Roger Mastroianni Photography

A design revolution is reinventing the children’s room in public libraries and changing the way young children learn.

The movement involves colorful spaces with mirrors, soft edges, and things to climb on. There are items to play with such as “sentence makers” and audio-based toys. A farmer’s market, cash register, automobile, or airport may be involved. Most importantly, the areas are embedded with tools and features that get kids ready to read.

This new breed of literacy-packed play spaces in libraries is inspired by children’s museums and the developmental theories that drive them. “You can call it interaction, you can call it theme design,” says Sharon Exley, a designer and president of Architecture is Fun, a firm that has conceived spaces for both libraries and children’s museums. “We’re creating architecture in a way that children understand,” she adds. “The underlying story or framework is always literacy, and how you make it fun and playful.”

Bite-sized children’s museums

Tracy Strobel strived for a rich learning experience that would keep patrons coming back when she was conceiving new children’s areas for the Cuyahoga County (OH) Public Library (CCPL), now in the midst of a system-wide rebuilding and renovation project. Strobel, deputy director at CCPL, imagined “bite-sized pieces of a children’s museum” that kids and their caregivers or parents would visit weekly or once a month. They would be “destinations for families much in the way that a children’s museum is a destination,” she says.

The garden-themed toddler area at the Evanston (IL)
Public Library has ample seating for caregivers.
Photo by Doug Snower Photography

While planning the nine new children’s areas, each at roughly 8,000 square feet, Strobel zeroed in on what they needed to offer children educationally. The designs, she notes, had to be “related to the six early literacy skills” identified by literacy experts and adapted by educators: developing vocabulary, print recognition, print awareness, narrative adeptness, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness. Strobel handed potential architects and designers a sheet outlining these and other key requirements. At the same time, she adds, “we try really hard to have a variety of elements at the different spaces.”

Enter the design firm RedBox Workshop, which is conceiving, fabricating, and installing some of the new areas at CCPL. “You’re basically teaching experiential learning through play,” explains Tony LaBrosse, partner and director of design and project management at RedBox. The company has also created play areas at museums, zoos, and hospitals.

In the libraries, at least, books still reign, but the heart of the project was “applying an aesthetic wrapper to early literacy objectives,” says LaBrosse. Many CCPL spaces are built around themes from children’s books. The Warrensville branch environment, for one, was inspired by Ashley Bryan’s book Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals (Atheneum, 2007), with its vibrant, cut-paper illustrations. The library walls, decorated with dancing silhouettes like those in Bryan’s book, do indeed create a vibrant sense of play that riffs on the heart of the literature in the room.

An Evanston patron with cushions
that double as a classic stacking toy.
Photo by Doug Snower Photography

A centerpiece of the new features is an enclosed “crawler space,” as Strobel calls it—a safe, enclosed play pit for the littlest patrons, stocked with stimulating, brightly colored motifs. Nearby, a light board allows pre-literate kids to assemble stories with different Colorform shapes, honing narrative adeptness. A sound board spells out words broken into syllables. When a child pushes a button, he hears an individual syllable pronounced. In a nearby mirror, he can watch himself forming the syllables.

A “sentence maker” also builds print awareness with elements that kids can spin or move up and down to reveal random words forming “wacky sentences,” says CCPL marketing and communications director Hallie Rich.

Elements like these, LaBrosse explains, are about “meeting the individual or group where they’re at on any given day.” He says, “We don’t try to set up an experience that is ‘you will learn this today when you go do that experience.’ We’re not here to judge their learning experience. We don’t have an outcome. We’re not grading.” The designs also “try to create age-appropriate risk” such as exploring—and probably taking a tumble—without getting hurt.

The children’s area at CCPL’s new Mayfield branch takes inspiration from Denise Fleming’s Caldecott Honor book In the Small Small Pond (Holt, 1993). Adopting the idea of wetlands exploration,the space incorporates “science work related to tadpoles or microscopic science with early literacy,” says LaBrosse. There’s a microscope, an insect observation center with large bugs on view, and a soundboard.

Other spaces are purely thematic. At Garfield Heights, it’s all about cars. There’s a garage and a gas pump, levers and pulleys to play with, and toy spark plugs, all of which can be manipulated to boost STEM skills, a priority of the local school system, says Strobel. The Fairview branch takes on the concept of travel, with world landmarks, a play airplane hangar, and control tower. There’s a ticketing and baggage area, along with places to sell food, and a cash register. The environment “allows kids to do all this imaginative play with time, tools, and small motor skills,” says Strobel.

Lamaze and play-based pavilions

The best way to engage early learners, says Exley, is through “literacy-rich and play-based pavilions that allow children to explore” and navigate the world of reading.

She and her partner at Architecture is Fun, husband and architect Peter Exley, kept these child-centered questions in mind while conceptualizing a renovation for the 14,500-square-foot children’s area for the Evanston (IL) Public Library in 2007 and a new, nearly 16,000-square-foot space for the Fountaindale (IL) Public Library in 2011.

Developmental theory is always at the forefront of Exley’s mind. While dreaming up spaces for very young children, she thinks about psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,” a theory of psychological health. The basic idea is that a fundamental feeling of safety and security enables relationships, esteem, and creative potential.

For Exley, this translates into crawler spaces offering stimulation and security. “Sensory gardens, little padded landscapes, things on the ceiling to focus on” are key elements for the youngest library patrons, Exley says. The soft, colorful elements also offer “Lamaze-style iconography.”

At Evanston, the “garden of early learning,” like Warrenville’s crawler spot, is such a place. It is an enclosed area with playful plant and flower motifs—gingko leaves and stylized roses based on a Charles Rennie Macintosh design. Inside, oversized cushions function as a “classic stacking toy, but we’ve done it as a giant soft sculpture,” says Exley. “If a child is learning to walk or stand, it gives them something to hold on to.”

