Morning folks,
Yesterday I was given the opportunity to talk to the architects who are
planning a new K-10 school in our area, and it appears that the library will
be one facility shared across the entire campus. (Our local K-10 school has
separate junior and senior facilities)
I would love to hear from those of you who have this sort of single facility
at your school (I think it is more common in the private sector) and who
work there as teacher-librarians and teachers whose classes use them.
What is the architecture like - single storey? mezzanine? two-storey?
What do you think is the most practical/ useful of the three?
Is it one big space or are there classrooms/ specific purpose areas
attached?
How do you address the issue of a class borrowing, another class having a
lesson, others doing independent research and yet others needing a quiet
place to study? Is noise an issue?
Are the junior and senior sectors integrated or separate?
Are the resources integrated or separate? If they are integrated, can the
very littlies find the dinosaur and space books easily?
Is the larger space overwhelming for the littlies?
What facilities do you have for disabled access, especially in a multi-level
building?
Is the space large enough for you to house the collection and still have the
shelves accessible to students in wheelchairs? How do the disabled/
littlies reach the top shelves safely?
What are the best things about such a facility?
What are the worst things?
If you could redesign your space, what would you change/ include/ avoid?
Which would you define as must-haves?
If you could redesign the facility would you integrate or separate the
sectors into separate buildings?
Is there anything else that you would like to comment on?
We are fortunate in that we are being given the opportunity to have this
input and the architects are going to talk to me again so it would be so
much more valuable to be able to offer the wider perspective of those who
already have this type of facility, rather than just my inexperienced eye.
However, I was a little concerned when one of them asked me "how does the
disabled toilet work?" and I just said "push the button and flush it!" I
think he meant the access - have I been with kids too long?
Enjoy your weekend
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA
T. 02 6205 7241
F. 02 6205 7242
E. barbara@austarmetro.com.au
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au
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