6 Amazing Books to Inspire Your Library Space Design Last year, I wrote a post on five of my favorite makerspace books for school librarians. One of my other favorite topics to research is library and learning space design, so this post will focus on that topic. I’m currently working on a book on this subject for ISTE tentatively called Reimagining Library Spaces: Transform Your Space on Any Budget. It’s not on the web yet, but it will be released in the fall. :) Many of these books are ones that I’ve read or re-read as I’ve been working on it. This is not an exhaustive list, but it includes some of my favorite books for thinking about learning and library space design. Note: Two of the books from my makerspace list are also some of my favorites for learning space design: The Third Teacher and Make Space. Books to Inspire Your Library Space Design The Library Book: Design Collaborations in Public Schools I just finished this one and it’s one of my new favorites. The Space: A Guide for Educators Author: Diana Rendina
Washington International School: A DC independent school with a global curriculum Academics » Libraries The WIS library program supports the educational goals of the School, and encourages the love of reading and learning. In our facilities classes meet for research and academic pursuits, and members of the school community come to browse, read, study, and explore. Our unified library catalog combines two unique collections: one for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5 on the Primary School campus, and one for Grades 6 to 12 at Tregaron Campus. The library collection includes 35,000 volumes in English, French, Spanish and Dutch. These materials are selected to support the curricula at all levels, as well as to promote pleasure reading for all ages. Online research is possible through 12 proprietary databases in three languages, in addition to the Internet. Library teaching staff work closely with classroom and information technology teachers to plan and offer content-based classes to all students in our library instructional program.
21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons Libraries have existed since approximately 2600 BCE as an archive of recorded knowledge. From tablets and scrolls to bound books, they have cataloged resources and served as a locus of knowledge. Today, with the digitization of content and the ubiquity of the internet, information is no longer confined to printed materials accessible only in a single, physical location. Consider this: Project Gutenberg and its affiliates make over 100,000 public domain works available digitally, and Google has scanned over 30 million books through its library project. Start of newsletter promotion. Get our essential newsletter featuring must-read articles on the education topics that matter to you—it’s personalized and delivered every Wednesday. Sign up for free End of newsletter promotion. Libraries are reinventing themselves as content becomes more accessible online and their role becomes less about housing tomes and more about connecting learners and constructing knowledge. Transparent Learning Hubs
What’s in a Makerspace? - Corwin Connect Contributed by Eric Sheninger How we built our Makerspace Over the past couple of months, the staff at New Milford High School (NHMS) has been diligently creating our own unique learning environments for our students. Building on the success of our Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), we have been hard at work to create an innovative learning space that would inspire and engage our students in new ways. One of the most amazing transformations that has taken place at NMHS is the creation of the Makerspace in what was our traditional library. Makey-Makey kitsLittle Bits barTake apart then put back together technology stationLEGO table3D Printer (Makerbot) and design station She just launched an updated site for the Makerspace at NMHS that I highly suggest you visit. The Makerspace in Action Ms. Once in the Makerspace, students began to create, tinker, and invent to learn concepts related to circuitry. While studying the unit on Visual Merchandising and Display Marketing class, Mrs. Eric Sheninger
6 Active Learning Spaces Your Library Should Have Active Learning Spaces In the book Get Active: Reimagining Learning Spaces for Student Success, the authors identify six types of active learning spaces that are essential for creating an engaging learning environment for students. While this research (and this book) are not specifically focused on school libraries, we are the ideal place in our schools to encompass all six types of learning spaces in one location. We are the learning hubs of our schools after all. :) You might find that many of these spaces will overlap in your library, or that their purpose might shift depending on the day. That’s totally normal considering how flexible our spaces have to be. Small group areas In your library, make sure that you have areas available where small groups of students can meet, talk and brainstorm. Large group areas By default, most school libraries already have a large group area. Community Area Often, the community area will be one and the same with the large group area. Makerspaces
