School Librarian of the Year

Tim Jones, Library Media Speciaist John F. Kennedy Elementary School, Louisville, KY Photos and SLJ April Cover photo by Antonio Pantoja

Tim Jones is the first to tell you that becoming a librarian was not necessarily his dream job.

His first love was comedy writing, and the Kentucky native followed that passion all the way to Chicago to train at the famed Second City improvisational theater. But while writing sketches at night, Jones needed a day job, and he found one as a library clerk at a local high school.

“I just really loved it,” Jones remembers. “I loved working with kids, helping them find resources and do research.”

Jones loved it so much that after three years, he had a choice to make: continue with comedy or pursue librarianship? Jones decided to give up the writing and return to Kentucky to earn a master’s in library media education, taking a day job as secretary at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Louisville.

A school librarian since 2010, Jones came full circle in 2023 when he returned to Kennedy, this time as the school’s library media specialist. Jones has already left an indelible mark on the school, transforming the library into a hub of learning, offering new and exciting programming, and bringing his energetic spirit to enliven students and staff.

“Tim is more than just a librarian; he is an essential part of the school community,” says former Kennedy school counselor Tracey Norman-Taylor. “His energy, inclusivity, creativity, and relentless focus on student success make him one of the most impactful educators I’ve had the privilege to work with.”

His career may not have taken him to Saturday Night Live, as Jones once dreamed, but as a librarian, he’s a star. He was named Kentucky School Librarian of the Year in 2022, K–12 Media Literacy Teacher of the Year by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) in 2023, and a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2024.

Now Jones gains another accolade as the 2025 School Librarian of the Year. The annual award is presented by SLJ and sponsored by Scholastic.

A space for literacy and laughter

Kennedy Elementary is a special place, Jones says, full of resilient and creative students who have faced significant trauma already in their young lives. Of the over 500 students in grades K–5, 80 percent are economically disadvantaged and come from a larger neighborhood community that faces challenges such as food insecurity, limited access to quality health care, and underfunded educational resources.

Because of those outside obstacles, Jones has worked hard to make the library a sanctuary when students are in school.

“Before I arrived, the library was underresourced and underutilized, but the librarians before me had done the best they could with it,” Jones says.

That’s an understatement. The library he inherited was outdated, student engagement was low, and there was little in terms of hands-on learning. It would take a round-the-clock effort to turn things around—quite literally, considering Jones also had to teach six classes a day with no aide.

“Even just finding time to pull a few books a day, I barely had enough time to do that,” Jones says. “I was spending a lot of time after school or on weekends just trying to weed the collection and build a collection that represented our population as much as possible to encourage reading.”

After only a couple of years, Jones has done that and more, creating a library space where students can feel safe, be themselves, and explore new ideas.

With an annual budget of only between $1,000 and $3,000, Jones has expanded the resources available to his students. He’s modernized the collection, expanded underrepresented voices in every genre, added new bilingual and Spanish-language reading options, and created a makerspace stocked with coding toys and STEM kits. Those changes have come in large part through Jones’s own success raising money through book fairs, which have funded $10,000 in new books over the past two years.

Kendall Moore, the music teacher and specials department head at Kennedy, still doesn’t know how Jones has accomplished all of this in only two years.

“He found a way to do all the regular library stuff, like book fairs, but also build a rapport with the kids and then spend a lot of his planning time inviting students to just be a part of the library experience,” Moore says. “It’s not just impressive. He’s gone above and beyond.”

Jones has made sure the library is a space for both fun and learning with a variety of programming, such as library scavenger hunts that teach research skills, dance contests, and his “Adopt-a-Shelf” initiative, which provides students ownership to curate themed book displays.

Jones also launched a chapter of Kentucky’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) at Kennedy. STLP provides students a chance to pitch ideas and design their own projects, and already Kennedy students have advanced to state competitions to present digital comics, animated book reviews, and interactive STEM projects. Jones says some of his students had never worked with technology in such a creative way before STLP, and seeing them take pride in their projects is particularly special for him.

“The kids just love him, and they are starting to see the library for what it is—an opportunity for learning and not just an elective you walk past and breeze through,” Moore says.

Of course, just because Jones is no longer writing jokes doesn’t mean he’s abandoned his comedic sensibilities.

