Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs...

Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs
Blockin' up the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign - Five Man Electrical Band

I walk into too many libraries with signs like this:

What might happen if we replaced our welcome signs with ones like these?

Where would kids learn best?

OK, let me have it.

Comments

[Chris Daniel]

Hello everyone,
I have found your signs very interesting and I wish I could find a library like this:) on earth

[Doug Johnson]

Thanks, all for the responses.

If we don't change our point of reference on service, I think we are deep do-do.

Johnson’s Library Rule Rule: Never have more than three rules for your media center:
be doing something productive
be doing it in a way that allows others to be productive
be respectful of other people and their property.

Doug

[Kathy Noble]

.....uh, I don't have any rules posted! I have a little overview during orientation where I tell my students that they know how to behave and the school rules apply in the library. I have a Q and A on my website, but I doubt any of them ever read it. I may seem like a pushover, but the kids all know who I am, they like coming to the library, and the teachers like bringing them. That means that the teachers are willing to collaborate, so we have a very busy library program.

[L.T.E.]

I love you upbeat sign!!! Would it be OK for us to modify it a little and post it in our library??? Please let me know!!!

[Doug Johnson]

HI LTE,

Help yourself to anything you find on the Blue Skunk, including the sign.

Doug

[Guusje]

Humm..... I don't think I have any signs in my library. I go over the "rules" at the beginning of the year and the kids more or less remember them. I just got 20 new iBooks so right now I'm working on "please don't leave your laptop lying on the floor"
The kids are very proud of the new toys so they get put away most of the time.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Guusje,

I am guessing the personality of the librarian has a lot to do with how many signs are necessary in the library. Must be some formula there some place! The fewer the signs, the nicer the person.

Doug

[Anthony D.]

I love it, we need to change how things are done in the library anyway - too stuffy

[B Combes]

And add to the wonderful second sign, places and spaces in your library for interactivity to occur both physical and virtual. Glass booths for mobile phone use - in Singapore these became favourite places where small groups sat on the floor and worked aloud. Quiet spaces for silent study, group spaces for working together, social spaces to read and share favourite picture books or to read the newspaper. Virtual spaces to share, talk, edit, discuss - lots of Web 2.0 tools can be used here. You can create spaces with foliage/greenery, soft furnishings, group tables, study carrels amongst the book stacks, glassed rooms. Imagination is the key and flexibility - so you can change it - just for funand to keep em on their toes!
:)
BC

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Barbara,

Great minds think alike. You might like this article I just wrote for an international library journal:

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/8/11/changed-but-still-critical-part-one-of-two.html

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/8/11/changed-but-still-critical-part-two-of-two.html

Cheers,

Doug