Former school library director celebrates milestone

Ruth Bell, Prairie Village, dedicated many years of her life to school libraries in Johnson County.

For her 100th birthday, which was Nov. 11, she was joined by former co-workers and officials from the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts to celebrate the milestone. The party took place Nov. 10.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” Ruth said during her birthday party. “I couldn’t have dreamed any of this. I love it.”

It is because of Ruth’s work that school libraries became a focal point of Blue Valley schools, said former superintendent Jim Thompson.

“She was able to teach teachers and librarians that librarians are media specialists that reinforce what is going on in the classroom,” Thompson said. “Ruth taught that to everybody.”

Ruth began her career as a substitute teacher and also taught exercise to students, said Ruth’s daughter, Jane Bell, North Carolina. Education was “in her blood,” and eventually she moved into school library work, Jane said.

“She believed everyone could be better and kept a vitality (in the libraries) because it could always be better,” Jane said.

During her years in the Shawnee Mission School District, Ruth led a significant renovation in the Shawnee Mission North Library and served in library associations on the state and national level, former co-worker Alice Creveling, Overland Park, said.

“Ruth is a tremendous person and she did so much for libraries here and in the United States,” Creveling said. “We were very lucky to have someone like that working toward improving our schools.”

When Ruth moved to work in the Blue Valley School District in the late 1970s, “She brought with her a vision of what a library should be,” Thompson said.

While in Blue Valley, Ruth Bell served as director of library media services. The district library media services program was recognized as School Library Media Program of the Year in 1981 by the Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation and the American Association of School Librarians.

“It was proof of what she did for the school district in making libraries the focal center of schools,” Thompson said.

Because of Ruth Bell, Blue Valley schools are now built with the library not only as the focal center but also as the physical center of the buildings, former Morse Elementary School Principal Richard Lewis said.

“Students now had to go through the library media center,” Lewis said. “It wasn’t strictly books. The library and subject matter in the classrooms were interwoven. She had such a knowledge base and gave something to challenge teachers to do.”

When computers became available beyond office use, Ruth pushed to make sure Blue Valley students could access the technology, said Al Hanna, deputy superintendent of administrative services.

“We were one of the first districts to have computer labs,” Hanna said. “Her vision is very much what we see today.”

Ruth retired in 1995 after 18 years in the Blue Valley School District. Her 100th-
birthday celebration took place in a room that used to be a school library media center. The Blue Valley Board of Education Room is located in the former library of the old Stanley Elementary School building, 15020 Metcalf Ave.

Rose Goans, Shawnee, served as Ruth Bell’s secretary for eight years. She said she is “a better person” for having known Ruth Bell.

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