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Chicago based architecture firm Design Discover offers a guide on how to start the process of redesigning your library space.

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The challenge is to redesign your high school library and re-think how your school's library should, or could, function as technology advances and our notion of study and working changes accordingly.

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In this article, Laura Deisley goes over the design thinking process and how it can be used to evaluate your school library.

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Bringing Design Thinking to the School Library

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Want to revamp your library? Design thinking may be just the planning tool you need.

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In this two-page PDF, Educause details what the modern learning commons is, why its important, and what implications it has for teaching and learning in your school.

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Beth Holland at Edutopia gives four tips for you to transform your leaning space to be future ready.

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Recently, I wrote about the transformation of libraries from archives of resources to active learning commons that encourage exploration, creation, and collaboration. However, in that post, I profiled a number of locations that made significant financial investments in their redesign. Million-dollar learning spaces are often not a reality for most schools. However, that is no reason to abandon the concept of transformation. Here are four suggestions from librarians and educators who have transformed their learning spaces -- even without a budget.

Tip #1: Create an Agile Space

Classrooms and libraries often have a uniform appearance even though they could be used for a multitude of activities. Elissa Malespina -- history teacher, librarian, and Coordinating Supervisor of Educational Technology for the Parsippany-Troy Hills (New Jersey) School District -- recommends putting caster wheels on tables and bookshelves. This relatively inexpensive adaptation allows you to quickly push tables together for collaborative activities, or move bookshelves out of the way to open up more space, ultimately creating a more flexible learning environment.

To encourage collaboration and brainstorming around the room, Jennifer Lagarde -- classroom teacher and librarian from North Carolina -- recommends using whiteboard paint, chalkboard paint, or shower board to transform tables, walls, and floors into writing and drawing spaces where students can brainstorm, share ideas, and co-create. She also suggests using plexiglass, cut to the size of the table, to create another editable space. This way, you can remove and place things (flyers, student work, graphic organizers, sentence strips, etc.) underneath to guide student interactions.

In a Teacher-Librarian Virtual Cafe webinar this fall, Jennifer co-presented the concept of MacGyver Librarianship: The Art of Doing More w/Less! From giant spools to donated furniture, she has a number of recommendations for how to create truly unique learning spaces.

Tip #2: Design an Inviting Space

When Carolyn Foote redesigned the library at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, she included a "juice bar" as a space that would encourage teachers and students to congregate and engage in co-learning. Similarly, Laura Fleming -- Library Media Specialist in New Milford, New Jersey -- repurposed a room in her library to create a library lounge, where students could gather to read, eat, work, and socialize. To save money, she even tiled the floor in dictionary and atlas pages using Elmer's glue and water!

Other suggestions from both Elissa and Laura for accomplishing this goal include:

Get donations of jigsaw puzzles, Legos, and board games, and put them out for students to play with during free time.

Consider permitting food and drink in lounge spaces, and if possible, include a coffee/tea/hot chocolate station.

If it falls in line with the school or district Acceptable Use Policy, encourage the use of personal devices and even provide charging stations.

Include varied seating areas such as cafe and gaming tables.

When students and teachers want to congregate in learning spaces, opportunities for spontaneous co-learning may present themselves. In Too Big to Know, David Weinberger writes that "the smartest person in the room is the room." By reinvisioning a learning space, more students may come inside.

Tip #3: Build a Makerspace

At the heart of constructivism lies the concept that " to understand is to invent" (Jean Piaget, 1976). When students have the opportunity to construct their own understanding, they engage in more meaningful learning. So in transforming your library or any other learning space, think about providing opportunities for all students to invent, tinker, create, and learn.

Designing this space doesn't have to break your budget, either. Jennifer suggests visiting your district's surplus furniture warehouse to search for "treasures," using old wire spools from the local telephone or electric company to build tables, and soliciting donations from families -- especially when they are ready to clean out their closets. Old video game systems, outdated computers, and other gadgets can be great additions to your makerspace.

