No more offices
Monday, December 2, 2013 at 05:19AM 
The legendary perk of career climbers is the "corner office": a symbol of importance, of power, of exclusivity. It's a "reward" I've never really understood.
In fact, as a school librarian, the first thing I usually did in my library was move my desk out onto the floor of the library and turn what was supposed to be my office into a conference room. When that was not possible, I made sure I had a space at the circulation desk* where I could work. In designing new school libraries, I would recommend a workroom and I would recommend conference rooms. And I would recommend putting the librarian's desk in the main library space.
The barrier that office walls create is not easily overcome by too many people - students, teachers, parents, and even administrators. "Oh, she's in her office so she must be busy and I shouldn't bother her" is the polite line of thinking. The reality is that in a service occupation like librarianship (and this applies to tech integrationists as well), it is our JOB to be bothered. I've know too many library positions that were eliminated because the librarian spent more time in his office than with kids and teachers. The desk and office do exert an almost magnetic attraction. Why design failure into our work environments?
What is the traditional role of the office space anyway?
- To provide privacy? On the rare occasion I need speak privately to someone, I can use a conference room.
- To provide security? Put a lock on the desk drawer and a password on the screen saver.
- To provide a quiet work space? Our "work" is with people.
- To provide a space for small group work? See #1
- To provide a symbol of status or authority? In education? Really?
I'd argue that very few positions in education need offices. As tech director, I don't need one. (I don't close the door on my office but once a month if that.) In an age where collaboration, communication, and joint problem-solving are key components to success, offices just don't make sense.
Readers, give me a solid reason to create libraries or new tech work areas that include any offices at all.
*Modern circulation desks should be the same height as a regular desk.
Reader Comments (20)
I just did this in my new library. I have always been anti office. We need to be VISIBLE! : )
Office Move
I think being visible in your library is important for all librarians. open your doors and come out of those offices! I just started working at The Library@HHS this school year. My office is very nice, but is located in the very back of the library. Up until this point I have been using a laptop and my iPad and sitting out at the circulation desk with our student library aides. Recently Ms. Camp mentioned moving a television monitor in my office up to the circulation area so that we could monitor the students in our computer lab better. It then occurred to me that I could move my entire office to the small alcove in the circulation area. My "office" is now located in the hub of the library action without me being in the way of the student aides working the front desk.
Click link and scroll to bottom of page for pictures of my old & new "office": http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/2013/11/this-month-in-libraryhhs-november-2013.html
I'm still a student, so I may change my mind when I get into the field... but the way I work best almost requires an office. I often have several unfinished projects underway, and I get very frustrated when I can't find what I need because someone moved my stuff, especially when looking for things costs me half my work time. By this description, a room full of cubbies would suit me just fine.
Being a mother, I also know that a private office is an important tool for new mothers returning to the workforce. If I can leave a pump set up in a discrete corner, a cooler under the desk, and can close the door for about 15 minutes of privacy two or three times a day, then I really don't need to take much time away from work while seeing to my infant's needs. Speaking from experience, pumping in stock rooms, bathrooms, and shared offices is not fun and takes more time due to set up & clean up. Since (last time I saw a statistic) librarianship is still around 80% female, we must have the infrastructure to accommodate new mothers - especially when the infrastructure is as multi-use as an office.
So... even if I plan on working out on the floor, I do believe that having an office as a project storage location and a space for a few moments of privacy is important.
But...
And, isn't there always a big but?
I'll hold on to my "office" (which is actually a math manipulatives store room). Technically, I am the librarian at our 5th/6th intermediate school of about 600 students. However, I'm assigned to teach a full schedule of "computer skills" classes in the computer lab every day and that keeps me out of the library and unavailable to students in the library for virtually the entire day. When I have to work on lesson plans and look at students' work, I do retire to my little office so I can actually get that work done in the half hour before I have lunch duty.