Elsewhere at Evanston, where the Exleys’ elements were fabricated and installed by RedBox, is a little collection of “storytelling sticks,” resembling garden signs, that can be written on. “Very often preschoolers tell a little story to teachers who write it down and parents get this at the end of the day,” says Exley. To build on kids’ articulation skills, “parents can jot down a thought shared by their child.”

A game pavilion at the Fountaindale (IL) Public Library.
Photo by Doug Snower Photography

For older children, the Exleys conceived tables with built-in bins for art supplies and play items such as LEGO. Branching columns rise from the tables, a nod to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The overhanging limbs are outfitted with holes that librarians can suspend things from—origami, artwork, globes, or whatever else may be related to the project of the moment. The art area has a built-in sink for washing up. This place is made for action.

The Fountaindale children’s area took its cue from a children’s book, Dragon Tree by Jane Langton (HarperCollins, 2008). With lots of room to move, the team created a “mini-park” with stylized trees arranged to “call out these areas of adventure or discovery,” Exley says.

Those areas include a spot for playing global games, with real globes and one painted with blackboard paint, so kids can draw their own world. A “garden of technology” has informational monitors suspended from trees. There’s a crawler area here, too, and a space for the chess club. In the art area, the trees are equipped with clips for displaying completed art projects.

Exley stresses that libraries considering play-centered areas should be mindful of designing one they can manage. You want an area that “the staff can afford” and maintain. Fountaindale manager of children’s services Wendy Birkemeier says that because of graffiti issues, she doesn’t usually leave chalk out in the library. Her staff puts out washable crayons instead.

More conceptually, Exley returns to the central exploratory aspect of such early learning areas. “You don’t want to have an interactive environment that’s push-button,” she says. “You need something open-ended.”

“Family Play and Learning Spots”

The Hennepin County (MN) Library (HCL) launched its first early literacy play area in 2010, when the Minnesota Children’s Museum received an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to explore the idea of designing early literacy play spaces within libraries. HCL has adopted two of these spaces so far, geared to children ages two to six, at the Hopkins and North Regional branches, with another opening this fall.

“The idea was that children’s museums have great ideas about exhibit design and ways for parents and children to interact around play,” says Maureen Hartman, coordinating librarian, youth programs and services at HCL, of the new 400- to 700-square foot areas. “That’s a really different direction for libraries.” She adds, “We have supported our staff with play training that the children’s museum has offered us.”

On any given day at one of these play spots, you’ll find children busily working in a fabricated garden, made of two pieces of leather with cotton underneath, planting imaginary seeds in a row. One might plunk an illustrated sign reading “carrot” into the ground, cook toy carrots in a play kitchen, and serve them up at a mini café table. Nearby, at a toy farmer’s market, children can sort, count, and identify more vegetables. All this fun is bolstering their vocabulary and reading and honing narration and numeracy abilities.

To inform and support caregivers, “directions and cues to parents” are posted at the early literacy spaces, Hartman says. HCL also produced a document for adults outlining five simple things that they can do to help get kids ready to read, based on the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) principles issued by the Public Library Association (PLA): “talk, sing, read, write and play together.”

A play kitchen and mini theater at the North Regional branch of the Hennepin County (MN) Library. The Hennepin system’s early learning spots are oriented to children ages two to six and resulted from a collaboration with the Minnesota Children’s Museum.
Photo Courtesy of Hennepin County Library

“Playing is how kids learn,” the document tells readers. “Playing in a space like this helps kids use their imagination to solve problems—it also helps them learn to work with others and prepares them to learn and read.”

For now, HCL is calling these new areas “Family Play and Learning Spots,” according to Hartman. HCL is working with the Minnesota Children’s Museum and the Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development on an evaluation of the impact these types of areas have within libraries. “I’m really interested in a pre- and post- test,” says Hartman. “What does engagement look like between parents with children in a regular library vs. one that’s more thoughtfully planned?”

Answers to that question, and others, will be revealed when the study is completed this fall. Hartman says she will use the findings to leverage support for more play spaces.

In the meantime, the people who help conceive and build these educational hot spots never stop wondering how spatial design can better support literacy and development. “Some designers look at things in two dimensions, like how long you want your desk to be,” Exley says. “We like to think in a four-dimensional way. We come in to add the experience level—in 4D.”

SRP is Loudon County Public Library’s (LCPL) biggest event of the year, drawing in thousands of readers, families, and program attendees. In order for the program to progress smoothly, we implement a teen volunteer program. Over 100 teens commit to serving at least one 2-hour shift for every week of the 9-week program (barring vacations and camps, of course). Their duties range from registering patrons of all ages for the event and setting up online accounts (for tracking their progress) to distributing tickets for popular sessions, and preparing popcorn for movie events.

As coordinator for these volunteers, I want to use the best possible methods of registering, scheduling, training, and employing these teens. I chose the methods practiced by a colleague in the Children’s Department who has spent years perfecting the volunteer program. It includes a 90-minute orientation, a blog with weekly updates of time slots in the schedule needing to be filled, a Gmail account for corresponding with volunteers, and an appreciation party. One obstacle I will face is supervising them. The registration and prize table will be downstairs in the open lobby space, but my desk and the Teen Center are located upstairs. At our all-branch staff meeting this month, I invoked the “it takes a village” concept for overseeing teen volunteers: if you are in the vicinity of the registration table, swing by and interact with the volunteers, even if only for a moment, and greet them and ask if everything is going well. This will open the floor for questions or concerns that they may have, and might also make them more comfortable with interacting with adults. I take my role as teen volunteer coordinator seriously, both in terms of ensuring that the library’s goals are met, and in aiding the teens in developing workplace-appropriate skills such as punctuality and time management.

