Replies, cont.:
"I haven't followed all of this discussion. Forgive me if I
repeat any advice you've already heard.
- The architects should not be making the decision. I think
good ones still listen to their customers, not the other way
around. I am startled that this was their idea.
- If they've get the superintendent convinced, you need help.
- I hope that help with powerful credentials has already
arrived via this list. If not, you should write to some of our
contributors who can tell you who to enlist, like Alice Yucht.
Good luck. I seriously disagree with the last respondent,
that HS fiction sections (for instance) should be small
because no one there reads anyway. My daughter is an
11th grader, quite technologically "wired"... and the HS
library is the first she has declined to hang out in,
because the book selection is so... lifeless.
If it were cozy and inviting (and had something other than
the books assigned for coursework, which are NOT those
Jane would choose for pleasure), she would at least still
feel comfortable there. If there is hanging to be done in
a library, she strolls two blocks down the street from
the HS, and selects the children's room of the town's
public library. That still feels comfortable. So whether
or not she has time to check out the books there (not
often), it is still "home".
The other powerful help you can enlist is from the
students and their parents, perhaps. Even if the super
is convinced, disagreement from the home & school
club equivalent, etc will be heard (noticed).
-------------------
- I just spotted this in our state newsletter. Maybe it will help. Don't be shy
about contacting David Bogardus - this is his passion.
http://librarywalls.net/
-------------------
I must share this bit of info - this morning I went on a tour of a local university
(BIOLA, formerly Bible Institute of Los Angeles, now in La Mirada in Southern
California) library with a group of our local church librarians. The tour guides
were showing us the student group meeting areas (they have 27 I think she said! -
the library is new and lovely and large - to me!) but she said they were having
problems - not enough small group meeting rooms! Local high school students had
discovered the meeting rooms and were using them to get together to do their own
H.S. projects! The staff finally had to limit the meeting rooms to BIOLA students
or faculty with current campus ID. She told me that they had planned this new
library over 15 years (it opened about 5 years ago) and during that time they
expected that the campus population would continue at about 4,000. In just 5 years
it has exceeded 5,500! On one hand, this shows that H.S. students need somewhere to
gather to work on projects as well as have access to resources (maybe your Info
Center architects need to consider that!) This was also true when I did an
internship at a local public library - every day we had middle school and high
school students working in the rooms on school group assignments.
-------------------
I have been following this thread for the last week or so with great interest. I am
in the process of planning a new library in a new school building. I am currently
working in a middle school that consists of 18 portable buildings*we have no
permanent structures. The current library is about 1200 square feet with 8000 books
and seating for 32 students.
I have been fortunate to work with an amazing architect that has gone to bat for
the library on many occasions. The state said it should be no more than 900 square
feet; the architect slipped a 3600+ library past them. He has the philosophy that
the library is the heart of the school, the heart of learning and thus should be in
the center of the school. I teach on the Navajo Reservation and the architect is
Navajo. He planned the library so it is shaped like a Hogan (traditional dwelling
of the Navajo) because the Hogan is the center of learning for the Navajo students
at home and the library should replicate that at school.
In another 18 months or so I will be moving my collection into a huge new space:
complete with state of the art wireless internet connections, excellent online
resources and databases, and a great print collection, both fiction and
non-fiction. My students use the library regularly and the teachers can't wait to
have space for more than one class at a time.
I cannot imagine this new school with out the library. The closet public library
the kids have access to is 50 miles away. I feel it is my job to provide the
students and the community with the best library I can*.for many it is the only
place they can go to get something to read!
-----------------
Reasons to include a library in a school:
1. we do not know what the future holds, and having a library (even virtual) would
help to make the different transitions.
2. The library is a space where multiple students can gather to collaborate on
assignments and have access to materials that can be differentiated to the need of
the of students.
3. It is easier to plan to use the space for different purposes--IF there is a
space to modify.
4. Even if the resources are rapidly changing, the library is the place where
students will seek to find the information--IE: ebooks, databases, online video
clips.
5. Since the school is community own, what needs does having a library perform to
the community? I know that mine is frequently an after hours meeting spot.
6. What is the law requiring including a library in the building of a new school?
7. What innovations are needed to change the "classic" concept of a library, but
to make sure that the use and meeting of needs are still being met?
8. Question to ask: Are you sure that you want to be on the cutting edge and not
include a space for a library when it has been documented that schools that have
done that in the past have regretted it? Is this a case of not seeing the trees
(the
usage of the space) for the forest (the creative view of the architect)?
I am sure that with a bit of looking, you can find many other reasons for including
the space for a library. NOW, the question is: Making the creative person realize
that there needs to be a practical function for the layout of the space. NOW
that will take some doing. Have yet to find an architech that realizes that THERE
does need to be line of sight for the whole library, AND that being able to create
many learning environments within the library --QUICKLY.
---------------------------
Thirty years ago schools were built without walls...because it was cost effective
and supposedly the way to learn. Our building is finally adding heat/vent and air
conditioning for our "school without walls"; the walls have been there for about 15
years. Ironically our media center is so large that we have 2 classrooms in the
media center (which includes a computer lab with 23 computers) during the
renovation. A non-shared space is looking better and better every day.
Perhaps a school without walls near you (they were not a local phenomenon; they
were built all across the country in the early 70s) might share their experience
with your administration.
Are there state regulations about libraries and librarians?
Good luck in fighting this battle.
--------------
My observations;
By no library, do they mean that there will be no place open before school, after
school, at lunch, manned by someone to help students? Will students who don't have
a computer at home be able to access anywhere in school outside of school time.
Where can students go to work together on a project, get tutorial help, or even
pursue some independent issues.
Let them know that this library can have computers, an open area for
collaborative work, display space, wireless access for the school network, AND some
good print resources. Get them away from thinking that a library is ONLY a print
resource room.
Print verses electronic. Why do people see it as either or? I have a teacher who
just assigned a term paper. They must have three sources but cannot use an
encyclopedia. Why is it OK to use whatever web page (encyclopedia style) they
happen upon, but cannot use an encyclopedia? I did get her to adjust this
requirement. Now the requirement is 3 sources, one of which is an encyclopedia,
one must be a periodical (online or print) and one other resource. But they must be
able to show her the resource to show it isn't another encyclopedia type article.
Print verses non print shouldn't be the issue, TYPE and BREADTH of resource should
be the issue.
I just helped a student today access back issues of Current Biography (I have bound
from 1940 - 2000)for Muhammed Ali. He is ecstatic, we have an article written in
the 1960s, and one in the 1970s, primary sources, NOT on the internet. He also has
internet sources.
My library has changed, I have fewer book shelves than I used to. I don't replace
the print encyclopedias as often as I used to. I have computers, I buy online
databases, but I still buy books and magazines in print.
And my library today hosted the school's first student teacher art show.
-------------------
Thanks again, everybody!
Lindy Hutchison, Librarian
Sweeny HS Library
Sweeny, TX
lhutchison@mail.sweeny.isd.esc4.net
"Let us put our minds together and see what life we will make for our children."
--Tatanka Iotanka (Sitting Bull)
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