In our school, classroom teachers (usually the Lit teachers) bring classes down to check out books for the students. We have no library associates except at the middle and high school buildings. Consequently, our library is not staffed for most of the day every day. I am still responsible for checking books in, resehevling, repairing, ordering, and etc. all of which I try to get done before and after school and while I'm eating my lunch.
Yes, it's true - sometimes I feel like I'm hiding in my office, but I'm keeping it (for now, anyway).
I'll add my "but" (sp?) to this string...
My role of district tech coordinator is highly polarized in terms of work behaviors. I relish being available to interact with instructional and technology colleagues as so much we do revolves around group think, but as webmaster I also need dark hole time to get critical tasks done without distraction, so I'm a bit hyper-aware of the conflicting need. And with all the screen time I find I need to control the angle of incoming fluorescent light. The latest attempt to resolve some of this is to install cubicle walls around my larger community work space, but that comes with a down side too. I'm thinking of hoisting a pirate flag or quarantine notice when I'm in my hole, but as I share a wall with the superintendent, I still know who's captain. No easy answers in a complex work world.
When we designed our new library space, we placed a desk along a wall with a long counter at Kindergarten height in the middle of the room that I call the circ desk. I love the open feel; and I can see almost every corner from my vantage point. To control traffic, I put down a thin blue line of painter's tape between my desk and the circ desk and instructed students not to cross through to the mini computer lab, but to go around. When I am in the library, I am always available to whoever needs me.
Proud to say, I gave up my office space (which I never used) to the Tech Integrator, which also allows us greater collaborative opportunities. While I have a "desk" behind the counter, I usually like to sit out in the library when I'm on the computer.
Having said that, if I need to get something down without interruption, I do bury myself somewhere.
I have a big library now with my own office and the only thing I use it for is to hang up my coat, stash my lunch (and volunteer bags). I am always at the desks behind the circulation area. In fact, I sometimes offer my office to visiting staff or teachers who need a quiet place to plan. I don't really need to turn it into a conference room since we have one of those already. The only time I lock it up is when I get in an order of books until they're all processed.
Of course I don't have a clerk so that's another reason to never use the office...
Hi Nikki,
Thanks for the great example of another librarian moving "on to the floor." Appreciate the link to the photos as well.
Doug
Hi Robin,
Thoughtful points. I wonder how classroom teachers manage the breast pumping situation?
All the best,
Doug
Hi Bob,
It doesn't sound like you'd get much chance to interact with library users even if you didn't have an office. Given your responsibilities, I can understand how the space is useful to you.
Doug
Hi Bill,
Cube farms get a lot of bad press, but I think they may be the best solution yet. Your sup is the first I've heard of that is in a cubical, not an office however!
Thanks for the note,
Doug
Thanks, DeAnn. I loved having my desk on the floor of the library. Kids always had something to show you or tell you.
Have a great holiday season,
Hi Jeri,
I think we all need those hiding spots every once in a while. We've always placed the tech offices in the libraries in our district. One stop shop for kids and teachers!
Doug
Hi Ninja,
I do love a library with conference rooms. Ours in our school are always in use by visitors, specialists, etc. In one library, we shared conference rooms with the guidance department since they formed the common wall between our spaces.
Doug
I have an office in my library, but I very rarely use it. . . most of the time it's just a place to drop off things I need to file/a glorified closet. I work at the circ desk or at the little cart I have in my teaching area almost all the time. My circ desk is way too big and definitely too tall for an elementary library, though. It's like the spaceship enterprise in the middle of the room with little cutouts that are still a bit tall for the kindergarten kids.
It IS nice to have a place where I can occasionally go hide and get things done that I need to concentrate on. I tried to process books at the circ desk some my first year, and about had a heart attack when I did inventory later. I was missing all these books I remembered adding just that year! Once I calmed down, I realized it was where the system had auto-saved partially done records that I was working on and somebody asked me a question before I put the barcode # in. So I don't try to do anything but copy-cataloging at the circ desk anymore (These were books where I had to do original cataloging).