The programs we elected to host came from various sources. “Teen Cuisine” is a nutrition-based program advertised for budding chefs and young athletes. Both “Camp-in with Books” (teens reading to children in a camplike setting, indoors) and “DIY Teen” (a weekly craft program) were successful events at another LCPL branch that we hope will be just as popular at Gum Spring. Though not successful at other branches, we hope that our weekly “Teen Screen” film showings will encourage teens to spend the hottest hours of every Thursday afternoon indoors with friends, bean-bag chairs, and popcorn. When submitting our summer plans to the programming and marketing divisions, we purposefully left out the movie titles. Instead, we have asked the teens for their input via our dry-erase board hanging in the Teen Center. (So far we have only had to nix one.*)

But despite the fun programs we have planned, we are faced with the same concern as every other public librarian: what if no one participates? We are offering a free young adult book to everyone who completes the Teen Summer Reading Program challenge (thanks to our Friends group), as well as an entry into our grand prize drawings of Target gift cards and games. In an attempt to draw them into the library every week, we will set a guessing jar on our desk, filled with items one might find “in your backyard”—think twigs, stones, bottle caps, and more. Prizes will include obnoxiously large candy bars and free coupons for frozen treats.

Gum Spring is not the only library to worry about participation numbers. We all want our patrons to take advantage of everything our libraries have to offer. How do you encourage patrons to get involved with your Summer Reading Program?

*Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is hilarious, but not quite library-appropriate for teens.

Fresh Paint traces the development of teen services for a new public library in an underserved community.

Opening Day

The days leading up to Opening Day included the last-minute training of pages, a one-night volunteer orientation event, and no fewer than four walk-throughs of the entire building to make sure that trash cans, signs, and library card application stations were appropriately situated. There was very little panic and rushing in those days leading up to the opening because we all knew what needed to be done—we needed to be ready to serve our customers, and by gosh, we were.

This isn’t to say we didn’t have a few minor issues. For example, it took three adults to get the teen volunteers into and out of their mascot costumes. Times that by seven costumes and three shifts of volunteers, and we had a full-time, daylong task that required more time than we’d anticipated. Luckily, we had extra staff on hand to assist. A librarian from a nearby school, which provided nearly 50 percent of the day’s teen volunteers, was a huge help. She assisted our volunteer coordinator and the volunteers on her own time, and her selflessness did not go unnoticed.

Another problem we ran into was the demand for library cards. We thought setting up four stations in addition to the permanent desks would lessen the wait time. We thought wrong. Customers were waiting in line for approximately 10 minutes to obtain a library card, and although that may not be bad for most retail lines, we were hoping for shorter wait times. (Side note: I can’t imagine how long the lines would have been if we hadn’t created hundreds of cards before Opening Day at the various outreach events and schools we attended.)

What was the most unfortunate incident? I developed a massive head cold on Saturday, the day before we opened. I pushed against it as much as possible, but by Sunday, it had completely taken over. That’s what happens when one opens a library on Saturday, and a week later, gets married. That’s right folks, in a seven-day period, I was not only throwing a 6,500-person party at the library, I was hosting my own (albeit much smaller) “big day.” The anticipation, excitement, and yes, I’ll admit it, the stress, got the better of me. Next time I host a huge event, I’ll make sure to stock up on multivitamins and sleeping aids.

Fresh Paint charts the development of teen services at a new public library in an underserved community. Gum Spring Library is Loudoun County’s (VA) eighth branch and will serve more than 100,000 residents. It’s one of the county’s largest public-private partnerships.

When I first wrote about volunteers, I mentioned that they needed to be trained before we opened, so they’d be ready to serve on day one. As it turns out, we won’t need them on day one—or day two, three, and four. In fact, we won’t need them for the first nine days. Our teen volunteers will eventually be shelving materials, reading to children, helping with kids’ crafts and programs, and more. But there won’t be much for them to do until a week or two after we open. Postponing their training for a while has given our volunteer coordinators a huge sense of relief, and it allows us to concentrate on opening day.

Coordinating volunteers for opening day has been overwhelmingly rewarding. Thanks to an enthusiastic school librarian at the nearby John Champe High School, we’ll have more than 30 teens from its Interact Club working various shifts, wearing mascot costumes, assisting at the children’s gaming computer, and passing out giveaways. We’ve visited local schools and teamed up with middle schools, and as a result, we’ve received dozens of emails from people who are interested in volunteering for opening day. In fact, we’ve had so much interest that we’ve had to pull down our SurveyMonkey interest form because we couldn’t accept any more help. What a great problem to have!

We’ve responded to everyone who has contacted us, thanking them for their support and describing various ways in which they can volunteer in the future. We’re also looking into the possibility of hosting groups of volunteers, since many clubs and groups have asked us how they can help the library, and it would be a shame to turn down such enthusiastic teens.

The training session for our opening day volunteers will take place in the evening: they’ll each receive an exclusive tour of the library and a T-shirt, and then we’ll break into small groups to assign specific duties. The volunteer staging area for the big day will be the circulation workroom, a behind-the-scenes space with plenty of room for the bi-hourly shift changes, changing costumes, and snack consumption (or as I like to call it, filling the gas tank). Having all of these logistical details set so far in advance has been helpful. A smooth volunteer operation means that we’ll have fewer details to worry about, and we can focus on welcoming our new patrons and telling them about the library’s services.

I’ve taken a similar approach with my ten pages. All of them are new to the library (though they’re not all new to shelving, thank goodness!) so my co-supervisor and I are training them in shifts on the days leading up to the opening. Unfortunately, they won’t have a “typical day” until well into March, but a solid orientation and training session will prepare them for the “other duties as assigned” that they’ll soon encounter, such as picking up orphaned materials, straightening shelves, and shifting the collection. Once the library is in normal working order, the pages will be able to see when these side tasks need to be taken care of, and they’ll feel confident in their abilities to carry them out.

I have (much more successfully) done this at every other juncture in my life, including the (final) family move to Maryland, three colleges, and a dozen jobs. I took what I liked about myself and refined the details. As for the not-so-likable elements, I trashed them. I knew there was a better me just waiting to be born. With our new library opening in less than two months and my transfer to the new building coming next week, once again I’m in a time of transition and I’m redefining who I am as a teen librarian, a peer, a supervisor, an advocate, and a friend.

