The Stanley Library

The Stanley Library is a center for formal and informal learning at Staten Island Academy. The library is a research center, a study and recreational reading area and a center for classroom instruction. It is a place for community members to work, learn and explore. All Academy students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and immediate family members of students are welcome to use the library space and check out library materials.

The library, located on the entry level of Haugen Hall, contains over 18,000 volumes of print and non-print materials, hosts a collection of hundreds of eBooks, and subscribes to over 50 magazines, newspapers and online databases. Additionally, the library contains a variety of technological resources for community members to utilize, including laptop and desktop computers, iPads, Nook eReaders, printers, copiers and a projection system.

Online Resources

The Stanley Library has a fully automated circulation and cataloging system that students, parents and faculty can access anywhere, making library resources accessible throughout the campus and at home. Through our online catalog, community members can search for books, access eBooks and explore online databases and academic websites.

Included in the library’s resources is access to a variety of subscription databases. The Stanley Library subscribes to databases such as JSTOR, EBSCOHost, Discovery Education Streaming, and PebbleGo. These databases can be accessed through the library’s online catalog, both at school and off campus.

Library Instruction

Students in the Lower and Middle Schools attend library classes two times per cycle, during which time they learn about the library and its resources, learn how to access, evaluate, synthesize and create information, practice research skills in the context of class projects, read evaluate, and discuss a variety of literature, and develop a lifelong love of learning and reading.

Students in the Upper School continue to develop their research and information skills both through independent visits to the library and scheduled class visits with teachers in order to integrate library skills into class projects.

Makerspace

The Stanley Library is also home to Staten Island Academy’s Maker Space. Students can use this space, both informally and during scheduled classes, to access a variety of tools and materials that enable them to build, tinker, create and design.

Collections

  • The Janet Comtois Stirn Memorial Collection, named in honor of Janet Comtois Stirn, Academy parent, grandparent, trustee and dear friend. The Stirn collection was dedicated in May 2004 and contains Mrs. Stirn's favorite books, family photographs, memorabilia and books purchased by the Stirn Memorial Fund, established by the Stirn family in 2003.
  • The Winter Library Collection was established by William Winter, a famous critic and patron of the arts (for whom the Academy’s annual scholarship program is named), in honor of his son Arthur, an Academy student who had died while he was enrolled at the school. Through Mr. Winter's influence, the collection of the library, which was modeled after Sir Walter Scott’s, included autographed portraits of Dickens, Gladstone and Disraeli. Its shelves held first editions of Twain, Dickens, Johnson, Byron, Andrew Carnegie and Bram Stoker, as well as other rare books and prints. The library was heralded as the best secondary school classical library in the nation.