NEIT+2013+OpenSpace+3M

=Envisioning the Future of Libraries= toc Open Space 3 Jan. 31, 2013 - 10:15-11:15am Conference House Rose Room

Facilitator(s)
Judith James, Friends Academy Kathleen Ellis, Berkeley Carroll

Big Questions
A list of big questions for schools to consider as they envision the future of libraries. They are not listed in any particular order. Further, they are not intend to have simple answers for schools to find. In that same vein, the answers will not be the same for every school. The only intent behind these questions is to promote thoughtful dialogue around a very important issue facing schools.

Please add your own, or search twitter for the hashtag #WhyLibraries for questions from others.
 * How does the library fit into an age where research happens everywhere?
 * How will the library meet the needs of the people that use it, and are going to be using it in the future?
 * What are their needs?
 * Are librarians going to be needed in the future? What is the unique value they bring to a school?
 * Libraries used to provide what was scarce - books & information. What is it that is scarce now that libraries can provide?
 * What is the creation content that librarians can teach? Of that content, what is already being taught in other school spaces?
 * Should library spaces/departments be separate from technology spaces/departments?

Conversation Points
Example: Brooklyn Public Library transformed Grand Army’s periodical room into an [|Information Commons] -- beautiful open space, with plenty of outlets / devices & flexibility [ [|@bpl_infocommons] ]
 * Noted: ** current shift in libraries away from a static space that holds information/literature toward a maker space or “Learning Commons”


 * What challenges or opportunities for change do you see for the [school] library in the next 5 years? **
 * What is the library offering? **
 * How is the library being used? **
 * Group work spaces are in high demand
 * Individual spaces less in demand
 * Library used heavily for ad hoc meetings (students: test study, clubs, small group breakout from a class)
 * Collections will be changing -- parts will shrink, other parts will grow -- (the mix of online databases / digital resources / apps / books )

Considering the shift in collection (away from physical materials, toward digital): How does it looks in lower elementary /upper elementary / middle school / high school?
 * What does this look like across the different levels--is it different? **
 * Grace Church High School-- new high school library -- giant space. bottom level is the commons. library reaches up several levels, looks down into the commons -- books downplayed; library crossing over into other school-space -- striving toward maker space / group creation space. Yet PS-8 has a totally different space -- totally conventional, traditional … how do we make sense of this? Where does that leave lower school library? Is this is way it should be? Or does this diminish the relevance & usefulness of the lower school library.

One school’s situation:
 * Some schools looking at how to re-appropriate the space in the library -- which right now is underutilized. **
 * right now traditional -- stacks in the back large space -- four tables of computers -- floor space is occupied
 * considering moving the stacks to the perimeters -- to make center space -- teaching & creating space
 * more small tables

One school’s situation:
 * Collection is strong -- well-developed.
 * But the remaining space was designed for a smaller student body.
 * Wants __flexibility__ -- tables light enough to be moved independently & frequently [ECHOED throughout the room!]

Another school:
 * moving stacks into one area [not perimeter] -- dividing library into quadrants -- 1] STACKS 2] QUIET STUDY / CARRELS (some students still use & need) 3] GROUP SPACE (for classes, group projects) with desktops/SMARTboard/projector & 4] MULTIMEDIA SPACE with casual seating for individual/small group work.


 * Undertaking a Redesign: **

When dealing with architects -- really really important to have an architect that will __listen__ to teachers / teacher input -- users of the space.

To build a forward thinking library is a big undertaking -- ~7mo process....talking about purpose and use, analyzing use & behavior & desired use. [Jim Tiffin will add a link to documentation of a project that was successfully designed in response to behaviors/uses.]

**KEY:** have the whole community buy into this new library as central to the school -- not a place to escape into / run away from class--but integral to work happening everywhere.


