Symbaloo organized my library

Being organized via weblinks helps me share what I know with my staff and students.  Symbaloo is so easy to use and user friendly that anyone can figure it out. The outcome can organize a lot of great links for your students and for you.

I decided after I saw a school library media specialist library use her Symbaloo to organize her library, I had to do it as well.   I made a color coded Symbaloo for the different components of information kids can access through the library website.   I learned that I can actually embed the Symbaloo directly on the Follett Destiny site so kids can see it immediately when they go to the card catalog.

I selected links that are specific to my kids.  Book report info, PBL type materials, Research sites (paid and free), citation sites, even some places for homework help.   It was a simple process and it was fast to complete.  When I did in class lessons, I shared the Symbaloo with the students and showed them how simple it was to use this method to access their needed information.  I even have some additional space later to make more tiles if I come across some.  

Symbaloo is a MUST HAVE for any educator.  It is a simple way to sort and organize.  For my purposes, it offered a large amount of information in a more organized way.  It has made life for my students easier for sure.

Marketing the Library

One of the requirements of my evaluation is to develop a student learning objective (SLO) that relates to something measurable in the library.  I pondered and pondered what I could do to collect data. Through the years, I have been doing visitor counts to see how many people come in on a daily basis to use the library.  I decided to use that as my SLO, to show growth in visits.

This made me realize that to get people here, you have to make people want to come here.  As I have mentioned time and again, I do a lot of things to make the library a better place.  I have changed the layout, added tons of new books, weeded old books, organized, cleaned, you name it.  Another thing I have done a lot is market.

I majored in Journalism at one point in college and ended up minoring in it instead, but, I was fortunate enough to take a class in Public Relations and a class in graphic design.  I have really used a lot of that knowledge to make tools for the marketing of the library.   Here are a few of the things I have been working on:

1. Weekly posts about new releases which are emailed to the students.  (I use Animoto to make short videos, link them to YouTube and embed the content on the library website.)  It takes about 10 minutes to do each week, but, the kids are starting to catch on and new releases are starting to disappear off the shelves.
2. Posters:  I made simple but clean cut posters to hang around the school featuring information about our social media campaign.  They were printed on 11"x 17"paper in color and laminated.  I hung them everywhere kids go (bathrooms, above water fountains, in the cafeteria and in classrooms.)  I also made posters reminding kids about checking email and about things they can get in the library.
3. Genre specific fliers and posters: I made posters that compare books. "If you liked this, try this".  I hang those around the library and plan to make more over the summer to put in different places in the school (particularly English classrooms).
4. Newsletters: I can't take credit for this one- a library media specialist in a district here in Indiana shared a copy of hers with the state listserv and I LOVED the idea. I now do a quarterly newsletter via Smore.com that features current hot titles, a special tip and some basic information.  It gets emailed to the staff and students.
5. Press releases: It pays to know people in print.  Our local newspaper owner (printing about 500-1000 papers a week) has asked me to write a small column about the library, about programs, promotions, what's hot, etc. to be printed each week in the paper.  What a way to get the community aware of what we do.
6. Teacher reads posters:  I am still working on this one, but, I am going to make a poster for each teacher that they will jot down what they are currently reading and the author.  I am hoping kids will see the adults they look up to reading and decide to do the same. (Fingers crossed!)

These are a start of my plans.  I am still working to develop more ideas and ways to promote the school library.  Since I have started this, my numbers of visitors has increased dramatically.  In 2014, I had 17,000 visits during the school year from August to July.  So far, since August 1, I have 16,000.  We still have 35 days left of school so I can already see an increase in my numbers.  Doing that little extra has really paid off.

The Library Maker Space

This school year brought about a lot of changes to our school and our library.   We migrated our SMS to PowerSchool from SDS, we got an almost new administration and we have a lot of new staff. Why not add something new to the library as well?  We decided to make a maker space in the library.  It's the ideal way to get kids to come in and visit, and it allows for some release from the norm of a tedious school day.