Tip #4: Create a Community

The first step in transforming your library, or any learning space, from a place of content dissemination, archive retrieval, and solitary learning is changing the culture of the space. Gino Bondi, in Our Learning Commons: One How-To for 21st Century Learning, describes the shift as being "more than a room":

It calls for the creation of new environments that improve learning. It is about changing school culture and about transforming the way learning and teaching occurs. It is a transformation that calls for physical, virtual, and pedagogical changes as well as a shift in mindset for all players.

Laura suggests that the culture of your library should not only encourage meaningful student learning, but also provide the tools, resources, and opportunities for your students to thrive and flourish. While we have been discussing the impact of transformation on libraries, all learning spaces could support your learners and encourage them to contribute to building a dynamic community.

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4 Tips to Transform Your Learning Space | Edutopia

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Recently, I wrote about the transformation of libraries from archives of resources to active learning commons that encourage exploration, creation, and collaboration. However, in that post, I profiled a number of locations that made significant financial investments in their redesign. Million-dollar learning spaces are often not a reality for most schools.

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Opening the Book, a Canadian design company, offers up some floor plan options for remodeling your high school library.

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Library Design for Secondary Schools and Academies

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Creating a school library space that students want to visit means understanding the different ways students actively engage with learning both individually and socially. Modular tables and mobile bookcases give freedom to reconfigure spaces quickly and easily as groups, individuals and classes flow in and out through the day.

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This video by Edutopia showcases how design thinking and future ready thinking lead to a big shift in education at Eminence School District in Kentucky that also shifted the town.

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EDhub: Building a 21st Century Space to Transform Learning

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The School Library Journal chronicles the La Costa Canyon High School media center's transformation to a new Learning Commons for the school.

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Media Center to Learning Commons: One District's Transformation

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A California library media coordinator led a renovation that boosted circulation and drew in many more teens-and made shush a four-letter word.

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This article from EdTech stresses the importance of creating a space that faculty want to come to and bring their students to in order for it to be successful.

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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New, 21st-century pedagogies that focus on interactive curricula and collaborative assignments require new classrooms and media spaces to match.

As we know, technology is an essential part of any modern classroom. Schools and districts outfitting new classrooms and modern media spaces must remember that digital solutions are not just cool to use, they also should inspire.

The media center is the largest academic space in most schools and should be a place where students and staff want to be; otherwise, it is wasted space. Frequently, the media center is also the most public space for the community, where school meetings, board meetings and PTO meetings are held. You want to ensure that it's a place your community can take pride in.

When classroom and media center design is "driven by the desire to create personal and authentic learning experiences for students," it can move teaching practices forward, Tom Murray, the director of innovation for Future Ready Schools, recently told .

And while previous iterations of modern learning environments have proved effective, the next generation of media centers will need to include much more than 3D printers and makerspaces.
MORE FROM EDTECH: How K-12 schools can bring digital transformation to their libraries.
Consult Teachers on Classroom Needs

When building a classroom environment, confer openly with teachers about their specific needs to guide more meaningful technology integrations.

To help students and faculty feel more comfortable in those new spaces, be sure to involve students in the conversations as well.

When Harbor Beach High School in Michigan decided to redesign its library, administrators there held meetings with faculty, staff and members of the student council to decide how the new space should look based on how each group envisioned its use. After four months of sessions, the school landed on a space where students can study using one of the school-owned Lenovo notebook computers and where administrators can use the interactive HDTVs for their board meetings. That's a great model to follow.

3 Learning Space Trends Inside K-12 Media Centers

To design an optimal learning space, it is just as important to openly discuss possible layouts for the room. Research has shown that a room's physical elements have significant impact on student learning.

We've already helped several schools plan alignments that fit under the top three learning space trends reported recently by eSchool News:

1. Cocoon zones: Modern learning environments should reflect the ways students use them, supporting group projects as well as individual study time. Singular study pods are a great resource for students who need to focus on work or creative thinking, free from distraction. These spaces are also great for students who prefer to work individually.

