This is the first post in a series about redesigning the Library Media Center.
Libraries are a great place to lose yourself. I recently shared how I would lose myself in the stacks as a child. Public libraries typically have multiple areas, each staffed with a specialty librarian. Someone at the ready to provide service and monitor the area. My own local town library has three floors, all staffed.
One of the great challenges is recreating that in a school. It is amusing that architects think that public library spaces should be replicated in a school setting. All you have to do is ask any school librarian or library media specialist about their space and they will happily share their woes of its design.
These pictures of my multi-level library are a couple of years old. It is visually stunning. One of the first things visitors notice is the glass cupola. It really is quite the sight. These pictures really don’t do the breathtaking architecture any credit. Everyone who walks into it, immediately speak about the beauty of the space.
It is gorgeous. I’m just not crazy about the space. I see danger and spatial concerns everywhere. I know I’m not alone in my feelings about my space. I have yet to meet a LMS who is absolutely in love with their space. We all have our challenges with our spaces.
Some of us have issues with sound: too loud, echos, muffled noises. Some of us have issues with open space that invites students to run, play tag, or try out some gymnastic moves.
On the flip side, some of us don’t have enough open space, making it difficult to place necessary furniture like chairs and tables. Some library spaces have visibility issues. The height of the stacks, hidden corners, or walls in inconvenient places make it difficult to see students. Or maybe the shelving is immobile making it next to impossible to create a more open and inviting environment.
Everyone has challenges. I love a good challenge, and have a lot of fun thinking about how to design the space in a way that will support student behavior and sensory needs, and keep book circulation thriving.
This past fall, I had the opporuntity to participate in the ISTE U Course, Exploring Future Ready Librarianship. This course helped me tremendously to reflect on my practice and find opportunities for growth. One of the activities that I had a lot of fun participating in, was around the Future Ready Gear Use of Space and Time.
This part of the course let me realize that I had to let go of a few things and embrace a few things. I decided to stop fighting the original design of the space; no sense in complaining about it because that is not changing. Letting go of that allowed me to embrace what I do have.
When you have two floors, it is tricky to decide where to teach.
We are a 1:1 school. All 3-5 students are assigned a Chromebook. PreK – 2 classrooms have an iPad cart. The library media center even has an iPad cart. Whatever I need to teach, I can do on the iPads or with the student assigned Chromebooks.
The former computer lab was located on the second floor of the library media center. It is now a teaching and learning space where I do all of my lessons. I accepted that this is a much more conducive space for teaching and learning. It was time for me to let go of the idea that I could or should be teaching on the first floor.
It just was not working on the first floor, so why force it?
When creating a plan to redesign the lower level, I kept a couple of things in mind. I knew that I wanted to:
The final floor plan is slightly different from the original plan. The spirit of the goals have been met.
The goal to decrease the noise was achieved by moving the taller, larger tables towards the back of the room. That little blue half moon nook attacked to the circulation desk used to house computers and now is perfect for overflow seating. Moving the orange and blue chairs soften the echo that occurs in the center of the room.
Another way to decrease noise and break up space is using height.
We have 6 table top spinning shelves that house a number of (not all) of our series books that were in front of the windows. They are now on top of the rectangular shelves placed in the center of the room.
While moving shelves, we maintained genrefication. Having a genrefied library makes it easier for students to find books. The problem that occurs with any format is that some sections are not highly circulated. While redesigning, we made deliberate moves.
There is no ‘best’ time to redesign your space. It really depends on what will work best for you, what help (if any) you have, how pressing your redesign reasons are.
I seem to always choose midyear. If something is really bugging me, or I see a need I just tackle it. Coincidentally, my junior librarians seem to have a similar mindset. As we wrapped up and packed up the book fair they noticed the plan on my computer and inquired about it.
After opening it, the entire group started really looking at it and asked some great questions. The students compelled me to redesign now.
They settled on starting it the following afternoon during recess.
They moved everything around in about a half hour. I didn’t move much around myself. I was more like a foreman overseeing the process. What I had fun doing was teaching them how to tackle a redesign. They learned how to move a space – how to organize the move, evaluate the appearance of it, and make adjustments as needed, and how to test it out.
Think about the space in your library where you currently teach from. What is working? What do you wish was going better? What other space(s) in your library could help meet that goal? In the next post I’ll share some ideas about budgeting for a redesign.
