To say it’s been an interesting school year so far would be an understatement. This has definitely been the most challenging year of my career. I consider myself lucky to be working at a school that has the resources and leadership to keep us safe. I know that many, many schools have been left … Read more
How to Dream Big With a Library Space Analysis It may seem like an odd time to be reimagining your library space. You might currently have limited access or might not be allowed on campus. If you are having in-person learning, your library might not look like it normally does. To help manage social distancing, … Read more
At Stewart, we had a pretty loud library. There were robots racing through the stacks, the rustle of tubs of LEGOs being dug into, and the chatter of excited students talking about their favorite books and collaborating on projects. At my current school, the previous culture of the library had been one where a whisper … Read more
Good signage is vital in a learning space. Ideally, your students should be able to walk into your space, look around, and find the things that they need without having to ask for help. Realistically, I know that this isn’t usually what happens, but it’s the goal to aim for. In general, I would say … Read more
Read This Book: The Design of Childhood I first heard about The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids in a NPR interview with the author. It immediately piqued my interest. Design, education and learning spaces are some of my favorite subjects. Bringing them all together in one book sounds amazing. And … Read more
Our libraries are no longer solely the silent, individual study zones that they used to be. More and more schools are recognizing the value of collaboration, and the library can be the perfect place to support it. But traditional library environments (think heavy wooden individual tables, tall, imposing stacks, etc) don’t really provide a collaborative … Read more
Most of us probably have something in our library space that we want to change. Or many things that we want to change. It can be daunting trying to figure out where to start and what you want your space to become. That’s why I always recommend gathering inspiration for your space. Visiting other spaces, … Read more
Educational environments have been stuck for far too long. For decades, we have settled for beige concrete boxes. Little natural sunlight and fresh air. Desks arranged in rows because it makes for the most efficient cleaning, rather than asking what makes for the most productive learning environment. Our libraries are boxes with walls lined with … Read more
I was a media specialist at my previous school for seven years. A TON of things changed there during that time. But they didn’t happen overnight. I built things up piece by piece. I experimented and tried new things. There were plenty of failures, to be sure. But there were also great successes that my … Read more
When educators and designers get together to write a book on learning spaces, amazing things happen. Many books on learning space design focus on lots of gorgeous photos of expensively renovated school environments, language to use with architects or projects that are amazing, but not always easy to replicate. The Space takes a different approach. … Read more