Reimagining Library Spaces

Transform Your Space on Any Budget

Diana Rendina

• Publisher: International Society for Technology in Education
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781564846389
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildungsstandards

This inspiring book invites librarians to rethink the library space and embrace the changing role of technology, with suggestions on how to transform how students learn in and use these spaces. With the advent of modern technologies and the rise of participatory and active learning pedagogy, the traditional school library model is no longer as effective as it once was. Now more than ever, it is vital to cultivate and transform these spaces to create positive learning experiences for students. Reimagining Library Spaces addresses these realities, offering the guidance you need to make smart and efficient updates to your library space that encourage the use of technology to improve student learning.This book includes:

• Tips and strategies for transforming your outdated library space on a small budget.
• How-to's for addressing the challenges and opportunities brought about by the changing role of technology, including collaborative learning labs, makerspaces and ways to support BYOD.
• Practical suggestions for finding ideas to improve your space, inventory your library and survey your community.

Amazing things can happen when school librarians are willing to take the risks and the initiative to reimagine their library spaces with their students' success in mind. In this book, you'll go on a journey to reimagine your space so you can make it the best possible library for your students. Audience: K-12 school librarians, administrators, district leaders

CHAPTER 1

The role of school libraries is shifting with the rise of technology in education, digital resources, and the changing learning styles of our students. We must rethink and reimagine our library spaces if we are to remain relevant.

Rethinking Our Spaces

As a child, I fondly remember trips to both my public and school libraries. There were story times and programs, all the picture books I could want, quiet corners for curling up with a book, and the space was decorated with pictures and stuffed animal characters from my favorite books.

There were also stacks of books that towered about me in unreachable rows, a confusing card catalog that I needed a parent or teacher to help me navigate, imposing wooden tables for silent research, and librarians who chided me if I got a little too loud or excited.

While libraries of the past often inspire good memories, our students, our schools, and our libraries are changing. The school library’s purpose has grown far beyond that of a repository of books, a research center, and a quiet reading area. The growth of technology in education, the rise of ebooks and online resources, and the changing learning needs and styles of our students all demand that libraries must adapt or become irrelevant. Librarians must rethink and reimagine the physical space of our libraries, and the tools and technology that go into them, if we hope to remain a vital part of our children’s education.

Advocating for a New Vision of Libraries

Unfortunately, many teachers, administrators, community members, and even librarians still cling tightly to the libraries of their youth. They see nothing wrong with library spaces filled with large, immovable wood tables with heavy chairs. They see libraries as spaces solely designed for quiet study and reading. Or, by contrast, they are ideal computer labs or testing centers. Worse, libraries are considered multipurpose rooms for schools to host every faculty meeting, parent meeting, and after-school event. Some people even question whether school libraries are necessary at all!

In 2014, one school district in Florida no longer saw the relevance of a school library space staffed with a certified librarian. They eliminated their media specialist positions, rehired many under the new title of Technology Communication Coaches, and dismantled most of their media centers. Some schools moved all the books from the school library into classroom libraries. Others added reading rooms in computer labs, or redesigned their library spaces as multi-purpose meeting rooms. But these spaces lacked a qualified librarian and were being run by secretaries or volunteers (Solocheck, 2014). Some of these transformations were student friendly, but it is disturbing to remove a certified school librarian from the equation, not to mention eliminating students’ choices regarding which books to read.

As school librarians, it behooves us to be one step ahead of such changes. We must advocate for updating and transforming our libraries and for our essential roles in these spaces. We must share our vision for how we can transform our library spaces, how libraries are more than relevant—they are vital—in today’s schools, and how we play an essential role in the education of our students. It can be exhausting to have to fight tirelessly to prove our worth, but it is necessary in today’s world of line-item budgets. Later in the book, you’ll read about how Andy Plemmons worked with district committees to plan a brand new library as a part of his school’s reconstruction process. Throughout the process, he not only had to advocate for his space but also for the importance of a central, well-equipped school library in a school that was moving in the 1:1 direction. In essence, he was advocating for the role of libraries (and school librarians) as a whole (A. Plemmons, personal communication, February 20, 2017).

Sullivan (2013) states: “your school library must evolve into a learning environment that supports the educational model of your school and your students.” It is now more important than ever for our spaces to change as our schools and pedagogies shift.

Advocating for Updated Spaces

Many who question the relevance of school libraries also have traditional notions of what functions school libraries serve. We must work tirelessly to share what happens in our spaces. For example, many people have no idea that libraries play a vital role in hosting collaborative teaching lessons, teaching information literacy skills to students, hosting book clubs and other programs. They don’t understand that libraries serve as a meeting place for specialists to work one-on-one with students, as well as being a place for students to check out books, read, and study. We must share the many different roles that our space fulfills.