In a high school with 2700 students, I moved to the circulation desk 7 yrs ago. My actual office is one of three rooms off of the main library. One, the Reference Room and the the only carpeted area, is in restoration process- replacing stored equipment with tables and chairs;it can then be used for discussion groups or special projects such as National History Day/Model UN. I have moved reference materials to the bookshelves on the perimeter. However, equipment is still there. Another room holds laminating machine and supplies. The center room, my designated office, needs tables for students too.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for another insightful post!
I think I'm lucky enough to have a great compromise - my office has a 100% glass wall in front of me and everyone can see me, and I can see them. (small library - small school). I wave at students as they walk into the library and can almost see the entire library through my glass wall/window. Students wander in to talk to me whenever they want.
The reason I still need the office is lesson planning & collaborating. I would not be able to plan thoughtful lessons in the middle of the hub-bub that is my library. There is no way. So, while I understand the concept, if I am ever able to get any meaningful projects and lesson planning done, I need to be able to shut myself off for a few hours when I need it. If I was out in the library all day, every day - I would only be able to function as a library assistant. And since I'm *very* lucky to still have one of those - she is out there all day.
On the flip side, students & teachers are welcome to interrupt me during any of those "few focus hours." And they do. :) Again, I'm fortunate to have my office right smack in the middle of the library. If I had one of those libraries with the office in the back corner (I've worked in one of those, too.), then I would move myself out. But I would personally still need to have a cubby of some sort. Otherwise, I'd be forced to do all my planning at home. And frankly, I can't do that anymore. ;)
Hi Rebecca,
Good point about the height of the circ desk. The concept of the circ desk could use a re-boot. I am going to propose that our new middle school library have a central "station" that is a combination circ desk and "genius bar" for tech help in our 1:1 program. Whadda ya think?
Doug
Sounds like a nice set-up, Susan. Thanks for sharing this.
Doug
Hi Pamela,
Several people commented that they need a space where they can "focus." While I appreciate that, I wonder what that says when we ask our students to "focus" when in our libraries. Just asking.
Doug
Doug,
That's a great question - and one I deal with every single day. The library is supposed to have a "quiet study environment," because we have students in unproctored study hall in here all day. We struggle with keeping the noise down when we are full. If someone has a good answer to this, I'm all ears. (Of course, this goes out the window on days when I'm teaching classes in here.)
My office has a window out to the library and the view is great both ways. The door is never closed and no one hesitates to walk right in. I just told a teacher on Monday when she apologized for interrupting my work, "I live to be interrupted - it's just part of my job."
Donna,
Perhaps it is our attitudes more than our spaces that make us accessible. Thanks for the reminder.
Doug
I love this post. My library has a rather spacious office and I keep an open door policy. My problem is keeping faculty members out so I can work. I have tried moving to the circulation desk, but I'm more visible and experience multiple interruptions. I end up with less than an hour or so a day when I can actually work and be productive due to the influx of whining faculty members. If I ever get the opportunity to move into a new library (hopefully attached to a new school) this is one redesign I will be incorporating. Thanks for the encouragement!
Hi Holly,
We all find interruptions annoying, but one could say we are being paid for being interrupted.
Thanks for your comment,
Doug
I sit out front at a circ desk to do most of my work. In fact, my school borrows my office all the time since I rarely use it. It's now the official pumping room for nursing mothers. I haven't complained since I agree with you about why we need to be out with the people we work for.
Hi Staci,
Funny you should mention that since I think a backroom in our elementary libraries is being used by new moms as well! Nice to know it is being put to good use. Appreciate the comment.
Doug
I wish I had an office. I would literally never use it during the school day, but it would allow clubs and tutoring to use the library after school. I do all my planning and "quiet" work after school, and I need to work in my own classroom. Since my only desk is in the library, the only way I can get my after school work done is to have no one in the library, which I hate--I'd much rather share, but not if it means I can't get my work done.