Visitors to CedarBridge Academy may be so busy checking in and noting the modern building they might miss something subtle going on there.

One should look carefully at what is in the security guard's hands. It's likely to be a book borrowed from the school's library.

After a seemingly rocky start, the CedarBridge Academy Library is well on its way to becoming one of the most advanced in the Island. Where once, in the months after the school opened in 1997 few books were on the shelves, Librarian Shernette Peniston and her staff have built a quality collection for students at the Island's largest school.

Students can now learn all of the ins and outs of the Internet on eight computers and use CD Roms for gathering research, in addition to traditional methods like the good old encyclopaedia or vertical file.

But Ms Peniston, who is both a qualified French teacher and Librarian with a Masters Degree in Library Science, reserves much of her energies teaching CedarBridge's students proper researching techniques.

Such bibliographic instruction Ms Peniston says, makes for more productive library visits and is something she would like to see taught system wide.

"Many students arrive here unfamiliar with libraries and many more are unfamiliar with the proper way to find things,'' she said. "Sometimes it seems they get put off by the banks of books or the computers but they shouldn't have that fear. Proper instruction from an early age -- and by early age I mean primary school -- would demystify all of this for them.'' Ms Peniston added: "Once we give them instruction, I find they become more comfortable. They are surprised to learn about the online catalogue.

"They are surprised to find little gems on the shelves. We want them to become information literate. Bibliographic instruction at a younger age would mean they would not have to be taught the basics at 15.'' With up to 44 CedarBridge classes attending the library in a month, Ms Peniston is one of the more well known staff in the sprawling school.

Ms Peniston has worked in libraries in Bermuda and the US over the last 19 years, and worked for several years as a teacher in the local public high school system before joining CedarBridge. When asked about the delay in opening, she would only say: "Setting up a library is not just a matter of taking the books out of a box and putting them on a shelf. It is a science.'' But it is known that her strong insistence that the new library have a proper security system added to delays in the library's opening.

With other delays in shipping, cataloguing, putting the titles of books online and processing and construction delays caused controversy early in 1998.

But all of that is behind the library. It now has more than 12,000 titles and receives 29 magazines and other periodicals a month, with room to grow.

There are also up to 70 other periodicals included on special CD Roms available to students for research.

Open from 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., the constant stream of students of a variety of abilities and enthusiasm use it.

Through a variety of programmes Ms Peniston is introducing the Library and its power to the students.

"We are trying to influence the process of learning and not simply disseminate information,'' she said. "Readers speak well, write well, and communicate well.

"To support the curriculum, you need good sources for reading and libraries are absolutely essential to improving literacy rates.'' She added: "I tell them they can be either information rich or information poor. It's hard to believe, but for some of them they are astonished that they can take a book out.'' One thing she and her staff of assistant librarian Heather Stafford and library assistant/technician Marylou Pastore will not do is outright do a child's thinking for them.

"We want them to be active library users. To use the skills they have seen on our multimedia presentation and instruction and apply it amongst the shelves and Internet sites,'' she said.

Quick to note the same skills are needed for Internet searches and book searches, Ms Peniston points out close collaboration between herself and CedarBridge's teachers ensures a meaningful experience in the Library for all students.

One night in April, the school's parents and guardians will be invited to the Library to see its collection, which includes Bermuda books. Soon the Library's catalogue will be available via the Internet to assist students in preparing for the next day's visit, not to mention that last minute check on the spelling of an author's name.

"I would say that it is important to learn how to find and use information and to question it for lifelong learning,'' Ms Peniston explained. "The CedarBridge Library is the largest classroom in this school!'' Photos by Ras Mykkal Resourceful: LaRoy Jones and Monika Smith took time out recently to research science subjects at the 12,000 volume and growing CedarBridge Library.

Personal links: CedarBridge Academy Librarian Shernette Peniston shows 16-year-old student Makeda Passley how to properly search the Internet as part of how to use the library for a class project.