Through this framework, we can address the design problems of our spaces with an understanding of how they impact students and instruction. An administrator might not understand why you need to get rid of large tables and cumbersome chairs until they witness you stumbling over student backpacks while attempting to teach a class, or see a student climbing over chairs to retrieve a book. Your district might not understand why you need more data drops installed in your computer lab until they see how the awkward configurations of computers makes it difficult for students to collaborate on group projects. Your teachers might be frustrated that you want to relocate the copy room to create a reading room until they witness a student who cannot find a quiet place to study while two classes are using the library simultaneously.

Advocating for Our Role

As you saw in the earlier example from Florida, we must not just advocate for changing our spaces, but also advocate for our role within our spaces. You can create a gorgeous, modern library space with lots of natural light, flexible furnishings, and an outstanding collection, but if a full-time librarian does not staff it, it will be much more limited, and students will feel the impact.

Part of advocacy relates to sharing those stories about your space that we talked about earlier. Share about how you co-planned with a new teacher on an upcoming lesson. How you worked with a small group of students by giving them a mini-lesson on database research. How you pulled a variety of novels related to the Holocaust for a unit your language arts classes are studying. There are many misconceptions about what school librarians actually do. Share with your administrators, teachers, and community about what you do on a regular basis.

ISTE STANDARDS CONNECTION

ISTE Standards for Educators 2a: Educators shape, advance and accelerate a shared vision for empowered learning with technology by engaging with education stakeholders.

In advocating for rethinking and reimagining our library spaces, we are sharing our vision for our libraries. Leading with our vision for the ways technology can empower educators in libraries is vital to garnering support for our library space transformations.

The Changing Role of Technology and Libraries

A massive shift in technology use in education has occurred since those days that I spent in my school library as a child. For many years, static desktop computer labs were considered sufficient technological resources for our students. But now, with the affordability of tablets, laptops, smart phones, and other technology advancements, our students are using many other devices besides desktop computers. And many of our schools are making the leap to a BYOD program or a 1:1 setting where every student has their own school-owned device. As librarians, we must embrace and support a diverse variety of technology tools for our students.

Print vs. Digital

Some of you reading this book will be old enough to remember using card catalogs to find resources in the library, others know card catalogs only as awesome garage sale finds made for transforming into stylish coffee tables. A vast amount has changed in libraries in the last thirty years. We can now quickly search our library catalogs on computers. Schools and library systems have created their apps for students and patrons to browse their collections and resources. Our physical reference collections have dwindled with the rise of readily available digital resources and the shorter shelf life of print reference in an ever-changing world.

Digital resources have an impact on the physical spaces of our libraries and need to be addressed here. Libraries benefit from having both physical and digital collections, and they should be balanced. As schools add more ebooks and database subscriptions, the need for an extensive print reference collection lessens. The print collection begins to shift more toward books that students read for pleasure and information, and away from books required for curriculum-related research.

Ebooks

The physical size of our libraries often limits the number of print volumes we can carry. Many students are now bilingual in digital and print literacy. They will often switch back and forth between print books and ebooks. Some will be working on one book on their phone or tablet while also reading a different book in print. Our libraries need to meet this demand by providing diverse ebook collections that can support the needs of our students. These will likely be a blend of fiction and nonfiction. If possible, see if you can develop your ebook collection in collaboration with your school district or with a network of other schools—this can help to lessen costs overall.

Online Databases

Print reference materials have been on the decline for years. Aside from when teachers force them to use print materials, students almost always reach for digital resources first. Unfortunately, many will choose the first article that pops up on Google or Wikipedia. As librarians, we need to be advocates of our online databases. We need to teach students digital research skills and help them work through the various databases we support, such as Gale, World Book, and ProQuest. We need to teach them citation and writing skills. Just because print reference is going away doesn’t make our role irrelevant—it makes us more relevant than ever.

The Learning Space Needs of Our Schools

The pedagogies of our teachers and classrooms are shifting. Many schools rely more and more on group work, team projects, and hands-on activities. These styles of work often require a different physical space than the traditional classroom layout. While many schools are transforming the learning space design of their classrooms, the library can also serve as a learning space to meet these needs. Throughout this book, I discuss ways to transform library spaces to be flexible, to support collaboration, and to provide materials and resources for hands-on projects. Even for schools that have redesigned their classrooms, the library is still a vital space because it is available to all students and it houses librarians who can assist students in their work.

Flexibility

With the rise of active learning pedagogy, teachers n...