Angel in the Halls: Librarian just ‘likes to help people’

Manteca High librarian Mary Buchanan

By ISAIAH GARCIA 
The Tower 

MANTECA - Students who feel unseen, unheard or who doubt their own placement of where they belong, the library at Manteca High School as become much more than just a library.

For most kids, the library is a refuge made possible by no other than the librarian, Mary Buchanan, whose kindness goes far beyond just impact and what it does to people. 

With more than 27 years of work experience inside the Manteca Unified School District, Buchanan has not only helped people with meeting their graduation requirements but people who struggle and seek acceptance from someone. The people who are isolated due to who they are, the people that need something personal, with anyone. The way she treats students is with individuality; treating each student as their own person. She wants the space within the library to be an open one made for anybody, seeking a place to feel not only safe but respected. 

Her influence is much more than helping inside the library, from assisting a student to become the first inside of her family to graduate. To being able to maintain long-term communication with past students her continuous support has changed countless students’ lives well behind just graduating and finishing school. 

The librarian has shared that students usually come to the library when they feel dissociated elsewhere on campus. Some people show up wanting help with academics, while others just seek a comfortable and quite place where they can sprout and just exist without judgment or social need to fit in.  

“I try very hard to see each individual,” Buchanan said. “Everyone is beautiful and unique.’’

She has said the library is intentionally meant to be a place that’s like no other on the campus, a place where students feel a level of respect they usually don’t and are encouraged to be themselves and be comfortable being themselves.

Senior Rohan Karthik has observed the librarian and spoke about her gentle disposition and the welcoming atmosphere in the library.

“Even without talking to her, you can see how kind she is,” Karthik said. “The way she treats people makes the library seem as if it’s very open and welcoming then most places on campus.’’ 

Buchanan tends to downplay who she is, which definitely attributes to the overall setting of the library itself. Her effort continues to shape the high school experience not only for people who are out of high school but the ones still going through its doors. High school can be scary and daunting, but the library is made into a sanctuary.