Ballard High School Librarian Susan Weiss has retired after 39 years in the educational field. Weiss graduated from Ballard in 1963 and returned to her old school in 1988.

Under her leadership the John Stanford Library made big changes to keep up with the pace of technology while overcoming a small budget. By 2004, books in the library had become outdated and there were no funds to replace them. The copyrights went back as far as 1976 and some books had not been checked out in ten years.

"We had very little money," said Weiss. The school's $5,000 library budget went mostly for supplies.

The Ballard High School Foundation formed the John Stanford Library Fundraising Committee to solicit donations, along with the PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association). They sold tiles with donor's names and installed them on the walkway next to the library.

Ballard alumnus Victor Salvino contributed money and offered addition funds, if certain fundraising goals were matched.

Over $109,000 was raised and students at Ballard High received the books they needed to bring their library to modern standards.

"One of my goals the last two years was to see what the library could do to support them (teachers). They sent me a list of books they wanted the kids to read," said Weiss.

Weiss bought Japanese English dictionaries for students in the Japanese program. A travel section was added with books on Japanese culture.

Checkout rates went up as students began using the new library collection.

"It was fascinating. We had very few kids who had not checked anything out," said Weiss.

Growing up in the area, her roots go deep in Ballard schools. Weiss attended Adams Elementary, James Monroe and Ballard High.

As a youngster, she walked to the old Carnegie Library on Market Street for storytelling hour. Weiss ended up taking her sister's place as a library page.

At the University of Washington, Weiss worked as a swimming instructor to get through college. She helped the Seattle Red Cross establish a swimming safety program in Mexico.

Weiss became a third grade teacher at Viewlands Elementary. "Like any new job, there was a lot of adjusting and getting to know the system," Weiss said.

She taught a variety of subjects like music, social studies, art and spelling.

Weiss went back to the UW to get her Master Degree in Library Science. This led to a job as librarian at Viewlands, an internship with the King County Library, and a librarian position at Adams Middle School.

She also had stops at Nathan Hale, Muir Elementary and the Seattle School District's media services.

In 1988, she came back to Ballard High. "I had not been back in the old building," said Weiss.

She reminisced at the ornate brass clocks, the office area known as "Senior Alley" and the large painting of a Beaver holding a bag of nuts.

"The library had not changed. There were book cards and reel to reel tape recorders," said Weiss.

Principal Chuck Chinn worked with Weiss to introduce computers to the library.

The school building only had four dial-up telephone lines. Weiss remembers trying to demonstrate the Internet to a class and having to wait for an open phone line.

When Weiss was a student, the school was 99-percent White. She recalls one Black and a few Asian students. Gradually the population of the school changed after Weiss returned. Now there is more diversity.

"It gives you an international flavor. It gives you a more realistic view of the world," she said.

The last ten years has been a busy one for Weiss. The old school was torn down and replaced with a new facility in 1999.

The school spent two years at the old Lincoln School in Wallingford during construction. For four months Weiss had to make do without a library. Then a library was created in four different classrooms.

By the time the new school building opened, the student population grew from 1,000 students to 1667, the largest in Seattle.

The new Ballard High School library was perfect because the architects had consulted Weiss about the design. "It was wonderful to have a place designed for what we were doing," said Weiss.

Next came a new computerized information system for the school and new technology for the new library.

In 1996, Weiss helped launch the Ballard High School website, even before the school district had started theirs.

She helped introduce a television studio to the curriculum that has grown into an award winning media production program under teacher Matt Lawrence.

Weiss was honored when the Washington Library Media Association presented the school with an award for raising money for new books.

Ballard High School Foundation Chair Gretchen Stroh Scheuman and then foundation President Alice Rooney accepted the award.

"We've got a strong library community," said Weiss, citing the support shown to the John Stanford Library by staff, parents and alumni.

Reading scores among students went up. More students used books for research instead of relying on the Internet.

As a retirement gift, the foundation gave her the Captain William R. Ballard award. She also received a book "How to Speak Sailor," for her love of sailing from the staff.

She sailed boats in college and helped with a Sloop Tavern Yacht Club race that brought in money for library books a few years ago. Now she has purchased a 12-foot Pelican sailboat and participates in local races. She plans to do more sailing now that she's retired, along with, of course, reading a lot more books.

"I have a lot of library in my blood," she said.