the great efforts the library is making to promote these new activities. They have placed many ads on the screens all around the school, renewed the library website, added some information to Phidias, started working with the CASFA, and they are developing a blog for the students. They’ve put a lot of time and effort into decorating and changing the library spaces for the girls to be more interested. Moreover, they are searching for other strategies to attract, reach, and most importantly understand the students. He said that this year there has been a remarkable growth in the visits from younger audiences.
While it’s true that the library stopped doing the classical horror shows everyone knew about, they haven’t let the Halloween spirit die. As it was mentioned before, they are still doing fun and interactive activities for the girls, just not as scary as they used to be. But this is not a bad thing. Over time, many traditions get lost or forgotten, but this is not the case. The Halloween library traditions haven’t died, they have just changed with time, evolved, which is something completely normal. Just as Julian said: “We must recognize that times