We were fortunate enough to have some money to use to buy tools and supplies for the space.  I wanted student involvement as much as possible as well. I created a survey with some potential ideas for the space.  We included things teens like to do and also added some stuff that we like. (After all, who doesn't love to play with Legos?)   We sent the survey to the student body and learned the following:

Duct Tape crafts are a HUGE hit.  Almost all of the kids who responded wanted to be able to make duct tape crafts.  They may be a little pricey, but we decided to float the project options week by week so we can make the tape last longer.   We also learned that origami is a classic favorite.   A lot of kids wanted to be able to come in and make origami.  The Legos and computers were a no brainer. Legos are awesome so we had to have those and for the computers, we updated all of our devices and had 150 Windows XP computers, so, we grabbed a few from the recycle pile and ordered a computer tool kit.   Amazingly enough, the computer tear down/ rebuild station is the hottest in the library!  One thing we did do was add a book that relates to the topic.  We have a Lego book with ideas, an Origami guide or two, and some duct tape craft books.   We aren't letting them circulate.  They will remain in the library with their respective kits. 

Aside from the maker space stuff, we also have some games we added last year:  Chess, Checkers, Apples to Apples, Life and Risk.  Kids love to play games in here so adding them was a wise choice.

It's exciting to see kids come in and ask to do crafts and play Legos.  It makes our day.

Quick ways to publicize the library

It has been a while since I have posted, I have been so overloaded doing our PowerSchool migration that I have really had to put my blog on the back burner.  I am hoping that I can start back up.  One of the things I have been doing between data cleaning and importing is library publicity.   In Indiana, we are required to create a Student learning Objective, which for a library media specialist is a challenge. How does one who doesn't teach kids directly handle that?  I decided to focus on increasing library visits by students.   Last year, I averaged 1780 visitors a month.  My goal is to increase that number by ten percent.   Here is how I plan to see that happen.

1.  Maker Space:  We had some money left over in an old account so we bough some duct tape, legos, and origami. We also got new computers so I snagged a few old ones from the pile to recycle and added those items to the space as well.   Though we aren't functioning yet, we are ready to go. Kids are already asking when they can come in and make crafty things.  It is super exciting to see the kids interested.

2.  Postcards:  I started sending email postcards with little tips, facts and ideas to all of the students from time to time.  I wanted them to see what was happening in the library.  I put little tidbits about book orders, new releases, surveys and things we can do for them.   I am not sure how many kids read them, but I do get some replies.

3. SMORE:  I started making a newsletter to share with staff (and sometimes students) on SMORE.  I got inspired by a fellow Hoosier librarian who started doing this.  I add some info about what is hot in the library as well as a tech tool that can be used.  The newsletter comes out once a month and is mailed to all teachers and students.

4. Posters:  I make posters about very important topics and scatter them around the school.  We have a color printer so I print them in color.  Publisher is my platform of choice for that, or even PowerPoint.  Both are simple.  I take the poster and do a screen clipping of it and make it an image and put it on facebook.

5. Social Media:  Last but certainly not least:  I post everything I do on social media.  Twitter, Facebook and sometimes Pinterest.   I even post videos of all new releases on Animoto to YouTube. Then I share them on my school library blog.

If what I am doing doesn't hit a few people, then I am not doing something right.  I have already seen an increase in visits and library usage and I know a lot of it is in part to the numerous things I have implemented to publicize the space.

Welcome back: New Look in the Library

This summer, my library assistant and I spend several days moving shelving around the library to make it a more open space. We felt a need to make the entire library visible for the library staff and more accessible for the students.

We started by moving the shelving from the center of the library into one space near the circulation counter. All items in that section are non fiction.  We can see down every aisle.  We placed shelving against the wall on the exterior and made that the fiction section.  We have a few single shelves popping out here and there, but for the most part, the entire area is open. 

I decided to make a panoramic Thinglink of the entire space so students can see where everything is located. We also made a great deal of signage to place around the books to show kids where they are and what they find there.  I am truly excited to get the kids in here and get the year going.

We moved the tables around to different spots in the area to make collaboration centers and work zones. We also remodeled the coffee shop as well.  It is no longer behind the circulation counter, but it is now in my office.  I gave up the space because I seldom use my office, I prefer to do my work in the library around the kids and staff.

The final outcome is amazing.  The room looks like a new place.  I am excited to see what the kids say when they come back and walk in the first time.  The Thinglink will be available after school gets started.  We are going to have to move some of the books around and when that is done, we will have exactly as we wanted.