Make Space: 4 Learning | Enhancing Collaboration and Innovation Through Better Design Is a library without books still a library? Some thoughts on The Library as space | The Library Lab Text of my talk at The Danish Research Library Associations Winter Assembly 2017, Korsoer, Denmark. I like people. Not all people but in general. We must never stop talking and listening to each other. I will, using our Data Lab at the Faculty of Social Sciences Library as a case, talk about the library as both a physical and mental platform for dialog between people in order to support research, education and learning by bringing people together. The physical library space has been going through a highly interesting development and have changes a lot over the years and I like us to think beyond the library as a place for a collection and a traditional study environment with table and chairs. Historically we see two counterpoints: Knowledge is power and information sets you free. I jump to one of my favorite periods in history, the Enlightenment. In the context of this development I think it is interesting to ask whether a library without books is still a library? The librarians role
3D Printers Add a New Dimension to Classrooms When Ron Smith first saw a 3D printer in action, he knew the device belonged in his Engineering and Metal Fabrication program at Nestucca Junior/Senior High School in Cloverdale, Ore. The technology could guide students all the way through the manufacturing process — from concept to completion — and reward them with an object they could hold in their hands. But it wasn’t until Smith had an Afinia 3D printer in his classroom that he realized its value as an educational tool. Computer-assisted design (CAD) software by itself is great, he says. But being able to bring those designs to life with a 3D printer adds a whole new dimension to the student experience. “Motivating students is one of the biggest jobs in teaching,” Smith says. That level of interaction creates engagement, and it’s a big reason why more K–12 schools are investing in the technology, says Pete Basiliere, research vice president at Gartner. Real-World Solutions SOURCE: U.S. Business Sense All-Ages Show
Welcome... Learning Spaces Malcolm Brown Dartmouth College © Malcolm Brown New ideas about learning spaces represent a significant opportunity for higher education to make learners—and learning—more successful. Through the application of information technology, today's learning spaces have the potential to serve the new learning paradigm and at the same time meet the needs and expectations of the most recent generation of students: the Net Generation. Since education is the core mission of higher education, learning and the space in which it takes place are of the utmost importance. In order to best serve the educational enterprise, we must design leaning spaces that optimize the convergence of the Net Generation, current learning theory, and information technology. This chapter establishes the links between Net Gen students, learning theory, and IT, showing their relevance to the concept of learning spaces. What Are Learning Spaces? What does the term learning space mean? Since then, a great deal has changed.
4 important spaces every modern library should have | Princh Blog There is a promising potential in making use of the library’s services in new ways. This is why libraries are more valued now for their spaces and the opportunities that they create for the community, such as support for education, access to recent technologies and help for local businesses and much more. As Kathryn Zickuhr from the Pew Research Center points out there’s no one thing people want their libraries to be. In the last post of our series we’ve explored the various services users want from a library (haven’t read it? 1. A recent report from Pew Research Center data on US library attendance interestingly shows that millennials are the most frequent visitors to a public library, with 53% of survey respondents ages 18-35 visiting a public library or bookmobile in 2016. They enjoy collaborating on different projects and therefore when at a library, most often, they come in groups or with their families to chat and play, interrupting others…some might say. DOKK1 Library Areas 2. 3.
Worlds of Making @ NMHS Setting up a Makerspace has been a priority of mine from the moment I started here at New Milford High School, and it’s already well on its way to being achieved. Having a school principal who provides the perfect mix of encouragement and autonomy has, of course, been a great help, but it has also been very much a team effort: the school’s tech team and custodians have been very supportive and cooperative, along with a diverse variety of students interested in ‘making’ experiences. At the heart of the vision for my Makerspace is to develop the space and to provide resources and opportunities that will aid in promoting web literacy. These components encompass Mozilla's Web Literacy Standard. As it is shaping up so far, all students will have access to a Makerspace where they can collaborate on STEM-related concepts and ideas through lunchtime activities, independent study, and classroom collaborations. What is Worlds of Making @ NMHS? Our Makerspace will be stocked with:
School libraries shelve tradition to create new learning spaces | Teacher Network What happens to school libraries when students find it more natural to turn to a computer screen than a book? That is the question facing schools around the world as they struggle to keep up with the digital revolution while fostering a love of literature. Many have found creative answers, developing spaces that allow children to make discoveries, put technology to imaginative use, learn, perform, and relax – as well as to read. In the process, libraries have often come to be the school’s focal point. This was the idea behind the new library at Dixons Allerton Academy in Bradford built centrally over the entrance and linking the primary and secondary schools on the campus. Carolyn Shaw, learning commons leader at the school, says: “We have a big drive on books and reading for pleasure but we see ourselves very much as being the hub of learning in the school.” Only three pieces of equipment in the library are fixed, and these are for searching the catalogue.
inquiry learning & information literacy | ideas & musings from mandy lupton