Many of the responsibilities I have at my current library are following me to the Gum Spring Library. My biggest responsibility is that of page supervisor. I took over that role in December 2011, when the person who’d been supervising the four pages had to take an emergency leave. My own supervisor helped me ajust to my new role, though many of the job’s nuances I learned as time progressed. To help out my successor, I’ve created a document that describes the duties (official and unofficial) of a page supervisor. I also used this opportunity to reflect upon what I’ve learned. In effect, I gave myself a performance assessment. I’ve already begun working on a new document on the training and supervision of the pages who will arrive in February.

Much of what I’ve learned while supervising pages transfers neatly into my role as a teen volunteer coordinator. My goal is to teach our young volunteers about the library, encourage them to work and play there, and give them a solid opportunity that builds both their character and their resume. I know I let some of our teen volunteers fall through the cracks in my old branch’s very busy volunteer program. Instead of giving each of them the personalized attention they deserved, I let a few simply sign in, do their tasks, and then leave. Even if that was the kind of experience they’d expected, it wasn’t what they deserved. Teen volunteers should be nurtured to view the library as a “third place”: a place to keep organized, fun, and safe, and mostly importantly, to be proud of. As I train my replacement and the new Gum Spring teen volunteers, I’ll be sure to keep the number of volunteers at a manageable level. That way, my peers and I in the Teen Center can create meaningful relationships with them, and instill a sense of responsibility and of place in them.

As I sit at my desk, contemplating which documents, folders, and ARCs to get rid of and which to take to my new library, I’m doing the same thing with my role as a teen librarian. We are rarely given an opportunity to reinvent ourselves, but when we are, we owe it to ourselves and to those we work with to take a moment to reflect on ways that we can improve.

Gum Spring opening day collection

Fresh Paint charts the development of teen services at a new public library in an underserved community. Gum Spring Library will be Loudoun County’s (VA) eighth branch and will serve more than 100,000 residents. It’s one of the county’s largest public-private partnerships.

The new Gum Spring Library in Loudon County, VA, will need volunteers to shelve materials, organize the book sale area, discard old materials, prepare crafts for the children’s department, help with the Summer Reading Program, and more. In addition to these daily volunteers, we will need Opening Day volunteers, with special training, to help direct patrons around the building and wear the mascot costumes, among a myriad of other tasks. It might seem tricky to collect names and contact prospective volunteers by February 23, 2013 when we don’t have an operational building yet, but, as it turns out, the volunteers have taken care of that problem, too.

Through our library Facebook page, Friends group (FROGS), library website, and school and outreach visits, we have a list of over 65 teens interested in volunteering at the Gum Spring Library. I have received emails and calls from teens interested in helping the library. I was even approached by a Girl Scout wanting the library to be the beneficiary of her Gold Award Project. A high school librarian I met at a meeting between local educators and public library staff recently contacted me regarding the Interact Club’s interest in helping with Opening Day activities, as did a middle school parent liaison who leads a group of student leaders. This outpouring of interest is more than helpful; it is imperative to our success as a functioning library. We are fortunate to have these individuals and groups as future volunteers. Now that we have an ever-growing list of volunteers, how and where do we train them so that they are ready on opening day?

Training volunteers can take as little as 30 minutes and should include a tour of the building, a review of the sign-in/out procedure, and a walk-through of tasks they may be asked to complete. In a perfect world, we would host volunteer orientations at the new branch in the weeks leading up to the opening. With the branch still incomplete, this isn’t possible. Instead, we could lean on our partnership with the local middle and high schools to host shelver orientations in their libraries. I could show my Introduction to Shelving PowerPoint, distribute handouts, and assign the teens “homework” of completing an online shelving test, or given enough time, give each teen a cart and test them on how accurately they ordered those materials.

The downside is that volunteers would not be learning to shelve in the building where they would be volunteering. Gum Spring Library’s 40,000 square-foot, two-story layout will take time to get used to. It has separate areas, spine labels, and rules for shelving in adults, teens, children, and media.Training in 400 square feet of school library space will not give any idea of the scope of the task. Furthermore, the school library might not use the Dewey Decimal System (DDS), leaving the teens without experience sorting by number, author’s last name, and title. Approximately 25 percent of the teens I train as shelvers do not ever return to volunteer, or, upon completing the online quiz or the slip test tell me they did not like the attention to detail and/or the monotony of sorting and shelving. If the volunteers were trained without hands-on practice of DDS, would they be turned-off or overwhelmed when they finally did experience it?

All this leaves me still solving the problem of how to orient this valuable volunteer force by Opening Day. I hope we can train them inside the new branch, but we may have to call on school libraries and/or other public library branches to lend us some space. If so, we’ll make the best of it, but the teens will need even more flexibility than we usually expect of them.

Fresh Paint traces the development of teen services for a new public library in an underserved community.

Friends of the Library
So far, the most inspiring group we’ve worked with is the Friends of the Library, which has been an established group for nearly 10 years. It lobbied county administrators and residents urging them to support a new library. Once the bond was passed, it hosted silent auctions, book sales, and family fun walks to raise funds for resources and scholarships. Partnering with them is critical to our success, because they’ve helped us learn about the local community’s interests and issues, including such topics as new schools and future construction projects.

Being a teen librarian, one of my main needs from the Friends is financial support for teen programs. Our large-scale programs, such as the annual AnimeCon and summer reading, are paid for by budgets set at the administration level, but small (though significant!) programs such as the book club and teen advisory board, as well as prizes for gaming tournaments and materials for craft programs, rely on the Friends for financial support. The Friends are supportive of teen services, but I still need to make a case for why the teen services department deserves their hard-earned funds. When the time comes to request funds, I plan to tell them about the conversations I’ve had with educators, parents, and mostly importantly, teens themselves, who have told me what they need and want from their new library.