Keeping a collection Fresh: My annual Weeding

About two weeks ago, my assistant and I decided it was time to start our yearly book weeding session. It is such a long process, but we know that the final outcome is best for kids and the library.

Our plan was to clear out some books that hadn't circulated since I took over in 2010, even after we moved them and reorganized the collection.  We found over 600 books have sat on shelves, collecting dust and getting more and more outdated.  We did a lot of evaluating and discussing to decide what to do.    We decided after a lot of thought and discussion that weeding was the ultimate conclusion.

I hate getting rid of books.  I am a book hoarder.  Upon a visit to my house, it is evident, but, sometimes, getting rid of a book is the best thing for it, especially if the topics are so antiquated that they are useless to keep.  It is hard to write an accurate research paper with a book that talks about information relevant in 1995, as many of my science books were.


With our weeding, we focused heavily on the Science, Health and Geography books and VCR tapes (yes, I had a huge collection of these) after all, who needs a book about Burma when it hasn't existed in ages.  We looked at our historical books and political books and determined what was available online via databases and more current sites.   Our method to weeding is probably typical of most districts, but, I did a few things a little differently.  I asked the staff.

We have a few teachers who require students to have book sources for their research papers.  I relied heavily on these folks, as they know what their students need.  I invited them in, handed them a cart and asked them to pull unneeded materials.  I got a lot of response from them.  I also had several come to me telling me they would take the copies to their room as a reference.

Despite my efforts of encouraging staff to use other sources, I still see a few of our teachers rely heavily on books, even if the material is outdated. We decided that history doesn't change, much.  We didn't weed much unless we have multiple books on the same topic and some of them were in bad condition.

The exciting thing is, teachers came in after I announced the weeding and started grabbing books for their classrooms that have been sitting in the library, unused, for four years. What do we do with the balance?  We donate them.  One of my former students is at a very low funded school with a 98% free and reduced rate.  I am going to let him look at them.  I also send some to a program founded by that same student called Refugees Read.  It ships books to African countries and builds libraries.

Data collection in the library

I have been in the library for four school years now and I am pleased with what I have done, but I came to realize after I attended the TLCHAT virtual cafe last week that there is one component I am not focusing on that I need to:  Data collection.

I learned a lot at the virtual cafe, and it inspired me to start collecting data.  One gal actually has a google form she fills out every day, a journal of sorts that logs what happened, numbers, circulation records and the good and the bad.  I decided to take that idea and put together my own document that will help me journal the day.   I decided I needed to get into the habit of doing it right away, so I can get myself and my staff trained to keep the data.  I have been keeping track of student comings and goings since Christmas time, I generated a google form they fill out when they come in, and I get the names of the kids, their reason and the teacher.  It has come in handy when a plethora of children suddenly arrive unannounced.  I can go to the teacher and remind them to give me a heads up, etc.  It also helps me see the why for the visit.

The main problem with the form is the data it generates.  There is so much information that figuring out what I need is a challenge.  I think the daily form with the number of kids in, circulation records and such is going to be my push.  I am envisioning a monthly data report, even posting the data once a month on the school library blog. I think if people see what is happening and why, maybe it will impact funding, support keeping an aid, support my goal for a shift from a media center to a learning commons, and help me get the grants I want.  I never realized how important the data collection is.  I am seeing a definite need to keep track and to generate charts and such with the data I collect.

I suspect I will find the time I put into data collection will help me a great deal with my numerous causes and needs.

Feeling lucky

This month, since St. Patty's day is a part of the spectacle, my assistant and I decided to do a Fame and Fortune theme and focus on books that deal with that topic.  Our board, the luck of the Irish.

As many know, we are a genre based library and one of our themes is Fame and Fortune.  We highlight books there that deal with being famous; books about actors, musicians, teens with a famous family, etc.  A lot of them are girly chick lit, with a focus on LA drama, but, they read it.

We decided to pull titles from this genre and make our display relate to the fame.  We have noticed when we do these special themes, the kids are excited and they gravitate to the titles.  It has to be because the kids are seeing the front of the books. 

We are seeing the success of our program and will certainly continue it!

