PVCC’s Head Librarian Promotes Literacy on Campus

The Senior Director of Library and Academic Support at PVCC, Crystal Newell, is involved in numerous projects and initiatives aimed at promoting media literacy and reading.

Newell projects affability and the kind of patience sometimes found in people who have spent years as educators. Her office is filled with baby pictures and children’s drawings hanging over a framed diploma and next to where a purple tea kettle sits. The laid-back atmosphere in her office might cause visitors to be caught off guard by the sheer number of responsibilities she has at PVCC.

“I oversee the library and all of the components therein. That includes library instruction, reference, all of the circulation of the print materials, all the technical aspects of inter-library loan,” said Newell. On top of that, she manages seven library employees and oversees the directors of the Writing and Tutoring Centers. She also supervises the coordinator for PVCC’s Embedded Tutoring Program for first year students.

In addition to these positions, she is heavily invested in student life at PVCC. Newell is the adviser for the PVCC student Book Club, which reads books and hosts events every semester. Newell co-leads the PVCC One Book program with Dr. Tamara Whyte, which the Book Club is often involved in.

Voting has now concluded for which book the club will be reading in the fall. The club has chosen to read The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green. 

According to Newell, the club is also doing several service projects this semester that she is helping them with, including the creation of a free library that people can give and take books from, and assisting with Second Chance Month: a book drive for incarcerated students. This book drive will be taking place from April 13 through April 23.

On top of her regular responsibilities, Newell is on a mission to promote media literacy and critical thinking at PVCC. Recently, she did a presentation on media bias for Whyte’s Introduction to Journalism class, and she has done similar work in the past.

“Unfortunately, one of our faculty members recently retired, but prior to that, she and I had a partnership where I spoke to her class, it was a political science class, and we looked at media bias and media literacy from a political science angle,” said Newell. She said she has also done work on scientific literacy with the science department.

Over time, new challenges have arisen in media literacy education. With the rise of generative AI in the past few years, Newell is co-chairing a PVCC Artificial Intelligence Task Force and doing workshops on generative AI.Newell’s commitment to media literacy is advertised on her LinkedIn page, stating that she is “dedicated to developing future, engaged citizens by teaching and promoting information and media literacy, and critical thinking.”