Schools
One of our Friends is a volunteer in the public school system and used that relationship to set up a meeting for us with local school librarians. Though not all schools in our jurisdiction were represented, the topics we discussed at the meeting resonated with all of them; we talked about sharing materials, providing space for student-to-student tutoring, in-school visits by librarians, field trips to the library, and getting library cards into the hands of students.

One teen-specific topic we discussed was the last-minute rush to complete the school’s summer reading assignment, when we inevitably run out of assigned books. I advised the librarians to work with teachers to get the list to us as soon as it’s finalized, so come August, we’ll have the books that their kids need. We also discussed an idea to reduce the physical stress on students: lending textbooks to the library to shelve in our reference collection or in our teen center so that kids won’t have to lug those heavy tomes home every night. Sadly, this argument is an age-old one, and it’s usually rejected because of the likelihood that very expensive textbooks may be stolen. Even some colleges and universities refuse to lend textbooks to their students, for fear of never seeing the books again. But the conversation is one worth having, especially if the outcome will benefit teens.

Of course, these partnerships and conversations won’t end when we open our library. Educators have unique perspectives on teens’ needs, and we need to stay in touch with them to understand and respond to those needs.

I am fortunate to work for a county that sees libraries for what they are: critical to the growth and development of a community and the individuals that reside within it. Come Spring 2013 there will be an eighth library branch in Loudoun County, Virginia, the Gum Spring Library. Over 40,000 square feet of space will deliver materials, programs, education, and entertainment to an area of the county that has never had a library. In fact, that is the charm of building a library in that area; we will introduce thousands of residents to something that they have never had access to.

In this “new normal” where budgets are malleable and futures uncertain, it is exciting and hopeful to see a brand new library built, its walls painted, and shelves stocked. But it is only after the building is up that the excitement really begins; community outreach, programming, and building partnerships and relationships with area organizations, schools, and groups are what really give breath to a library. Finding what works for the new set of users is a fun challenge to meet head-on. Over the next few months I will give you an insider’s look at what goes in to opening a new library. I may not influence the collection (we have a strong Collection Development Division dedicated to that), or the furniture (I requested something comfy), but what I do participate in, you will read about. You can also track the physical construction of the building from the library’s Flickr account and Facebook account.

“This is very meaningful work,” says Rachel Garbow Monroe, president of the Weinberg Foundation. “It’s going to be extraordinary.”

Three school libraries—Thomson Johnson Elementary/Middle School, Moravia Park Elementary, and Southwest Baltimore Charter—are set to open their doors September 12, with nine others scheduled to roll out over the next few years. The Weinberg Foundation has plans to  announce the second round of school libraries planned to open in 2013.

With school libraries across the nation suffering deep budget cuts, foundations, and even private businesses are coming to their rescue. Retailer Target and grants from the Laura Bush Foundation have been helping schools restock book collections and even supply new computers.

Weinberg had originally promised $1 million in December 2011, but that grew to $5 million this month after the foundation’s trustees decided to increase their support of the Baltimore Library Project. Each library will cost approximately $3 million to build, says Monroe. Additional funds and in-kind promises also will come from outside partners, including the Baltimore Sun, which will donate free newspapers to the school libraries indefinitely, and the Maryland Food Bank, which will build a food bank at each school site.

Each new school library will receive thousands of new books, 100 pre-loaded Nooks and technology that could include laptops to Macs, depending on what the schools determine will best benefit their students. Schools will also receive a matching $100,000 grant over four years and hire a part-time paraprofessional to free up more time for librarians to work with students.

Monroe says the requirements for winning a new library or library upgrade included having a full-time librarian on staff, as well as a principal and librarian excited and willing to participate. All applicants also had to receive federal Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, which are non-interest-bearing bonds given to school districts. Those schools with existing libraries will be renovated, while those without any formal space will have one built.

The Weinberg Foundation targets high schools, particularly those in the K-8 grades, to ensure they provide kids with physical books to increase their literacy skills as they mature as students.

“There’s a feeling that high school libraries will become over time like college libraries, more Internet focused and online,” says Monroe, who says the foundation sought advice from local experts. “The anecdotal feedback was that elementary schools are going to continue to have books for children to touch, and practice reading, which is so important for them in order to have strong reading skills. And we thought we could have a stronger impact on the lives of elementary and middle school children.”

NYPL’s 42 Street Children’s Center.

New York Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens have asked the New York state legislature to pass a law barring sex offenders from children’s reading rooms in libraries.

In addition to proposing a City Council resolution, de Blasio and Valone sent a letter to Sheldon Silver, speaker of the Assembly, and Dean G. Skelos, majority leader of the Senate.

The two are targeting children’s rooms specifically because complete bans on sex offenders in libraries have been held unconstitutional, as LJ reported. “We suspect a law along these lines recently passed in the State Senate will face similar legal challenges,” the two said, referring to S3744-2011, which passed the Senate but died in the Assembly.

However another bill that focuses only on children’s areas of libraries already exists: called S7823-2011 and sponsored by Senator John L. Sampson, it was referred to the Senate rules committee on July 11.

Read the full story on Library Journal.

The Back of the Yards branch of the Chicago Public Library plans to open its doors in the fall of 2013, serving both the new Back of the Yards High School and the local community. The 8,000 square foot building, which will sit next to the high school and have a separate entrance for the public, is taking its cue from the success of YOUmedia, an innovative 21st century teen learning space housed in the Chicago Public Library that focuses on promoting digital media skills, says Ruth Lednicer, the library’s director of marketing.

The system has turned school classrooms into public library space in the past, as was done at South Side’s Carver Elementary, However, this will be the first “purpose-built public library” that will exist as part of the structure of a school, explains Lednicer.

The pilot project between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Public Library is expected to save the city about $15 million, or the cost of building a new public library, says Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office.

“The Back of the Yards high school will become a community anchor for both students and residents in the community, who have been without a library for a year,” said Emanuel when he announced the partnership earlier this week. “This innovative approach will provide residents and students with the library they deserve.”