2. Active or flexible seating: A major component of 21st-century pedagogies is forming experiences around students' needs. That extends beyond one-to-one Chromebook initiatives and personalized assessments to learning environments. Offering flexible seating, such as movable chairs and desks, and even floor mats, allows students and faculty to change a space to best meet their educational needs.

3. Collaborative spaces: Libraries and media spaces are no longer quiet reading rooms where everyone gets shushed. Teachers use group projects to better engage K-12 students and encourage collaboration. Individual, wave-like desks that can be combined to seat a large group are often used to accommodate such teamwork.

Regardless of what your school or district ultimately includes in a media center redesign, it is important to remember that every decision should be made with additional perspectives behind it. Designed correctly, a K-12 media center can, and should, work as a central hub for learning, where all members of a school can thrive.
This article is part of the "Connect IT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology" series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the #ConnectIT hashtag.

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New, 21st-century pedagogies that focus on interactive curricula and collaborative assignments require new classrooms and media spaces to match. As we know, technology is an essential part of any modern classroom. Schools and districts outfitting new classrooms and modern media spaces must remember that digital solutions are not just cool to use, they also should inspire.

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In this blog, Lakeside High School goes over the choices they made during their media center redesign to ensure it was a future ready.

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The Flexible School Library: Creating A 21st Century Space For Our Learners

Our school administration approached me about exploring the idea of updating our existing library spaces three years ago. We brainstormed the issue for months and even considered adding on to our high school library by overtaking an attached courtyard. We soon scrapped this plan since it was going to be a high cost to our district. After examining our former junior high library facility (which is still a part of our 8th -12th grade high school complex), we noticed that the space could be expanded to include an outside entryway, abandoned office space, and teachers' lounge to create a much larger space. We began the process of planning how the renovated areas could look and function.

We knew the spaces would have to be large enough to hold over 12,000 print materials with room to grow. Our learning community would also need flexible areas that would allow collaboration events with their classes. There are many students interested in gaming and coding. We wanted to have an area specifically for these programming and gaming activities. The existing junior high library area had spaces to fulfill all these needs. The old teachers' lounge had areas that would serve as workspaces, restrooms, and storage for textbooks.

Our administration, French Architects, Hill & Cox construction, and myself, along with Mrs. Misti Bell (my partner teacher librarian) began working together on the concept development of this renovation project. The planning and construction portion took about a year altogether. The finished product contains many flexible and very welcoming areas. Let's take a closer look at some of the highlights:

We knew this would be one of the most popular areas since our patrons are frequently in search of young adult fiction titles. A cafe theme was selected for this space. This portion of the room also has a hardwood floor. The area outside of the cafe theme is carpeted (see photos below). The cafe area contains a bar with power access towers (both AC plugs and USB). There is also a small stage in this zone. Patrons have access to a gaming/ coding room with five LCD TV monitors and board games. The fiction room also has 28 laptop computers and two printers available to patrons.

In the photo to the left, you can see the fiction room opening into the main entryway. The large brown doors to the right can be pulled to the left to close off the area when needed. This was a feature we requested to accommodate those occasions when a teacher needs less patron traffic during a lesson or activity in the space. The non-fiction room also has this feature.

Entryway and Main Circulation Desk Area:

Non-Fiction Room Features:

It was decided to maintain the more traditional library theme for the non-fiction room. We kept our wooden tables to provide much needed workspaces for our learning community. There are 32 laptop computers and two printers available to our students in this space. We decided to have two curved movable shelving units in this area for the manga and graphic novel collection (which our students have enjoyed).

These are the overall highlights of our library renovation and merger of the junior high and high school collections. The construction process took about 7 months to complete. (There are still minor details being completed at the time of this writing.) It took about 2 1/2 weeks to move and merge the collection/ materials into the spaces.

We can already see that the newly renovated facility will be much better for our numerous library collaboration programs. Students and teachers have been very complimentary of the design and furniture selections. One of the most memorable quotes from a student, "I don't really read, but this new library makes me want to read!"

