SLJ modified: Svetlana Shamshurina/Getty Images

My library was already loud when I started working there as an assistant. It had parakeets.

At recess (which we call “brunch”) and lunch, my boss would sail around, chatting up students in her teacher-volume voice, picking up Jenga pieces that had crashed down or chess pieces that had flown off the tables, complimenting cosplayers’ outfits and asking quiet kids to speak up.

When I started running the place, I thought of something else to add during breaks—music.

It started with the speaker we bought for guest poets to use during our highbrow poetry slams. With Spotify, I ­figured I’d add musical ambience. I tried classical first, but the range of volume was often extreme. At the quiet parts, I’d turn it up, only to blow those kids near the speaker out of their Crocs when the timpani and brass joined. I played jazz, but the vibe was too late-night singles bar (an ­observation I didn’t share with my middle schoolers).

Then came my first student request. “Hey, can you play some Bad Bunny?” After a quick scan of the lyrics and deeming them school-cool, I played it, he loved it, thanked me, and left.

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The next day a group of drama kids asked if I’d play ­Disney’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” I walked away to help another student and turned back to see the Bruno crew ­doing a full reenactment of the Encanto movie scene. They came back ­every lunch break, amping up their sing-along volume until a rebel faction of seventh-grade boys started holding up signs with “NO BRUNO!” and the international red negation symbol. I asked the drama bunch if we could maybe limit performances to Thursdays.

What started as an idea to add background atmosphere turned into a way to attract, connect with, and make a home for kids in ways I never imagined. When a beloved teacher’s aide passed away suddenly, a student asked if I’d play a favorite anime song they had listened to together to help him focus. He quietly listened with eyes closed, and I found myself crying as I watched him mourn.

A girl I’d never heard speak or seen sit with anyone asked if the song playing was Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “I Wanna Be Loved by You.” When I confirmed, she grinned and mouthed the words while playing with Magna-Tiles.

A Russian eighth grader would come in daily and read books about animals by himself. I’d lived in Siberia for a year, and one day, I blasted a favorite song of mine in ­Russian. He jumped up to find me, laughing that his grandma had loved that song. Ouch for me, but I made his day.

My “Library Jams” playlist has more than 22 hours of music now. There are some 10 languages represented (all with school appropriate lyrics? Um, probably!) and they vary widely in styles and tastes. It’s become an expected feature of the library itself. Once, when I hadn’t turned on the speaker by the time kids started trickling in, I was met with, “What happened? Are you closed? Where is the m­usic? This is freaking me out!”

I learned a lot about my students, too. Why is that 11-year-old belting out Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”? Her mom loves it. How did that kid know every word to the Beatles’s “Twist and Shout”? It’s her “favorite Ferris Bueller song.” And the two boys dancing to Elvis Crespo’s “Suavemente” danced it at their uncle’s wedding.

If you are worried about the poor kids trying to get work done or read quietly, don’t fret. There’s a Quiet Room where students can find dimmed lights, beanbags, lava lamps, projected images of soothing landscapes, and yep, soft music. Some classical tunes are good for the quiet library, but I’d avoid any “easy ­listening.” It’s corny, it’s bad, and you’ll feel like you’re in a dentist’s office. For old people.

In my two years of library DJing, a handful of songs have evoked the most reaction—sing-alongs, chuckles, snorts, and spontaneous dance-offs. Here are the top 10.

❶ “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” Dead or Alive

❷ “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Rick Astley

❸ “Rasputin,” Boney M.

❹ “Havana,” Camila Cabello

❺ “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen

❻ “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” Carolina Gaitan

❼ “Woo Hoo,” The 5. 6. 7. 8’s

❽ “Fantasy,” Mariah Carey

❾ “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” The Trevor
Horn Orchestra

❿ Anything K-pop.

Rozanna Baranets is the library technician at South ­Pasadena (CA) Middle School.