Given its name because of its proximity to the former Union Stock Yards, Back of the Yards is an economically-disadvantaged neighborhood populated mainly by Hispanic families. The community hasn’t had a library for a year, since constant flooding forced the closing of a store front library located in a strip mall across the street from where the new high school and library is currently under construction. Currently, the neighborhood’s closest public library is McKinley Park Branch, about two miles away.

“Co-locating the public library with the new school will increase the resources available to students, but also provide residents with a new full-service library, open six days a week, that will offer the full complement of early-childhood reading programs that are instrumental to student success,” says Brian Bannon, the new commissioner of the Chicago Public Library. “Students will have the benefit of teacher librarians and public librarians to support academic and personal interests, and the opportunity to mentor younger children and gain community service hours within their school building.”

Although many details such as collection size, hours of operation, and specific programs still need hammering out, the library will have a media specialist (Chicago mandates high school librarians), a children’s librarian, an adult librarian, and Chicago’s first teen branch librarian. Previously, the central library had the city’s only young adult librarian, explains Lednicer.

“It’ll be a teen-focused collection with digital resources that will use the best practices of YOUmedia,” she says, adding that the library will have a strong early literacy program for toddlers.

Although Back of the Yards has K-8 schools (Chicago doesn’t have middle schools), the neighborhood is without a high school, forcing area teens to travel to 20 different magnet and charter schools throughout the city, Lednicer says. Back of the Yards high school, located on the grounds of a former auto salvage and metal fabricating business, will serve 1,200 students—and the library will be stocked with a brand new opening day collection.

As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, Back of the Yards will have a more challenging curriculum-and the library’s collection will cater to those needs. A full-time media specialist, who will be involved in resource selection and ensure the library collection meets the needs of an IB curriculum, will work alongside public librarians during school hours. Students also will have access to the public library’s system-wide collections. Chicago Public Library will operate the library as one of its 79 branches.

“We are delighted that more students will have the opportunity to explore the vast resources available through the Chicago Public Library, turning this neighborhood school into a year-round learning center,” said Chicago Public School’s CEO Jean-Claude Brizard.

The nearly $64 million school will have a public reading garden and a Silver rating under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Schools Rating System.

The town delivered, with 10,000 K-fifth graders in more than 500 public and private schools reading over 1.8 million books—and the grand prize going to Wadewitz Elementary School for completing 424,067 titles.

“Our numbers were so large that people came to see us because they were thought we were cooking the books,” says Wadewitz Elementary Principal Chad Chapin, who had just launched a literacy push to help the 70 percent of his students who were reading below grade level. “We found our kids weren’t reading independently, so we increased our classroom libraries, bought Fountas and Pinnell, leveled all the kids, and encouraged them to choose books at their levels, and books they were interested in reading.”

When “Racine Reads: Dream Big“—a program sponsored by local company SC Johnson, a maker of household cleaning products—came along, Chapin knew it fit perfectly with his endeavor. Launched October 1, 2011, the challenge kicked off with a 10,000 book giveaway, including titles from “Max and Ruby” author Rosemary Wells, who also visited the town during the reading challenge.

Residents kept track by watching numbers updated on the public library’s bookmobile, and politicians, including Mayor John Dickert, visited schools to read books to children, says Jessica MacPhail, Racine Public Library’s director. As incentives, kids who read 25 books won pizza parties for their classes, and the first 50 classes where students read 50 books won a roller-skating party, she adds.

While children were encouraged to read independently, older grades read to younger grades—and teachers also read often to students. As a result, bookmobile checkouts soared 30 percent since January, with circulation up 25 percent at the main library in the first quarter, adds MacPhail.

“I can’t tell you how many kids told me they were going to read one million books by themselves,” she says. You can’t buy that spirit—and you can’t teach it.”

Wadewitz Elementary students read nearly half a million books all on their own—totaling 637 titles for each child—and landed them a library makeover.

Chapin already has big plans for his new media center. He plans to give students a 21st century library to replace the 50-year-old space, where the carpet is held together by duct tape. At the top of his list? A computer lab and ebooks to give his school librarian and media technology specialist Kathleen Kis more tools to work effectively with students.

SC Johnson spent approximately $250,000 on the challenge, says a spokesperson, who adds it’s uncertain whether Racine Reads will become an annual event.

But educators already see its lasting impact on children.

“When we started, we had students reading five minutes on their own, then 10 minutes the next week, then 15,” says Chapin. “Now the kids can read independently. From K-5, they can read up to 30 minutes a day. And they’ve naturally just developed an interest in reading.”

Things are changing. For starters, ebooks, apps, and the web are now a part of your students’ daily lives. So how do you determine the best way to turn your library space into a learning center that’s right for today’s rapidly changing digital world? Take it from me, a longtime designer of school libraries, it’s not easy.

Things are looking up at P.S. 189, in Manhattan’s Washington Heights, where a flock of books (fabricated from sheet metal) soars beneath a digitally printed sky, turning florescent light fixtures into inspiring works of art. The libraries shown in this article are located in some of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods, and were created as part of an initiative by the Robin Hood Foundation-a leader in school library design-and the New York City Department of Education. Photo ©Albert Vecerka/Esto

I’ve discovered that the things I used to labor over just five year ago don’t seem as important anymore. For instance, I really don’t worry about how many books you currently have, your space’s measurements, what wood finish to use, how many students are in each class, or even where the circulation desk should go. They’ve been replaced by more urgent questions. Questions such as, what are the tools and resources your students will need, what are your school’s learning goals, and how can they be woven into your library?

I’d love to say that I know how to create the perfect school library, one that’ll serve you and your students for years to come. But the truth is, no one-size-fits-all model exists. The bottom line is that you’ll have to assess your curriculum and your district resources to discover what will work best for your students. But there are things I can suggest to move you closer to creating the best space for your students. Here are five design considerations that you shouldn’t overlook when planning your dream school library.