Student accountability in the library

I have been pulling my hair trying to get ideas in place that would make a student's visit to the library accountable for what they are doing.   I have a lot of kids who sneak by the circ counter and make their way to the back to the corner.  A lot of them are here to find books, research materials and the like, but a few of them are here to meet a friend and play games.

I have no problem with these concepts, but, I need to keep track of data about their visits, so I started collecting information during sign-in that tells me a lot of information about the kids and their visit.

I started with a google form that each student is required to fill in either with an iPad or on a computer. The form identifies the class period, teacher, student and purpose for the visit.  I can take the information collected and determine the purpose for visits.  Some kids, I am learning, have no purpose. They are here to just hang out or their teacher sends them here for no reason. The google form has helped me a lot with identifying the reasons kids are here and what teacher has sent them. It has helped me get a grasp on the purpose of the library.

It has been a true lifesaver for me.

Revamping space in the library

I am one who rethinks about space a lot.  I spend a little time now and then looking at the library commons I manage and try to figure out what would be the best way to manage the space, especially on the limited budget I have.   I started a coffee shoppe last year and that has brought in a little income that I can use for my space, but not enough.  At this current moment, my library space is merely a book search area.  I want to change it to more of a tech hub/ nook/ reading space.  I want kids to come in and find a spot to relax and get comfortable.  I want to get new shelving so we can provide the students more open areas and we have more visibility.

I have started my process by watching sales and the internet.  I was lucky with one acquisition. The local library where I live was having a garage sale and I was the first to respond.  I got these great work chairs where kids can sit and work on the computer at the same time.  Things like that help me make the space where I work better for the kids.  They come in, find a spot, sit and work.

This summer, we are even going farther. Our custodial manager is also a master carpenter and we have asked him to build us some reading nooks.  Our library is loaded with windows, and the way we moved our shelves to out exterior walls allow for little window seats.  We are so excited to see that and the kids are too (mostly so they can text and read a book).

We are diligently working on a few grants too that might get us some money to buy shelving.  If we get that, the space we have will look like a totally new library.

Blind date with a book, part 2

I posted recently that we were going to do Blind date with a Book in the library.  I had absolutely no idea how AMAZING it was going to be!  We finally came back to school two days ago.  We had wrapped books last week before the big storm hit, since we knew it was coming.   We started with maybe 10 or 12 titles that we were using as new releases that week.  Since Monday, we have already wrapped 20 more books.

We have been keeping track of our circulation statistics and we have checked out 18 books so far.  Some of you might be saying, 18 books, that isn't too many, but, we are a district of 200 7th-12th graders with only about 45 to 60 permitted to visit the library on any given day.   I have never, in my four years in the library seen such an overwhelming response to a theme!  It is amazing.

I have learned a few things with the concept. First of all, no series books unless it was book one.  A few of the books we grabbed were series books and some of them were later titles.  (Can't read a series if you haven't seen book one.)  Secondly, label books that are strictly female.  We had about five boys refuse to get books because they were afraid to get a girl book, so we labeled them as "Great guy reads" or Great Book for Boys too! We will see how much we get tomorrow!

I may have to rethink this and do another Blind topic (Don't judge a book by its cover or something like that!)

Overall, this is by far the best monthly promotion I have done. The students are really enjoying it and I am so excited to see it work.  Anyone out there thinking about a unique way to get kids reading something new, definitely consider doing a Blind Date with a Book theme.

Blind date with a book

Anyone who has looked at Bulletin Board displays on Pinterest has seen the Blind Date with a book display featuring a fancy board with some text and then a stack of books covered with paper to unwrap after checkout.   We decided to jump on the band wagon and do that theme for the month of February.  We added a little bit of a twist, all the titles we wrapped are new releases that have never made it to the shelves. We thought it would be a fun way to get some new titles out there in a fun way.

We are working to make the board setup. (The three cancelations last week have made it impossible to complete a bulletin board, so I have no photos to share, just my thoughts)  We wrote the call number on the books and will manually check them out.   We are telling students they have to read at least 30 pages of the book before they return them so they can give them a chance. We are hoping to see a few people turned to a new genre or author.

We are hoping the fancy twist on checkout will make it a fun month for our students and readers.