Special Thanks

The Lakeside High School Library Media Center team is truly grateful to our school board and administration for this wonderful investment! Lakeside School District Superintendent, Mr. Shawn Cook, empowered us to "dream big" for our learning community! I want to also thank Lakeside Assistant Superintendents, Mr. Rick McLaughlin and Mr. Bruce Orr, for supporting and advising us through this process. We are grateful to Lakeside High School Principal, Mr. Darin Landry, for sharing and supporting our vision of this project for our students. He and his team consistently support the library program!

We want to express additional thanks to Mr. David French (Principal Architect and C.E.O) of French Architects for his designs and Mrs. Dawn Shafer (Interior Design Project Manager) for her amazing interior design work. The French Architects website can be found here. We also wish to express thanks to Mr. Robbie Cox of Hill & Cox Construction for bringing all the physical pieces together and making the library a reality. Hill & Cox's site can be found here. We are also very grateful to Lakeside School District Director of Technology, Mrs. Melinda Dodd, and her team for helping us with the various technology additions in the renovation!
What Happens Next?

Our team has learned a lot through this process. We will share more about our journey in this new facility in the coming months and years. The exciting questions we ponder are the following;

What discoveries await our learners?

What will they learn from the voices of the authors whose works are housed in the library?

What will they create in our makerspaces and gaming/ coding room?

Who will they connect to outside of our school's walls using various technology, webcams, and projector screens?

This much is certain... the adventure has only just begun.

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The Flexible School Library: Creating A 21st Century Space For Our Learners

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A school library blog about library collaborations, new technology, and student voice. We share about how we are working with our learning community.

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Chiquita Toure talks about simple innovative ideas that can help transform an underutilized library without major renovations.

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When I took the role of head librarian at a public high school five years ago, I was excited about the possibilities. My previous experiences at middle and elementary schools were meaningful, but high school was the next level. I saw potential to reach students before they enrolled in postsecondary schools or started vocations. I was pumped to introduce great reads and instill in students a love of research.

Surely, I thought, students will want to pour into the library, begging for the latest bestsellers. Imagine my surprise when one of the first students to enter the library asked, "Does anyone ever check books out?"
After examining the stats, I found that students did not check out very many books. During my first nine weeks, only 81 books were circulated at a school with a population of more than 800 students.

Certainly, students' academic performance and achievement showed that they were readers and there was a culture of reading. It became clear that students were reading novels for English classes, essays from professional journals, stories from local newspapers, and New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles assigned by social studies and science teachers, with assignments connected to thought-provoking questions and critiques.

Now I had a dilemma: Do I take on the task of promoting titles within the school library, or do I conduct a needs assessment to determine how best to use the space for the entire school community?

As the year went on, I realized that prioritizing relationships with students, teachers, staff members, administrators, and parents was the best way to resolve the issue of an underutilized space. I was reminded that the quiet school library no longer exists. The school library needs to take on a different role as it caters to present-day academic and social needs. The reality of low circulation cannot overrule the necessity of being a learning hub where student meets student, staff member meets staff member, staff member meets students, and community meets school.

Prioritizing relationships was the best way to resolve the issue of an underutilized space.

We can be seen as "the place to be" through transformational thinking. Here are some ideas for getting the community to see the school library differently:

Start a virtual book club. Social media is second nature to students. Take book club selections and prompts online, and encourage all members of the school community to participate in a digital discussion.

Host brown-bag lunch workshops. For example, in my first year I hosted a Women's History Month-themed event at which I invited professional women in the community to speak about their careers while students ate lunch in the library.

Start a writing center. I was honored whenever students solicited my advice on writing personal essays, college applications, résumés, and informational reports. Consider forming a student-led writing center. At our school, Warrior Words, a literary publication featuring poetry, prose, opinion, and artwork, was born from this group. Hold information literacy sessions. Teach students serious search strategies and how to dig into noteworthy databases. Show them how to handle the overload of information by focusing on research questions, not topics.

