This is the third post in a series about redesigning the library.

For me, redesigning the library is no different than redesigning my home. How can I move the furniture around in a way that makes it fresh and new while still being super functional? How can I make sure that everyone will be comfortable?

What I also love about it, is the chance it gives me to toss out or donate some stuff. I love decluttering, and sometimes just tossing the junk makes a space look new and fresh.

So, once the space is redesigned, what’s next?

Action Research

What LMS doesn’t love research, and action research to boot? There is nothing better than seeing your hard work put to the test. Seeing how the students react to the redesign. What questions are they asking? What comments are they making? You know your redesign is a success with students when…

• They say, “You redesigned the library!” (Or something like that.) Their enthusiastic voice says it all.
• They start borrowing books they previously did not. Moving things in a way that puts eyes on books should increase circulation. Overall circulation could increase, or circulation for specific sections will increase.
• The students start moving to parts of the library they previously did not. Maybe they never ‘hung out’ by the awards section, but now that there are chairs over there, not only are they hanging out over there, but they are now browsing the stacks in that area!
• There is a different type of energy in the space. If the space was too energetic before and now there is a calm –> SCORE! The same is true for the reverse if your students were less than enthusiastic to be in the library.

Review the Plan

In the previous post, I shared how there were things that I wanted to buy, but didn’t want to spend the money for a variety of reasons. Once the space has been redesigned and students have started using it, it is time to give the plan another look. Ask these questions:

• What is working? The action research you conducted; listening and observing your students will tell you what’s working. Keep what’s working. Perhaps find ways to increase the spirit of that in other ways. For example, my students really like soft cushiony seats to read in, and that tells me I need to find more ways to build in comfort.
• What is not working? Whatever is not working, either get rid of or figure out how you can sprinkle in the spirit of what is. My PreK students are not borrowing the Board Books as much as I though they would. Where could I move them to make it easier for them to see them and borrow them?
• Is there something that absolutely positively has to be purchased to keep with the goals of the overall library program and redesign? Right now, I am thinking long and hard about whether or not I need to purchase a new cabinet for that genius bar. Does that genius bar even makes sense given that I mainly teach on the second floor? Or does it make more sense for me to spend that money on seating; the thing that I know is working for the kiddos?
• What is getting in the way of the redesign being successful? At the beginning of the school year, foot surgery forced me to stay on one floor. I stayed upstairs to accommodate PreK and the majority of the classes on the second and third floors. It took me until the winter book fair that I recognized that I just needed to get out of my own way and stay upstairs. It was working; so I needed to stop fighting this dream of teaching everything on the lower level.

Recognize What Was Overlooked

I am all about helping my students be independent. Anything I can do to help them navigate the library and media on their own. In other words, the more successful they are, the more successful I feel. I haven’t been a LMS long enough to proactively problem solve so sometimes I have to wait and see what problems may arise.

One thing that I overlooked was the signage. Do I have signage? You betcha. Are they effective? Not quite.

I think they are super cute. I think that from a design perspective I did some pretty cool work. BUT…they kinda get lost on the shelves.

The fact is, the shelves may have moved, but the signs stayed the same. Are the children still asking me where certain books are? Yes! Agggghhhhh!

So … I updated the signage.

I remember when I was a classroom teacher organizing my classroom library, I would meticulously arrange that library so that all of the baskets were the same color. Fiction was one green, nonfiction yellow, and series were blue. Why? Because it looks cleaner, easier on the eye.

To the left is a sample of what I came up with. You can get your own in the Resource Library for FREE.

Now that these are posted around the library it is easier to identify which genre each section is. Now, I know that Dewey already categorizes nonfiction. BUT…I wanted the library to feel like a book store, so went with my own categories.

And then, there is my circulation desk. I am too ashamed to even post a picture. Let me just say that it needs an organizer’s touch. I am still in the process of transitioning out of my former office. Don’t get me wrong…I am out. I’m just not quite as organized out there as I could be.

But it is something that I overlooked in this redesign. There is a computer over there that doesn’t get used, I have to find a spot for that 3D Printer that I can’t get to properly work. And I need to get some organization underneath for all of my ‘in progress’ repairs and processing items.

The redesign isn’t just about what everyone will see on the outside, but is also about how to best function with what everyone can’t see. When our own work space is designed well, we feel better prepared. We feel accomplished in our daily and weekly tasks. It makes us want to go into our own work space. I’ll be honest, right now it feels like such a mess to me that I avoid it like a zombie attack!

That, too, will be a next step for me. I am hoping (and fairly confident) that I’ll be able to rope in my junior librarians to help out with that!

Let me know how your redesign is going and ask your questions below!