Australia's Caves, Campfires and Watering Holes EJ1015175. *Designing Collaborative Spaces. *Facilities - NYC School Librarian Guidebook. Managing Library Shelf Space. Bookshelves with plenty of space at the ends Collection development is one of my favorite parts of being a librarian.
Each year I place two large book orders, stocking up on the newest releases of every genre. When the shipments are delivered, it’s like I won the lottery. Unpacking the shiny new titles brings me endless joy. The frustration begins when I start to shelve them. Shifting Methods After receiving my latest book order, I realized that with so many new M authors (am I the only one whose M shelves are the fullest?) Safe Ways to Reach Students and Teachers While Social Distancing. For most of us in school libraries, this year’s back-to-school season is unsettling.
My administrators have designated our high school library as a special education testing center, a place for overflow classroom students, and a computer distribution site. In order to fulfill social distancing requirements, they have no choice but to utilize the large spaces of libraries, gymnasiums, and cafeterias. Much of the concern is understandably centered around the students, who “will lose out whether they are in the buildings or not” (Yorio 2020).
But school librarians, whose roles are no longer clearly defined, are worried about their jobs. Reconfiguring My School Library's Layout. When we think of librarianship, most of us don’t think about physical exertion and muscle power.
Books are heavy, especially nonfiction. With my library closed I decided it was time to start moving things around in anticipation of next school year. This task proves to be more physically demanding than I ever anticipated. Product Placement. When You Give a School Librarian an Empty Space. I walked into the new school library at Chatham Grove Elementary School for the first time in May 2020.
There was so much space! It was incredible! We could host a square dance in between the eighteen double-sided rolling shelves, four book carts, and two rolling chairs. The furniture looked so small all by themselves. Two Interactive Panels? When I first saw the space there was only one interactive board. Do we set up one teaching area or two?
*What’s a Student-Centered Library? “Your ideas matter here.”
“Some of the best parts of this library are because of your great ideas, so please share them.” This is part of the library orientation that all new 9th graders receive when they come to the library for the first time with their English classes. When they sit down in front of me, in chairs I have arranged in a semi-circle, I am struck by how small they look. Over the year and the summer, I have forgotten how these new students are still more like middle school students than high school students. Flipgrid library tours. Space to Learn (Robert Dillon) *KQ_MarApr14_ClimbingtoExcellence. EDhub: Building a 21st Century Space to Transform Learning. Meaningful Displays: 4 Examples of Displays with Purpose. In November 2015, Jennifer LaGarde wrote a blog post called “Six Tips for Building Book Displays That Matter.”
In the post, she shared how her philosophy around displays had changed since starting as a librarian. She questioned, “Why would we waste that valuable real estate on displays that don’t tell the real story of how librarians make a difference for kids?” It got me thinking about my displays. They should not be something I just fill up or make look pretty. Instead, I have worked to make them purposeful. BHS Media Center Tour (Peg Dolson is a recent alum) How to design a library that makes kids want to read. SLPS Cohort One Reflect. Back to School Learning Space Guide.pdf.
Our Libraries Feel Like Home. How Libraries Make Us Feel On a memorable day a few years ago, a precious fifth grader named Joseph visited the library.
I heard him breathe deeply and say, “I just love the smell of the library on a Monday morning!” I will never forget it. Old Office Turned Production Studio. There is a room connected to the library that has had many lives.
It has been an over-crowded storage room. Then it turned into an office. From there, it became a classroom. Finally, it ended up empty. Rather than turn it back into a storage room, with no real educational purpose, it was decided that it should have a new life. NCHS Library Makerspace. 12 Ways to Upgrade Your Classroom Design. School Library Design on Pinterest (Carolyn Foote) 4 Things Affecting Library Learning Commons. 1.
Make It Student-Centered Students are the owners of the learning commons. Back to School: School Library Safety and Security Checklist. School safety seems to be at the top of everyone’s list for back to school.
With this in mind, a strong “Safety and Security Plan” can help school librarians navigate the confusing dialog, procedures, and processes that might be utilized in an emergency situation. Now is a good time to think about the safety and security procedures school librarians and administrators might use during the school year. Below is a list of helpful resources that I have used to increase my preparedness in case of an accident or emergency. Keep in mind that these recommendations vary by school and location of the school library in relation to the building/campus area. Documentation/Handbooks Having access to documents that outline the school district’s policies and procedures is critical in an emergency situation.