Bring in storytellers. Who says high schoolers are too old to enjoy a professional storyteller? Students learn the significance of spoken language and how to honor oral history from our cultural bearers.
Put on music.After purchasing a Bluetooth speaker for the library, I found that playing music-reggae, gospel, jazz, pop, and rap-while students gathered to chat, play cards, put puzzles together, and study was an effective strategy to get students to visit more often.

Promote the library to instructors. Market the school library as an open space where educators from different disciplines can meet to showcase interactive learning and share their course reading.

Are we meeting the needs of a new generation of school library users? As models of professional learning, we must be prepared to take the community to a higher level of engagement.

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Transform the High School Library | American Libraries Magazine

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When I took the role of head librarian at a public high school five years ago, I was excited about the possibilities. My previous experiences at middle and elementary schools were meaningful, but high school was the next level. I saw potential to reach students before they enrolled in postsecondary schools or started vocations.

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Diana Redina discusses how she took over a library that hadn't even weeded their collection in decades and turned it into something totally unimaginable with six simple changes.

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Over the past five years, we have redesigned our media center and transformed it into a more flexible, collaborative space. This is the story of how we got there, and how you can apply what we learned as you rethink your library space. Want to learn even more about transforming your library space? Check out my book, Reimagining Library Spaces: Transform Your Space on Any Budget Note: Post contains affiliate links. Actions taken may result in commissions for RenovatedLearning
Rethink Your Library Space

When I first arrived at Stewart in 2010, the library was in pretty dismal shape. It was dark, dingy, cluttered and pretty much the opposite of student friendly. Over the course of five years, I gradually changed things up and redesigned our learning space into one that is flexible, collaborative, and fun to be in. Here's six things we did to change up the space that you can apply in your own space as you rethink your library.

Removing obstacles and clutter

When I first got to Stewart in 2010, the collection hadn't been weeded in decades. My supervisor had come in and gutted the worst of it before I got there, but even then, I was finding books on the shelves that hadn't been checked out since 1971! Not only were the shelves cluttered, but they also took up all the space. About 50% of the floor space was taken up with massive floor shelving. Every inch of available wall space had shelving too. There was no room to breathe. The small instruction area had ten 60 x 36 heavy wooden tables and about fifty heavy wooden chairs that couldn't stack. There were odd extra desks and tables taking up a ton of space too. Students were constantly bumping into furniture and each other.

I began massively weeding the collection, paring it down to the books that students were actually reading. To break up the monotony of the shelves, I created displays within them. I rearranged the books and removed wall shelving to open up some space. To get rid of the excess furniture we weren't using, I had the district come out and remove it. I got permission to remove the often broken alarm system to open up more room and make the library feel more welcoming. All of this didn't cost our school any money, but it made a huge difference in the functionality of the space. Sometimes, less is more.

Adding Color

When we received a $5,000 grant from Lowe's Toolbox for Education in 2014, it included money to get paint and painting supplies to add color to our library. We have no windows, which is a problem that I haven't been able to fix yet. With the dull beige walls, it felt kind of like a cave in there. So we brightened things up by adding blue and green to our walls. It's made a huge difference in our space - it's helped our library to become a more vibrant and active space. Even if we hadn't been able to get the grant, the cost of paint and supplies was only a couple of hundred dollars, which many schools could get donated from local businesses or PTSA.

Movement and Flexibility

The heavy wooden tables and chairs our library had were not flexible enough for our space. The table legs were frequently breaking from the tables being dragged across the floor and rearranged. Whenever we needed more floor space (ie. bookfairs, special events) we had to stack the wooden chairs one on top of the other in an awkward way in front of the bookshelves, preventing students from checking out books and potentially causing safety hazards.