Pinterest for the Library

So many teachers are starting to use Pinterest to get ideas for the classroom.  I started using it several years ago, when it was in beta, so I know how huge it can be to curate and find ideas.  It got me thinking that maybe using Pinterest could also be a great tool for the library.  I decided to create a Pinterest account for the Library and share the information with the students and teachers at my school.  What a great tool for everyone.

I decided the key was to create boards that were based on our genre selections in the Library as well as tools we could use in the library.  We are adding boards left and right featuring titles, displays and specific genre.

I love using the boards to organize things.  I am hoping our students and teachers also refer to the site to see what we have available.  I am going to spend a large amount of my summer and snow cancellation days building the boards so they are easy to use and meet my needs.  I also made a lot of posters and advertisements to put around the school and let everyone know what we have been doing.  Let's hope we see an influx of people using the tool to help them out.

To check out either of my Pinterest boards, you can go here:  Library  or Personal

Displays and social media in the library

It has been three long weeks since I have been at school so my brain function is way below the norm.

This post may be short but I thought it would be a good time to talk about our displays and use of social media to share things with our students.   We moved to the genre format three years back, but we found that there were still genre that were not being checked out so we put our heads together and started creating inventive ways to share our genre with the students.  We started developing bulletin board displays in the hallway and making a selection of books available to the students in the media center.  We pulled titles that don't circulate a lot, but would be well loved if they did and voilà, a great way to share with students our selection of the month.

A few months we have gone way overboard.  We joined forces with the Student Council/ Spirit Club and made our theme go along with their spirit week.  We had a Zombie themed October and the Spirit Club had a Zombie war the last week of the month.  Kids tried to turn each other into zombies.  It was awesome!  We even had a few kids show up wearing zombie makeup.  

No matter what we do to share our displays, we rely heavily on several social media platforms to present the information to as many as we can.  We have a twitter account (@hamiltoncommlib) that is linked to our YouTube account and our Facebook account.   We have a Pinterest account as well. I am also working on a Flickr account or Picasa to keep track of all of the images I take.  I feel sharing as much information as I can makes people more aware of what is out there for them. It makes me feel like I am doing something right for our students.   Each week, we make an animoto video with our new releases and put it on our school library blog/website. 

We have some hits and some people check them out.  All in all, I am pleased with the use of social media and how it is helping build PR for the library.

A Doctor Who Themed December

With a new season of Doctor Who quickly approaching, my assistant and I decided it would be great fun to create a Doctor Who Themed month.   We decided to pull books that cross several of the genre Doctor Who represents:  Time Travel, Science Fiction and Historical Fiction.

Doctor Who has become a classical cult icon to several of our students and staff.   There are numerous Whovians amongst us who have our favorite character, favorite Doctor (Mrs. Wells thinks David Tennant is the best)  and even favorite episode.  Our devotion to the Doctor led us to our December Theme.

Because Doctor Who travels through time in his TARDIS (for non Whovians, a TARDIS is a machine shaped like a Police Box that is enormous and never ending on the inside, think of Hermoine's purse from Harry Potter but capable of transporting through space and time.  Doctor Who and his companion travel to various points in history to solve problems and outrun Daleks and Weeping Angels. Long story... you have to watch to see. )  Since we moved our collection to a genre style, we pulled titles that Doctor Who would experience- historical fiction books set in various eras (We pulled Chain by Anderson, A Northern Light by Donnelly, The Springsweet by Mitchell, Crispin by Avi, just to name a few.)  We also grabbed some Science Fiction books that fit a typical Doctor Who experience (Delirium by Oliver, Ashfall by Mullin, Starters by Price, Search for Wondla by DiTerlizzi, and XVI by Karr.)  Our final genre of choice was none other than Time Travel.  We grabbed books by James Dashner, Margaret Patterson Haddox and The Time Traveler's Wife.  We even shared the new Infinity Ring Series.

On Friday, we decided to have a Doctor Who themed day, wearing our Doctor Who shirts and maybe a Fez.  Cause like Books, Fezes are cool.

So, Read a book:  As Doctor Who says, "We are all stories, in the end just make it a good one!"

Donna Noble has left the library, and Donna Noble is safe!