 * There are library consultants -- at least 2 people within the independent school network-- [|Liz Gray] (Dana Hall) and Walter DeMelle (formerly Hotchkiss) **
 * Help to redesign library / tailor the redesign according to user-needs & behaviors -- amplify the voice of the librarian … almost a mediator between Admin & architects and the Librarian

**“Media Spaces”** -- computers/devices within a larger open space -- can allow for interactivity & connection in the library (ex: upper el. tech lessons, with 10th graders, who happen to be working on the periphery, entering the conversation)

**FLEXIBILITY IS CRUCIAL.** How to best set up space that will allow for flexibility?
 * kids will flow and find small open spaces that fit them & their needs -- so set those spaces up with outlets/ flex computers etc., to allow those spaces to be inviting & useable -- Factor the need for such spaces into design [ex: two steps lining the wall can be the perfect/needed flex space -- outlets lining the rise make those steps more useable]
 * easily moveable furniture

**Concern:** Conflict between being open to flexible use and wanting to protect the library space for “library” uses. Should the library really be used for Parent/Teacher meetings & cocktail parties? **Related:** the desire for a very “library” place, especially from Administration/Board -- fancy and old-school library (leather-bound books, floor-to-ceiling shelves, big furniture) for fundraising, for appearance, and for nostalgia. This desire is often behind a redesign that doesn’t meet user-needs & behaviors.


 * If the books/physical materials are no longer essential -- should the librarians be elsewhere? **
 * Is the library still necessary? **


 * Librarians: **
 * Research used to happen in the library -- now it can happen anywhere … How to get the librarians anywhere/everywhere there are mobile devices / anywhere the research is happening?
 * See the example of technology -- no longer in a single room / “Computer Room” no longer essential. Now **embedded throughout school** -- and is stronger (more beneficial, more essential to students) because of it.
 * As technology has spread from a single room, it’s needed additional breakout spaces.
 * [|Avenues] : We are “a school within a library” -- librarian still has a space (for the 36 groups of K-4 students seen weekly) -- but physical books are found in common spaces on each of the 6 floors. Presents a challenge re: browsing, borrowing... Librarian goes through the collections on different floors, switches them up.
 * Librarians necessary? **Librarian as Information Expert** -- a growing need -- as information spreads & can be found in many different places, there’s a //greater// need for those experts to guide: accessing information, gathering, sorting, media literacy.
 * We are still curating all of these new resources that people are using
 * Serious need to think about **“re-branding”**....to present yourself as information specialist -- can still be literature specialist... Possibly re-phrase role -- to emphasize this relevance.
 * Students have come to rely on us as intelligent, trusted resources -- it **might have nothing to do with classwork** -- feedback on work, help with college essays, comfort
 * Who else is **teaching students** (especially in high school) **to love to read**?


 * Libraries: **
 * There is a student need for **a 3rd space -- beyond home & work space**. ...Is this the library?
 * **What if library is a place that supplies something that scarce** -- used to be books but when a population has the means to buy their own books and does ….maybe now it’s a 3-d printer... maybe it’s a quiet space.
 * BUT the books/literature (whether physical or digital) we provide expose students to titles they’d not necessarily encounter via popular culture -- still needed.
 * ** A quiet space for reflection & work **
 * Salon article -- [|Bring Back Shushing LIbrarians]
 * A **flexible space** that allows for and encourages the collaboration and creativity currently strived for.

Hey, what about renaming this conference?

 * the NEIT name contributes to the misunderstanding that librarians are doing something entirely different from technologists in schools -- something smaller, old-fashioned, outdated, “cuter”
 * What would the name be?


 * Recommended/Noted: [|Information Management & Knowledge Strategy] -- Masters program at Columbia **


 * Back to the idea of the Library as “Learning Commons”-- if people are creating content... **
 * What would be created here? **
 * Grace high school library -- maker kits -- (Arduino?)
 * story-making, use of apps, making e-books - iMovie
 * ECFS lower school creates a google site with videos -- taxonomy of living/non-living
 * **Tension:** Idea that the library should be a maker space/ learning commons -- but it’s not exactly what we’re doing in our spaces with our days -- what would the implications (effects, losses, gains) be?


 * Challenge: can we welcome the loss of the space / re-purposing of the space? **
 * Returning to example of technology in schools: To show that technology isn’t a skill itself -- to use technology as a pathway / tool backing up work that’s why technology had to break out of a single and defined space.
 * Technology was marginalized -- perceived as separate, not-graded ...not essential... the way the library can sometimes be too. When technology is absorbed into school, it’s recognized as essential -- library (skills, research, information literacy) is parallel to this.


 * Should technology and libraries be the same department? **
 * Avenues -- the librarians are part of the tech team -- beneficial ...recognized as a integrated part of the school.

Storify Collection of #WhyLibraries Tweets
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