Facility Access. ALICE Overview: Age and Ability Appropriate Training. How a School Library Increased Student Use by 1,000 Percent. Is Your School Library Climate Controlled? Take a moment and think about your own, personal world. You know the one you live in every day. How diverse is it? Think about your inner circle, your friends, your doctor, co-workers, the restaurants you frequent, your place of worship, your neighbors. TURNING AN ELEMENTARY LIBRARY INTO THE HEART OF A SCHOOL. How to transform your library space on a budget. Recently, I’ve been looking back through photos of my media center at Stewart Middle Magnet from the past five years. I’m working on a conference presentation for the Florida Association for Media in Education about transforming library spaces. As I look back over these photos, I’m struck by how the space slowly evolved over this span of time. It’s easy to just focus on all the big sweeping changes we made in the summer of 2014 when we got our Lowes Toolbox Grant for $5,000 and used several DonorsChoose projects to create a makerspace and flexible learning commons area.
But a lot of important changes happened before 2014, and I realized that many of them are very budget friendly and easy for anyone to do, no matter what situation they’re in. So rather than focusing on the big, overarching themes about learning space design or big, transformative renovations, I want to focus on simple changes that are approachable for anyone. Ditching reference made room for more comfy reading areas. The Magic of Tidying Up Your Library. Tidying Up Your Life Last year, I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I’ve read a lot of books on decluttering and organizing, but this was the first one that simultaneously resonated with me and annoyed the heck out of me. Designing Spaces: Person Centered Library Design (Carolyn Foote CIL 2018)
The future of many school libraries is anchored to makerspaces. Not long ago the New Milford High School library in New Jersey was pretty traditional. It had tall stacks of books and old wooden tables that didn’t move easily. It was underutilized. Students weren’t drawn to it and, to a large extent, neither were teachers. Today, it’s a different story. Students stop by the library during their lunch period and come before and after school. What changed? Making in Michigan Libraries. Thanks to all who joined us for our virtual conference the afternoon of Tuesday, February 21! Introduction Welcome everyone to this afternoon’s Making in Michigan Libraries Virtual Conference! My name’s Ben Rearick and I’ve been a research assistant on this project for over a year and a half.
We travelled around to 8 different community libraries this past summer, and we’re very lucky to see most of them represented here today. We’re very grateful to the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant RE-05-15-0021-15 that has funded this project for the past nearly 3 years, and makes this virtual conference possible! We’ll be monitoring the questions from the University of Michigan School of Information in the chat window, which is there on the right of your screen under the speech bubble icon. Chapter 7. Linking the Information Commons to Learning. Chapter 7. Linking the Information Commons to Learning Joan K.
Lippincott. Using Research to Find a New Chair for Baby Bear. If you have ever read Goldilocks and the Three Bears you know that Baby Bear’s chair ends up in pieces. The sad thing is his chair never gets fixed. Below you will find how students in preschool use the research process to find and build a new chair for Baby Bear. Let me start by saying this idea is not my own! This is a beautifully borrowed idea from Kristen Girbach. At the MACUL conference, she shared that her kindergarteners had completed the Goldilocks Bear Chair Challenge. How to Create a More Flexible Seating Environment. Welcome! Michael Bierut: How to design a library that makes kids want to read. Future of Libraries in the Digital Age. A redesign of the Mid-Manhattan branch by Dutch firm Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle, for example, will add seating, services, and public space to the city’s largest circulating library.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall. TenHoor praised Mecanoo’s design: “There is room for research, and for the various kinds of work that are undertaken in a library today, but also preservation of many of the older library typologies that people love,” she said. When redesigning libraries, the NYPL seeks a mix of informal and formal seating, flexible spaces, more outlets and internet capacity, and natural light, according to Honig—features that can be seen at the recently revamped Washington Heights branch and the Stapleton branch in Staten Island. “It's critical and vital to our communities that we create inspiring spaces where they can interact with each other and with our materials,” Honig said.
Library Design Awards 2017. Doug Johnson; Signs of a welcoming library. School libraries shelve tradition to create new learning spaces. Welcome... Access to libraries for persons with disabilities - CHECKLIST. What Does the Next-Generation School Library Look Like? At a time when public libraries are starting to offer everything from community gardening plots to opportunities to check out humans for conversations, some school libraries are similarly re-evaluating their roles and expanding their offerings. Case in point: Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. When librarian Joan Ackroyd arrived there four years ago, she found an environment very different from the “engaging, creative, fun” elementary and middle school libraries to which she was accustomed. 6 Amazing Books to Inspire Your Library Space Design. 6 Active Learning Spaces Your Library Should Have.
Design Thinking for Educators. Design Thinking for Libraries. "I'll Fight You For The Library" performed by Taylor Mali. ReThinking Library. Skip to main content Create interactive lessons using any digital content including wikis with our free sister product TES Teach. Get it on the web or iPad! Guest Join | Help | Sign In TL Virtual Cafe Home.