Our themes so far this year

My assistant and I have been constantly trying to create new and innovative ideas to get kids to the media center and to get them motivated to read.  We were fortunate enough to be able to get some buy in from the kids for a few of the programs we thought about doing.   We have started hitting this goal hard this year because we were finding a lot of great titles but not a lot of kids enjoying the books like we felt they should.  We spent some time collaborating and talking to a few kids and searching our Pinterest account and got some fantastic ideas.

First off, we started doing monthly themes with displays. We had done boards and posted covers and ideas but never created a specific display to go with it.  We also didn't have a blog or a site that we updated often with things.  Secondly, we have had some release themes.  (Some of our Seniors even welcomed House of Hades by Rick Riordan by wearing togas.)

In August and September, we had a ReadBox with books that have hit the screen (both big and televisions) and saw several titles, young and old fly off the shelves.    We put together the display and a bulletin board to match.  It was neat to see kids coming in and gravitating to a display that had some new titles.

The second full month of school was October so we hit the Zombie theme head on.  We made a cryptic bulletin board loaded with visuals of titles and creepy things.  Our school had a special zombie program where kids tried to turn others into zombies.  It fit perfectly with our theme and we even saw a few students go die hard and dress in Zombie clothes and makeup for Halloween. (Only those who had been turned wore the clothes, however.)

We rolled into November with a theme for males- we thought of No Shave November and decided to pull titles that boys would enjoy and place them on the shelves.  We made a catchy theme and added a selection of titles to the spindle.  We decided to shorten November because my assistant and I have a love for Dr. Who.

With that in mind, we decided to end November and roll into December with a Time Traveling Theme. We have found a large amount of Historical Fiction and Time Travel genre that don't circulate, so we pulled several from those genres and are building our own Tardis with some Daleks and Weeping Angels for display.  We decided the theme would be a tribute to the debut of the next season of Dr. Who which starts tomorrow. (Photos to come, as we have designed and built our Tardis, but it is unfair to display it before the actual date.)

We have some great ideas for things to come. Keep checking back as we will be adding more of our ideas soon.

Marketing my Library

Part of the responsibility of being an effective school librarian is making a library a place that is welcoming and accommodating. It is also important to spend a little time marketing the library to everyone who should be using it.

Since my French classes are dwindling and fading out, I have had a little more time to focus on that very thing:  Marketing the library.  I spent my summer developing some ideas and ways to make the library more visible to everyone, including students, teachers, community and beyond.  I decided early on that I was going to start a blog or a website to promote what we are doing. I also decided I needed to promote our new releases and our current programs.  I spent a lot of time organizing Aminoto videos and making google presentations that can be embedded into numerous platforms.

I decided to use Blogger to create my website.  I started with Google Sites, but I didn't like the idea of the page just growing and not making a nice archive on the sidebar.  Blogger allowed for an archive so people could only see a limited amount of information and be able to look to the side for more.  I wanted information to remain and not be deleted.  I looked at other sites as well, but since I use Blogger for my main blog, I found it easier to build it all there.

I made a fancy movie about getting to know the library.  It is merely photos of different places.  I have done several screencasts as well.  All of them are posted on my library YouTube channel. My goal is to market as well as teach everyone.  I started doing Tech Tuesdays this year, inviting teachers to come to the library to learn tools. I have been sending the students emails with little tips and tricks.  I even started making little surveys to get kids to check their emails.  We give away little prizes here and there for answering the surveys.

Aside from making videos, I make a lot of signage and do a lot of advertising on social media.  In fact, I am a little bit of a social media guru.  Everything is mingled. I post on one, then all the others post the info. I have placed QR codes around the library and other parts of the school.  Hopefully my students are accessing the information and looking at what we have.

It takes a lot to make the school library a place for everyone and hopefully, these little efforts of mine will make mine an even better place.

Getting kids involved: Trailers and Talks

I took over the school library in 2010.  For as long as I can remember, and even into my time as the librarian, kids would come in, get a book and leave.  The library was not a place where they wanted to spend their time.  I am not sure why that has been the norm, but it is my goal to make that idea change for the better.

I decided to offer my students some challenges this year.  Ways to get them in, get them reading and get them involved.  We opened our coffee shop last year with the intent of buying books and supplies that our usual budget can't cover.  I decided this summer when one of the teachers asked me about making videos and PSAs for digital citizenship that I would take those funds and buy a few hand held video cameras.  I am going to challenge students to do book talks and trailers!