The majority of our Lowe's Toolbox grant was spent on purchasing six 60 x 30 Bretford Flip & Nest tables and four quarter round whiteboard top tables. (Note: Bretford no longer manufactures furniture, but you can find similar tables with many other companies) We also purchased forty blue stacking chairs. This dramatically increased the flexibility of our space by allowing us to quickly rearranged tables and chairs to suit our needs. The chairs are lightweight and comfortable and can stack six high and are easy to store in the backroom if we need more space.

We also funded a DonorsChoose project to add six Hokki stools to our library. These have been fantastic for our kinetic students who find sitting still to be torture. You'll often see students pulling one up to a table to work on a project with fellow students.

Variety of seating

One thing I learned from the book Make Space is the importance of having a variety of seating options. High. Low. Hard. Soft. So I've been proactive about ensuring that there are plenty of options for my students. There are comfortable soft chairs in our brainstorming lounge, perfect for dreaming up their next project. We have high cafe tables and stools, perfect for sharing a game of chess or chatting while waiting on other students to finish checking out. We have "rocking" chairs and Hokki stools to allow for movement. And we have standard chairs to make sure we have enough seating for everyone.

Interactive Spaces

Libraries should not be static places. If you look at the offices of innovative companies (Google, Facebook, etc) you will find plenty of interactive spaces for employees to relax, collaborate and have fun. Drawing from this inspiration, I've been intentional about adding more interactive elements to our library space. The most obvious is our Makerspace, where students are invited to sit and tinker with LEGOs and K'nex. Within this space is the centerpiece of our library, our Epic LEGO wall, where students can build amazing vertical LEGO creations.

We also have our whiteboard wall, where students can doodle, collaborate and brainstorm. There are lots of whiteboard tables throughout our library too, which students often take advantage of to jots notes for their homework, work out an algebra problem or keep score during chess. We also have an interactive short throw projector in our instructional space. Inspired by Laura Fleming 's concept of digital breadcrumbs, we often put up interactive educational games for the students to try their hand at.

More Power!

We are a BYOD library, and one thing that I noticed was how students (and teachers) were always struggling to find outlets. They're all hidden underneath our bookshelves, which make them difficult and awkward to get to. As we've removed some wall shelving to make more room, we've opened up access to more outlets. We've also added several charging stations where students and teachers are invited to charge up their devices. These areas have become the new water cooler, as students gather around to charge their devices.

(Edited to add: Our original charging station later broke. We replaced it with a KwikBoost Charging Station from Demco and our students love it! It charges devices very quickly and is super durable. It was a bit pricey, but well worth the investment. At my new school, I now use the Vogek hubs, which are super affordable and work great)
Want to learn more about how I transformed my library space, read about other schools' transformations and get practical tips for changing up your own space?
In this practical guide, I go into detail about planning a library space transformation, from brainstorming to ideation to surveying your students. I include tips for dreaming big as well as simple, budget-friendly changes you can implement right away. Each chapter includes action steps and connections to the ISTE standards.

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6 Ways to Rethink Your Library Space and Make It Amazing

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Over the past five years, we have redesigned our media center and transformed it into a more flexible, collaborative space. This is the story of how we got there, and how you can apply what we learned as you rethink your library space. Want to learn even more about transforming your library space?

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David Di Gregorio discusses how school library media centers don't need to be flashy, as long as they leave an impression on students and give them space to express themselves.

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Tenafly High School's Lalor Library Media Center, Tenafly N.J. U.S.A.

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Redefining the High School Library Media Center: Inspired by the Frankfurt Book Fair
The School Library Media Center EXPRESSED!
by David Di Gregorio 2008 (Updated 2018)

Schools exist that do not have libraries. There is one right in my neighborhood. I think through their school library's absence they have come to the conclusion such a purposeful space is in fact indispensable for a really successful school. Several years ago the school's library was closed after their librarian retired. Last week, I received a phone call from that school, and after all these years, they have decided they would like to once again have a library, heard about Tenafly High School's library, and would like to check out our model. I say hurrah for their students! They will come to enjoy visiting their library, as long as it is designed correctly.

