Liberty High School senior Alex Tracy has an all-important number memorized.

“It's 741.5,” he said. “You've gotta love the Dewey Decimal system.”

He's referring to three shelves in the Liberty High School Library Media Center where a big collection of comic books lives.

In librarian terms, the type of comic books Tracy and other high-schoolers enjoy are graphic novels, which use sequential art to tell a story and vary in topics, such as science fiction, social issues and manga, which are Japanese comics translated to English.

They appeal to avid and reluctant readers alike and are important to have on hand for leisure reading, said librarian Connie King. Tracy has even been instrumental in helping the librarians choose ones his peers will enjoy.

“He's really influenced our book orders,” King said.

The rapport the Liberty High School librarians have with the students, along with the premium they place on listening to what students need and want, are just two of the reasons the Greater Kansas City Association of School Librarians recently awarded the Liberty High School Library Media Center as its Library Media Program of the Year.

“They keep a level of activity that helps students learn in very overcrowded conditions in a way that meets the needs of both students and faculty,” said Carroll Makemson, district coordinator of library media services. “They bend over backward to accommodate classes coming in and out, study hall traffic and individual students.”

Makemson said the staff — which includes librarians King and Alison Schultz, and paraprofessionals Nancy Laven, Sue Kellermeyer, Annie Schroeder — has created a “dynamic book collection and online resources, and works hard to strike a balance between the two.”

Middle and junior high school librarians nominated the high school for the award. The high school library is open two nights a week, and the middle and junior high librarians work there during those hours.

“The middle and junior high librarians work here at the high school at night, and they still like the high school librarians enough to nominate them,” Makemson said with a smile.

In addition to its more than 26,000 volumes, the library is one of the few on the high school level with online databases LexisNexis and Opposing Viewpoints. The library holds about 100 computers and wireless carts for 60 more students. Students and teachers can check out laptop computers, digital cameras and digital camcorders.

The librarians also have helped implement 20 minutes of sustained silent reading daily for all students. Future plans include acquiring downloadable e-books and creating a new study hall area in the Library Media Center.

“We're only the type of program that we are because of our relationship with many people — students, teachers, our technology department, our principal and district administrators,” Schultz said.

Staff writer Natalie Shelton covers Liberty schools. She can be reached at 781-4941 or nshelton@npgco.com.

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