“I would wear more costumes if I thought I could get away with it,” says Jones, who never misses a chance to join in with students to dress up as a pirate or wear a onesie during theme weeks and other dress-up days. “With comedy, I don’t care how I look. I’m just trying to have as much fun with them as I can.”

That spirit has been exactly what his students at Kennedy have needed.

“He’s all about learning, but he’s quirky and fun, and that’s something the students were lacking,” says Moore. “He sees their potential and in the best possible sense targets the kids and shows them what they are capable of.”

Comix with a Cause

The creativity he honed at the Second City has also found a home in his library programming.

One of his most impactful projects has been “Comix with a Cause.” Jones was always a fan of graphic novels, but he was particularly inspired after hearing a TED Talk by cartoonist Gene Luen Yang. The author of American Born Chinese, Yang shared how, as a math teacher, he experimented with visual media to get his students engaged. While Yang assumed his students would gravitate to video, it was graphic novels that captured their attention, he said.

“What he found was the permanence of the page versus a video, that you could pause, fast-forward, and rewind with your eyes,” Jones says. It was a true “aha” moment for Jones. “I was like, of course! He wasn’t necessarily talking about media literacy, but to me, that’s exactly what it was. I started pushing more and more to come up with lessons to teach media literacy through comics.”

Through graphic novels, Jones has explored concepts like perspective and point of view, and how artists use panels to show evidence and make an argument. Creating their own mini-comics, students tackle big topics, from exploring the environmental impact of AI to telling the stories of local heroes in their community.

“It gives them a voice while reinforcing the learning in their classrooms,” he says.

Jones has taken his work combining graphic novels and media literacy beyond the library, presenting at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), American Association of School Librarians (AASL), American Library Association (ALA), and NAMLE conferences. He is currently expanding a popular article he wrote for Booklist, “Teaching Media Literacy Using Graphic Novels,” into a book on how to use comics to teach critical thinking in a post-truth, AI-driven world.

“I’ve seen firsthand how students engage with comics, and I wanted to create a resource that helps educators harness their power,” Jones says.

That’s not the only resource Jones has created. Through his family’s business, NIMCO, Inc., he’s developed a line of library advocacy products, including T-shirts, bumper stickers, and “Eraselets” (bracelets that erase) featuring slogans like “Libraries Are for Everyone” and “Erase Book Bans!” to promote intellectual freedom. Jones has donated the proceeds from sales at conferences to the Florida Freedom to Read Project and Texas Freedom to Read Project.

“Ultimately, my work inside and outside the library all connects—it’s about making sure students, educators, and communities have the tools they need to navigate today’s complex media landscape,” Jones says.

Librarian, teacher, mentor

But it’s not just the books and resources Jones has brought to the library—it’s Jones himself.

“He’s just so full of energy and life,” says Kennedy kindergarten teacher Stefany Bibb. “Prior to him, a lot of my students didn’t want to go to the library. But my little ones love him, and so do the older students.”

Even as a school secretary, Bibb remembers, Jones greeted every student and faculty member with enthusiasm. He has brought that warmth with him to the library, greeting students with a fist bump whether they are on their way into the library or just passing by in the hall.

“Mostly, I’m just trying to develop relationships with kids and talk about whatever subject they want and make sure they feel heard and validated, because for some of them, I might be the only person that’s listening to them over the course of the day,” Jones says. “I want them to feel like they are loved and that somebody cares for them.”

Bibb has seen that effort in action. “He’s dedicated. Being in an elementary school can be challenging. There are some students who need to take a time-out when they are frustrated. One day, I went to the library to use the printer, and I didn’t realize that some of these students come to the library at the end of the day. I didn’t know that he opens himself up so students can come take a break and use the library as a safe space to calm down. I very much respect and appreciate him for that.”

At a few points in Jones’s career, he’s had to make the choice between staying in the library or following a new path, whether it was comedy or his family’s business. He’s always chosen the library, and for the students at Kennedy, there’s no question he made the right decisions.

“There are so many things we need at this school, and due to staffing issues, we can’t get to where we want to be, but Tim has done a phenomenal job filling in that deficit not only as a teacher but as a mentor and dare I say as a family member,” Moore says. “Students want to go to the library, and I can tell you, that was not happening when I started at Kennedy. But these kids want to see him, and to see their growth, man, it’s something.”

Freelance education reporter Andrew Bauld writes frequently for SLJ .