Continuums of library use

How are the ways students are using libraries, especially in the secondary schools, changing?

Accessing print .......................................................................... Accessing electronic/multimedia

Solitary work....................................................................................................... Social work

Directed use............................................................................................. Independent use

Information consumer ............................................................................... Information producer

Academic research ........................................................................................ Personal research

Static needs, resources, tasks ............................................... Rapidly changing needs, resources, tasks

And how might those changes reflect on library facility design?

Study carrels ................................................................................................... Study rooms

Tables ..................................................................................................... Upholtered chairs

Computer labs ............................................................................................. Production labs

Reseach stations ....................................................................................... Wireless notebooks

Print shelving and storage .................................................................... Collaborative work spaces

Fixed spaces ................................................................................................... Flexible spaces

 What are the changes of library use you see and how do our physical libraries need to change to meeting them?

Facilities planning survey

Last Saturday, I posted a general student survey about library programs to the Blue Skunk. It was desparately in need of updating and I appreciate the suggestions for its improvement I received. It is still under revision (actually I was hoping to get more feedback) and I will share the final results sometime later this week.

In the meantime, I worked up the survey below that has a more specific purpose - to elicit ideas about how students use the physical library itself in hopes of guiding the design for a new or remodeled space.

My general feeling about surveys is generally "more is less" and at 30 questions this one is too long. What can be dropped? What should be added?

Oh, for those interested, I did a series of blog posts on the fundamentals of library design last spring. Been trying to think how the "world 2.0" and other changes may impact the fundamentals....

Facility Planning - Student Survey
Doug Johnson, March 2009

Please rank each of the following items on a 1-4 scale with 1 = unimportant to 4 very important.

Facility Access
1. The library needs to be available to me throughout the school day.
2. The library needs to be available to me before and after school.
3. The library needs to be available to me evenings and weekends.

Information Resources
4. Print books and magazines to meet the needs of school assignments.
5. Print books and magazines to meet my personal information and recreational needs.
6. Internet access to meet the needs of school assignments.
7. Internet access to meet my personal information and recreational needs.
8. Wireless connectivity in the library for use with either school or personal computing devices.

Productivity, Creativity and Communications Resources
9. Facilities, equipment and resources that support the creation of original products such as word-processed documents, desktop published documents, edited video productions, digital slideshows, edited audio recordings, and webpages.
10. Facilities, equipment and resources that support my creativity, knowledge creation, and problem solving abilities.
11. Facilities, equipment and resources that support projects that allow me to interact and collaborate with students from other locations – including international students.
12. Facilities, equipment and resources that support live presentations to others.

Learning Environment and Climate
13. A welcoming, safe and comfortable and comfortable environment that allows me to read and study.
14. Working in the library independently.
15. Working in the library collaboratively with a small group.
16. Working in the library with my entire class.
17. Working in the library in informal seating (upholstered chairs, sofas).
18. Working in the library at a table.
19. Working in the library in a study carrel.
20. Architectural design, color coordination, and style of furnishing that create a positive learning climate.

Uses
21. Using the library to access technologies for either finding or communicating information.
22. Using the library to find print materials for academic use and personal use.
23. Using the library doing research with my entire class.
24. Using the library as a space to meet with my peers for collaboration on schoolwork.
25. Using the library as a space to meet with my peers to socialize and work on non-school related activities.

Open ended
26. List the most important activities you would like to be able to do in a new or remodeled library.
27. List any shortcomings of the current library facility.
28. How might a new library’s design support your work and study habits?
29. How might a new library design improve your total school experience?
30. Comments:

Theory into practice - Rolf Erkison on third place libraries

 

I am not always sure if comments to blogs ever get the attention they should. My last post about libraries as third places garnered some really fine observations and experiences. Librarians Scott Eskro, Katy Manck, Kenn Gorman, and Jane Hyde wrote to tell about how they were making their libraries in places where socialization was the norm in existing spaces. Go back - re-read.

But I was also delight to find my esteemed collegue and genuine library facilites expert, Rolf Erikson, leave this extended comment. With his permission, it is reposted here:

School libraries as a “third place” – what a great way to describe what those of us involved with 21st Century school library design aim to achieve.

The newly renovated Chelmsford (MA) high school library has, from students’ comments at the school, become for many their “third place.”

As I worked with Valerie Diggs on this project, I realized two essential elements were in place that contributed to the project’s success. One element was space: the library is 12,000 square feet, so deciding what to eliminate was not much of an issue. There was sufficient space to provide for the “academic requirements.” And there was space to provide a casual area with café and restaurant-type seating, sloped-shelving for fiction to facilitate ease of browsing, and a number of other interior design elements to make this area of the library visibly different. The second element was the desire on the part of the project’s stakeholders – library staff (led by Valerie’s vision, her open and creative mind, and her willingness to take chances), student and faculty representatives, administrators, and consultants – not to be bound by past traditions, but to create a truly innovative, 21st Century learning commons environment that would be inviting to students (Coffee in the library! Comfortable furniture!) – a space with a “playful mood,” where kids can hang out with friends. This is not your father’s school library. The educational role of the library program is not overshadowed, but the provision of “third place” zones has contributed to the overall success of the facility.

I realize that not many school librarians have the luxury of working with such large spaces. Nevertheless, I believe it is still within the realm of possibility to achieve similar, although perhaps less grand, results. As I see it, the need is for school librarians to think progressively, and accept the fact that maybe some space in the school library can be allocated for “third place” spaces by, for example, rejecting the notion that we need to maintain such large (and often outdated) print collections. Let’s create environments that students want to be in and use. Students at Chelmsford say that in the past, if they wanted a book, they would go to the public library because the school library was so unappealing. Now, the school library is the place to be.

We need our newly designed school libraries to be more like the one in Chelmsford. Of course school libraries have a serious academic mission, but the academic mission is more likely to succeed and be fulfilled if we create social environments that are relevant and comfortable to today’s students. We can find a happy medium, and school librarians must steer this trend; it is not likely to come from administrators or architects. If you are anywhere close to Chelmsford, MA, I urge you to visit. This is a model for our future.

Great sounding theories come at the rate of about two or three a day it seems. But it is thrilling when a good theory is actually turned into practice. Now THAT takes genius.

If you are interested in library design, be sure to check out Rolf's book Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future and the long interview he and I did: Imagining the Future of the School Library (with Christian Long), DesignShare, November, 2006.