Though a day in the library might seem like poison for some UI students, 40 Iowa teachers are learning how to make that stack of books appealing.

Amber Swenson, who has taught at West High for eight years, recently decided she wanted to make her teaching experience go further than her classroom.

So Swenson applied for a program in the UI School of Library and Information Science, which recently received a Laura Bush 21st-Century Librarian grant totaling $881,692 to educate future teacher-librarians.

“I applied for the program earlier, but didn’t get in,” Swenson said. “When the grant opportunity came along, I reapplied and was accepted.”

James Elmborg, the director of the school, noted that being a librarian doesn’t have to be boring.

The UI school is making the experience as fun and interesting as possible, he said. It has extensive social networking for students to interact and brainstorm, an aspect that Swenson said she enjoys.

“Everyone in the group is so different, but we all get along great,” she said.

A big part of being a school librarian today is integrating technology in the classroom, Elmborg said, and the grant program is also a great opportunity for teachers to learn how to keep students engaged using technology.

“Kids are getting away from us, and we need to catch up,” Swenson said.

The students range in age from mid-20s to early 60s, and their technological abilities are just as varied. But students are learning how to implement the tools, as well as learning via advanced technologies.

“It doesn’t even feel like distance learning,” said Swenson, demonstrating the aspects that make the computer program used for classes almost like having a teacher in front of the student.

Students from across the state who enroll in the program come to Iowa City for one week during the summer to take an intensive course, followed by two courses each semester the following five semesters. These courses are taught by video in learning centers throughout the state.

Thanks to the grant, students receive a stipend per semester to cover tuition costs and have some funding left over to use toward housing in Iowa City.

When students complete the two-year program, they will have a master’s degree in library science and can be employed in school libraries across Iowa.

With the grant, the UI is enabling 39 teachers to fill the statewide requirement that each district employ at least one teacher-librarian.

The School of Library and Information Science is also working with the state to update curriculum, something Elmborg said hadn’t been done since 1995.

“This is a great opportunity to redefine what librarianship means,” he said.