School Library Design in British Columbia
by Joseph Jeffery and British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association (BCTLA) Committee
Older models of school library design may fit with a resource-centric approach that past school libraries utilized, but not with the learner-centric model of the school library learning commons. The author, current Canadian School Libraries (CSL) Chair, provides largely Canadian research that shows it is important that the school library learning commons space is designed with participatory instruction in mind. Includes a recent (November 2023-January 2024) survey conducted by the British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association (BCTLA) with teacher-librarians leading to recommendations that address critical aspects to include in school library design and possible usability issues.
Joseph, thanks for capturing all these almost-contradictory factors that need to be considered when designing school libraries. You mentioned aesthetics vs practicality, school vs library, physical vs digital, recreational vs instructional, individual vs group and so on. (You don't make it sound as "either-or" as I'm portraying here; but there does seem to be a push and pull.) I just had a student dislodge a shelf because he tried to climb it, so the section on page 2 where VESTA and CSL are both addressing the same issue but from different angles made a clear point.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated with the results of your survey, and the differences between renovations and new builds. My question for you: in the section beginning on page 7, regarding recommendations, if you had to rank or prioritize the items mentioned, which would be #1? (I ask this, because I had to sacrifice display space to improve traffic flow and reconfigure specific areas [such as instructional and collaborative / congregational] so I'm hoping I made the right decision!)
Diana
I don't know that there can be a singular #1. Part of why we chose not to rank things or give any sort of order was that there's so many points at which the correct thing for the community you're building is unique to itself. In Montessori education we have the phrase "Each Child is a Universe of One", that is to say in this context that the community itself is key. For your school improving traffic flow might well be the correct choice. For others it might be that making sure you have collaborative space takes precedence, for others it is making sure that everything is accommodating universal design principles. If we lived in a perfect world we wouldn't have to make choices and sacrifice, but we do and when we make those choices we can only do it with the knowledge of our own user community in mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply. This makes a lot of sense. (I didn't know you had Montessori leanings!)
DeleteI enjoyed reading your paper, especially the summary of what has proven to work and not work. In short, the best SLLCs are the ones with a plan and purpose specific to the goals of the most immediate stakeholders (TL, teachers, admin). Too often SLLCs are constructed how and where they can be pigeonholed in an ad hoc way
ReplyDeleteHey Joseph (et al) - having done two SLLC Revitalizations, I can appreciate the thought that goes behind a renovation and/or build for a school library. One of the aspects I found most frustrating is that outside of school library professionals, other school & district staff are nearly always unable to see the space with a "library lens" and therefore are unable to really groc what makes sense and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteGrokability was definitely something we wanted when we designed this. For the actual publication we gave some concrete sample floor plans as an exercise where they could analyze them to try and figure out how well designed they were.
DeleteThank you Joseph, for this exhaustive and inclusive report! You and the BCTLA executive have summarized the research that will assist many Teacher Librarians moving forward as they seek to renovate or rebuild their spaces. School libraries are used by the entire school community and the extensive collection of categories included in this report will help us create better functioning learning commons. I’m not surprised to see that the admin voice was often louder than that of the TL, but it is a frustrating reality of our job, and aligns with the (somewhat) lack of autonomy in our profession. Curious: did you see any evidence of student input (elementary or secondary)?
ReplyDeleteNot in the survey we got. I've seen a lot of student feedback incorporated into the running of SLLCs including in redesigns that are initiated by the TL without the need for an architect or other external project manager. For example, in furniture choices or shelving choices that are part of upgrades or replacement.
DeleteI am definitely going to share this paper. There are so many great ideas and too many blatant mistakes exposed when considering the current new builds and designs of the Learning Commons spaces in our school board. We have three elementary schools where the Learning Commons definitely the center of the school; however, there are no walls or sufficient electrical outlets... just an open space surrounding by low sides the height of a bench. Despite complaints about the design, the noise, the lack of proper instructional space, our newest school was built exactly the same.... Obviously consultation was not a priority. I had to chuckle about avoiding chairs with castors in elementary schools. I suggested this at one of my schools a few years back when they were ordering furniture... they went ahead and ordered the chairs on wheels anyway. A couple of years later they replaced them with chairs without castors.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of design was the exact impetus of this. There was a library designed like that in BC that became the pillar of 'never again' within that district. However, we then heard that other schools had considered similar designs or other issues, which led to the BC Teacher Librarian Association executive commissioning the study that became our report, which in turn spawned this paper as an adapted form of the report.
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