...the library media center is changing up its look. Nothing major really, but enough for the kids to notice. Coming in new to the library, I had a lot of ideas about how I wanted it to look. Strangely enough, I found that many of those changes required much more time and money than I had originally imagined. Who would've thought?! To appease myself, I have taken on the mindset "slowly but surely". Whenever I have another vision about how I want to change something, I force myself to remember my motto.
Before you begin questioning the relevance and importance of this post, let me support myself by saying that the physical environment of a library media center is possibly much more crucial than you may think. As a matter of fact, there have been numerous studies over the past two decades that investigated the impact of a library space on the general attitude of students towards reading. From these studies, we have found that individual things can have a great impact on the overall feeling and attitude of a space. Color, furniture, displays, and lighting are cited as some of the most important. At the younger age, a general feeling of happiness and excitement should be the goal, while the high school level prefers more of a coffee shop/ book store experience (think Barnes and Noble). David Loertscher, a visionary in the library media world, takes it a step further in claiming that library should be at the center of ALL learning in a school- the central hub for information seeking. Called "a learning commons", this model has proven to be more than just an idea with good intentions, as libraries new and old all over the globe are making the decision to transform in order to better suit the needs of their school. Reading more about the idea of a learning commons, the subject of physical space takes great importance- "a comfortable place where they can work, relax, learn , create, or do" (Koechlin, Zwaan & Loertscher, 2008). While I do not foresee Freedom's LMC totally heading in that direction in the near future (it is much more in depth than I covered), I will work to change the things that I have direct control over- space being one of them. Ultimately, the sequence looks like this:
Better environment -> more enthusiasm and passion towards reading -> more hands on resources -> greater learning
This being said, check out the photos below for just a few things that have been created/acquired in attempts to spark that sequence. Remember: slowly but surely!
Reference:
Koechlin, C., Zwaan, S., and Loertscher, D. V. (2008). The time is now: Transform your school library into a learning commons. Teacher Librarian, 36 (1), 8-14.
Before you begin questioning the relevance and importance of this post, let me support myself by saying that the physical environment of a library media center is possibly much more crucial than you may think. As a matter of fact, there have been numerous studies over the past two decades that investigated the impact of a library space on the general attitude of students towards reading. From these studies, we have found that individual things can have a great impact on the overall feeling and attitude of a space. Color, furniture, displays, and lighting are cited as some of the most important. At the younger age, a general feeling of happiness and excitement should be the goal, while the high school level prefers more of a coffee shop/ book store experience (think Barnes and Noble). David Loertscher, a visionary in the library media world, takes it a step further in claiming that library should be at the center of ALL learning in a school- the central hub for information seeking. Called "a learning commons", this model has proven to be more than just an idea with good intentions, as libraries new and old all over the globe are making the decision to transform in order to better suit the needs of their school. Reading more about the idea of a learning commons, the subject of physical space takes great importance- "a comfortable place where they can work, relax, learn , create, or do" (Koechlin, Zwaan & Loertscher, 2008). While I do not foresee Freedom's LMC totally heading in that direction in the near future (it is much more in depth than I covered), I will work to change the things that I have direct control over- space being one of them. Ultimately, the sequence looks like this:
Better environment -> more enthusiasm and passion towards reading -> more hands on resources -> greater learning
This being said, check out the photos below for just a few things that have been created/acquired in attempts to spark that sequence. Remember: slowly but surely!
Reference:
Koechlin, C., Zwaan, S., and Loertscher, D. V. (2008). The time is now: Transform your school library into a learning commons. Teacher Librarian, 36 (1), 8-14.