I have the space for them to work, I have the books and I have the knowledge to explain how to do it. We even have a YouTube channel for our school where I can post their work. (Of course, I will refer to the appropriate documents to assure they can be published online.)  I have some prizes to offer for completing the tasks. (A colleague of mine donated a case of ARC that I use for prizes.  And, I have other goodies I have collected over the years that kids like.) I will give them more opportunities for prizes if they use Indiana State nominees as topics for their trailers. (I decided early on to have a drawing for them to read the books and vote so I could get more kids involved with the process.)

I am hoping with all of the different things I have implemented and the changes I have made, my school library will become the school center and kids will gravitate there.

An update on my library

In February of 2012, I started shifting the library from a traditional, Dewey Centered system to a more genre specific place.  After three semesters of research, one box of labels and a lot of tape, we are done.  We now have categories with the Dewey built in. Each fiction book has been placed in a genre section, categorized in our system with all of the other categories the titles fit into included. (We discovered some books covered many categories, but there was always just one that fit best, so we placed it there and then tagged other categories as well.)

For our non fiction books, each has a specific category label with a letter tag.  We sort them by their old fashioned Dewey number or alphabetically, depending on the category. (Geography, for example is sorted alphabetically by country instead of Dewey- mainly because a lot of our Dewey tags were all over the planet and didn't make sense.)  We also redid the layout of the library to assure more visibility and provide students more spaces to work, socialize, and research.

We moved a lot of furniture.  I spent several extra days in this summer shifting shelving units and carts of books.  Thank goodness we had a few rainy days and the college boy hired to mow was stuck inside, as he was my knight in shining armor, moving books, cases, and shelves from one spot to the next.

I reorganized tables so we have small learning pods now where kids can work together in small groups.  I still have my information areas as well.  Two televisions (which I won with a grant) play all day in areas where kids sit and hang out. We have our coffee shop running daily from 7:30-2 serving drinks and snacks.  Kids come in, buy a drink and lounge in our social zone or at a table where they can work and drink drinks.

We are a 1:1 school, but I placed a few desktop computers in random spots so kids can do work.  I envision a book trailer challenge happening or booktalk videos. I want the space to be for the kids.  I want the kids to come to the library and enjoy their time and not feel like it is a chore to be there.  I want the library to be the center of the school, as it should be!

The Learning Commons: What? How?

I was at a conference a few weeks back and Vicki Davis (AKA Coolcatteacher) was a guest speaker and I was fortunate and honored to spend a little bit of time talking to her.  I have followed her blog for awhile and I have admired what she is doing with her flattened classroom projects.  As we talked, we started talking about the changes I have made to my media center.  She told me maybe someday I would have a learning commons.  Come to find out, I already do and I didn't even know it!

What is a learning commons?  It's a way to integrate many disciplines into the library.  It provides spaces (almost like centers in elementary) where students can socialize, explore and do more hands on things.  Often, there is a lax regulation about cell phones, drinks and food and a more cozy sitting space.  I HAVE ALL OF THOSE THINGS! (Sorry for the all caps, I am not yelling, but I am excited that I integrated something this amazing with no knowledge of what I was doing.  I just did it for the kids!)  I have spent the last three years as the media specialist integrating seating, shelving changes, a genre specific fiction section, a categorized non-fiction section, implementation of more databases and websites, everything that happens with a library commons.  I even have the coffee shop!

Now, part of the niche of this is integrating the technology.  My school is 1:1, but, I still have a few self standing stations where I encourage kids to do different things.  My goal is to hand a few of my frequent flyers a video camera and challenge them to build book trailers for the website.  What a better way to promote reading than to build a book trailer!

I also want them to be able to expand their information about other places, other disciplines and other genres.  What a better way to get kids interested in reading than to offer them a space where they can collaborate. A lot of my kids have been force fed AR since they were very young, so many of them don't find the pleasure I do in reading a book for fun.  Our Junior High teachers have done a great job encouraging reading by offering in class books clubs, weekly visits and book reports, and stepping up to my challenge to read state award nominees and voting. This has helped build some pleasure in the book.

My hope is that offering a library commons with spaces to socialize, collaborate and explore will lead my students to enjoy reading and embrace the many things a library (or learning commons) have to offer.