1. Make sure your space is flexible.

Many librarians—even those in brand-new media centers—are forced into using stagnant teaching methods because their libraries don’t have flexible instructional spaces. Don’t let that happen to your library.

Students need to learn how to formulate meaningful questions, appreciate multiple viewpoints, and use a wide variety of resources in their research. Plus, 21st-century learners need to demonstrate their understandings in new ways, such as producing their own videos or multimedia presentations. That’s why every school library needs a flexible learning space that supports multiple learning and teaching styles—not one that only accommodates lectures. Not one that assumes you’ll never switch to smaller, wireless technology. Not one that’s furnished with heavy, immovable tables and chairs or, worse yet, built-in workstations.

Learning models are changing, and school libraries need to take the lead. In many schools, collaborative and project-based learning are popular, as well as peer-to-peer tutoring and one-on-one learning. Classrooms are moving away from a “front of the room” mentality and adapting to students’ learning styles. Libraries need to embrace the same logic and change to reflect the way students prefer to learn. Flexibility is vital; traditional library furniture can be cumbersome and make multiple seating configurations impossible.

Interactive whiteboards, such as the SMART Board 600i, ActivBoard 500 Pro, and eBeam Engage, are just some of the exciting new learning tools librarians are incorporating into their lessons. These new devices let users share information on their laptop screens with teachers and other students, and they’re perfect for student presentations, seminars, distance learning, exploring websites, performances, and, yes, even reviewing lectures. Educators can use interactive whiteboards to make content available to students to review who need additional time or were absent.

When planning a school library, be sure to communicate often and passionately about the librarian’s role as a collaborative educator. Those conversations, coupled with an awareness of learning styles and new technology tools, are bound to spark innovative ideas for interactive learning spaces.

The boldly colored library at the New Vision School, P.S. 69 in the Bronx, is the school’s learning epicenter. To enter the building, students must pass through the library on their way upstairs to the school’s main floor. The shelving system is from Haller of Switzerland, and the chairs are Arne Jacobsen’s “Seven” chair from Denmark. Photo ©Peter Mauss/Esto.

2. Remember, you’re not running a book warehouse

It’s time to stop warehousing books and start merchandising them. Take a tip from Barnes & Noble. Make your books and magazines more attractive (and more visible!) to students by taking advantage of displays, mobile fixtures, signage, and lighting.

Instead of focusing on how many shelves you need, think about how the print collection can enhance your digital resources. Printed books are still an essential tool, especially for beginning readers. And traditional books are a valuable resource that can enrich any student’s learning experience, particularly in subjects like language arts, social studies, art, and history. In fact, print materials remain a fundamental library resource, especially in schools that don’t have a computer for every student.

And while you’re breathing new life into your print collection, don’t shy away from ebooks and digital reading devices. After all, which reading format do you think most digital natives crave? A print book that’s stored in an 84-inch-high stack (classified according to Melvil Dewey’s 1876 system) and requires a step stool to reach? Or an ebook that can be downloaded onto a Kindle, Nook, or Sony Reader in less time than it takes to find a step stool? By the way, there’s now another ereader alternative—Ectaco’s jetBook, designed especially for K–12 schools.

The John J. Driscoll School, P.S. 16 on Staten Island, takes savvy advantage of a seamless vinyl floor, curvy objects, spray-painted foam cushions, and bright primary colors to create a super comfy space for its multicultural student body, which speaks at least 15 languages. The laminate plywood shelving is from Rakks, and the overhead light fixtures are from Barrisol. Photo ©Peter Mauss/Esto.

3. Insist on a stronginfrastructure.

Don’t cut corners by underpowering your library. A few wall sockets scattered around the room just won’t cut it anymore. Media centers should be tech central, and users need power to support their ever-growing arsenal of electronic devices. Remember to plan ahead, because there’s no turning back. Once the cement floor is poured, your electrical plan is set in, well, concrete.

Limited outlets will also control how a space is used in the future. I’ve visited numerous new libraries where students can only conveniently use computers in one small area of the room. Laptops and handheld devices, visual and audio tools, printers, interactive whiteboards, and multimedia equipment are evolving at an incredibly quick pace—but sooner or later, most of them will need to be recharged. So give your students and staff a break and buy some eight-outlet power sources (like the Smith System I-O Post) that can sit, within arm’s reach, in the center of a configuration of tables or among lounge chairs.

It’s also unwise to scrimp on window treatments. New school libraries are awash in natural sunlight, which is a wonderful way to reduce the need for artificial lighting. Natural light truly adds beauty to the immediate environment, enhances learning, and creates an exquisite space for studying. Unfortunately, direct sunlight can also be blinding, wash out computer monitors and screens, and put a strain on your school’s heating and air-conditioning systems. To manage sunlight throughout the day, you might want to consider using Hunter Douglas’s Sun Louvers, which are a dramatic way to filter light, or consider using traditional shades and blinds.

You’ll also want to get in touch with your IT department and school administrators as soon as possible, to explore the best way to incorporate a secure, wireless network or even better a private cloud network into your new space. Take time to listen to their concerns and to establish appropriate-use guidelines but don’t hesitate to push for technology that will expand student access and learning.

A final word of caution: your new library space will fight you every workday if you don’t actively take part in planning its infrastructure. Although that may not sound glamorous, trust me—the rewards are well worth the effort.

It took children’s book illustrator Maira Kalman an entire year to track down the flea-market treasures that she transformed into the alphabet at the John Randolph School, P.S. 47 in the Bronx. The stimulating space is divided into colorful reading, research, and study areas with floor graphics, mobile shelving, and easily positioned tables and chairs, including Pierre Paulin’s “Orange Slice” chair, peeking out in the background. Photo ©Peter Mauss/Esto.

4. Don’t sacrifice livability for beauty.

You know those drop-dead gorgeous spaces that grace the pages of interior design and architectural magazines? Well, that’s not necessarily the look you should be aiming for. A school library isn’t just an aesthetic statement; it has to be hardworking as well. Guests may walk in and gasp, “Wow, this is beautiful!” But you have to ensure that it’s also an energetic, inviting space packed with students who are busy gathering information and exchanging ideas.

And am I the only person who has a problem with high school “Starbucks” libraries—the ones with a coffee bar, café tables, and scores of lounge chairs? Students hang out there with their friends—before and after classes and during lunch break—to check email, tweet, flip through magazines, play cards, and drink coffee. Granted, it’s very cool and very social, but how exactly does it prepare students to succeed in college?

These plush, cool environments are often the result of an interior designer who doesn’t understand the educational role of a school library or confuses your space with a public library’s. Some credit can also go to librarians who can’t resist these pristine spaces. After spending years in an overcrowded room with uncomfortable seating, old, beat-up end panels, tables with cracked laminate, and a circulation desk that’s turned into a storage ledge for everything from printers to book displays, some librarians have simply gone too far the other way.

As attractive as these new spaces can be, they will be undervalued over time. Even at home, a pristine living room isn’t used for studying; it’s a nice spot to sit in and entertain guests. When people want to study or create something or chat, they head for the kitchen. People use the kitchen table to spread out their work, to be close to others, to watch TV, or to see what their siblings are doing. In the kitchen, you can drink a beverage without fear of spilling it on a thousand-dollar chair. The same applies to a school library. It’s a working environment; it should have a lot of “appliances” and space to do research, make stuff, and consume a “big information meal.” Now, that’s not to say your library can’t be one of the most attractive spaces in the school. I’ve been in a lot of wonderful “kitchens” that are both hard-working and beautiful.

I’m also not implying that school libraries shouldn’t have comfortable lounge seating. A library should have appropriate seating to support students in all of their learning endeavors. If your library has space for lounge chairs, then include tablet arms on them so your students can use them to multitask.

Start planning your library by listing and prioritizing important activities and desired student outcomes, and be able to clearly articulate the culture you want people to see when they walk into your library. Whatever you do, don’t let the furniture become the main topic of conversation or dictate the space’s culture.

Marino Jeantet School, P.S. 19 in Queens, uses its learning garden for both science and reading programs. During April’s poetry month, students will read aloud their works in this peaceful outdoor space. The garden is also a hug hit with members of the mostly Spanish-speaking community, who like to help out with the gardening. Photo ©Paul Warchol Photography

5. And finally, whatever happened to the great outdoors?

With almost every waking minute immersed in technology, it’s even more important to consider how to stimulate students’ other senses. Whether or not you agree with child-advocate Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods (Algonquin, 2005), which argues that contemporary children are increasingly cut off from nature, it’s obvious that today’s young people don’t spend as much time outdoors as previous generations. That’s one good reason to create an outdoor reading patio for your school library.

Space in libraries is a limited commodity. Creating a secure environment outdoors for students to gather, read, perform, or just relax in expands your space significantly. And no, this outdoor space won’t be available every day, but the days it can be used will be extremely special. People develop fond memories of class periods spent outdoors in the sunshine, so why not library periods as well? It’s an easy way to relieve eyestrain by looking up and around at nature. Include this possibility when planning your school library both for practical and aesthetic reasons.

Natural sunlight already pours into new libraries with good window treatments, and a wall of windows can frame trees, green plants, and blue sky. Whether you create a reading patio or not, encourage your architects to attractively landscape the area adjacent to your wall of windows, and then reserve the floor space directly in front of the windows for students—not shelving. They’ll enjoy the sunlight, the view, and watching the change of seasons; the experience will enrich their learning.

Color and texture are another way to add sensory excitement to your library. The walls, floor, and ceiling all offer surfaces for bright colors, murals, and artwork. Besides adding some pizzazz, these elements can visually unite different areas in your library or highlight a particular area. Beige, white, and nondescript carpeting have had a monopoly in school libraries for far too long.

End panels with built-in shadow boxes can add more visual interest to the space, or they can become a canvas for creative images. And finally, bold signage, graphic icons, and unique fixtures, props, and lighting can all contribute to making your library a place that students will want to explore with their minds and their senses.

If all of these recommendations are a little overwhelming, I can empathize. Change can be scary—but embrace it. It’s crucial to recognize where changes can be made to improve students’ learning experiences. Don’t wait too long to consider your library’s future—or your students will leave you behind.

Seven resources to inspire you

Bauerlien, Mark. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30). Tarcher, 2008.
After reflecting on numerous research studies and humorous anecdotes, Emory University Professor Mark Bauerlien arrives at an uncomical conclusion: we’ve produced a generation of students who are extremely ill-prepared for college.

Johnson, Spencer. Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1998.
A quick read, this simple fabfle provides thought-provoking insight into how people deal (or don’t deal) with change. It’s one of my go-to books.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin, 2005.
Journalist Louv uses a broad range of studies to show that kids need to spend more time in the great outdoors—and the importance of nature in children’s physical and emotional development.

Nair, Prakash, Randall Fielding, and Jeffery Lackney. The Language of School Design: Design Patterns for 21st Century Schools. Designshare, second edition 2005.
If you’re planning a new school, get this excellent reference book that combines learning research with innovative design to create some great spaces for kids.

Palfrey, John and Urs Gasser. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. Basic Books, 2008.
The erudite authors offer an insightful sociological portrait of a younger generation that’s sophisticated in the use of media while, at the same time, often innocent and reckless. This is a fascinating look at the generation that will shape the future.

Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Basic Books, 2010.
The former United States assistant secretary of education provides bold commentary on educational reform, its failure to improve education, and what should be done.

Siddiqi, Anooradha Iyer. The L!BRARY Book: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools. Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.
With terrific text and stunning images, the author documents a joint effort of the Robin Hood Foundation and the New York City Board of Education to re-imagine the school library and combat poverty through leading-edge design and top-notch instruction.