So yes, a school can function without a library, but like all good parties, nice towns, and even cells in our body, a purposeful center or a nucleus is needed to draw a school all together. This, I believe is where the new and redefined school library comes in.

The new model of a library media center should focus on that which can impress students and teachers (much of the past functions) and also that which can allow students and teachers to creatively express. If the school's nucleus (the library media center) can turn itself into a location rich with these kinds of broadly defined forces, or activities, it, in my opinion can help transform a school the most positive ways. A welcoming and thoughtfully designed library media center not only supports our students' academic needs, but also their social and emotional needs. This helps set a healthy tone throughout the school on many levels.
Impression Described:
With a foundation of the best print resources available, well organized, tailored to the needs of the school, and attractively displayed, the library media center has one foot firmly in place with rock solid tradition. Emily Dickinson opens one of her poems with the line "There is no frigate like a book." Perhaps that line is even truer today as many of us are distracted by the multi-functions of computers. The elegance of technology found in the book can be mastered by a child not even one year old! This can be observed as he or she carefully turns the pages with little fingers. So a rich, tangible, and attractive print collection serves as the facility's base. In my opinion, any school library that gives this area short shrift is a fake. I have visited new school libraries built in my area with luxurious couches, a café area, and just a few shelves of reference books - this, in my book, falls more into a lounge category than a library. I also will note that this particular large and luxurious "library" had just a few students in it and no teachers at all. With all its luxury, it was hollow, cold place, and for that matter, so was the rest of the school.

A thorough collection of magazines in a comfortable, but not too comfortable setting is important. Integrating flat panel monitors carrying a non biased news channel (i.e. BBC World) and concentrating the sound non-disruptively with the use of sound domes for listening keeps library patrons current with the headlines and equips libraries with up to the minute news. Should there be an important news event the library is where students should want to go.

There are many others ways to encourage the "impression" side of the library - map displays, flags, information and displays using flat panels, on line resources, and the list goes on. Student work placed on display in its many forms can effectively put together "impression" and "expression."

The major point is the library media center needs to be a welcoming, comfortable, yet always professional place. Students' main purpose for coming to the library is their desire to know the world better. When this purpose is front and center, it can be heard, seen, and felt. This is beautiful thing!
Expression Described:
Developing the "expression" side of the library and equipping it with the tools and equipment needed can place the library media center's other foot firmly into the present and the future. I think this area, in many ways keeps the library relevant and useful. A library that has one foot in tradition and one in the future is a good spot to be in.

With inexpensive communication tools widely available today, the library media center can offer skills development, creative opportunities, and have the power to deliver practical information to an audience. The library media center as nucleus of the school can better define itself - become more of a center - through being a vehicle for expression.

One of the greatest living examples I have seen of "expression" related to books and libraries is the Frankfurt Book Fair taking place in Germany every October. Here, over 7,000 publishers, writers of all kinds, and countless books of all types come together to participate in the largest book event on the planet. Throughout the buildings and halls housing the book fair, a visitor finds special areas for presentations as well as many radio and television broadcast studios. These areas broadcast interviews and presentations by authors and other notables speaking about a wide variety of topics. All the while, these interviews and talks are being broadcast throughout Germany. I can only describe this event as a cultural jungle. What a great model for creating an active learning community!

Back to our library media centers - A modest investment in equipment coupled with an imaginative media specialist can not only give the library media center more visibility, it can make itself much more useful and important to the school's administration through breaking down the school / community barriers. This aspect of the library media center can be built slowly and should fit with the school's particular needs and collective personality. As the administration and students start to reap the benefits, funding is sure to follow.

I strongly feel that school libraries should incorporate tools of expression to include a centralized television broadcasting facility, a presentation room or academic theater, photographic equipment, web authoring tools, video recording and editing equipment, audio production equipment, full service duplication center, and any other tools that can help organize, produce and share projects, productions, and information with the outside.

As these tools of expression are used as well as the traditional resources provided for impression, then a healthy flow impression and expression circulates within and without the library media center. This flow, I feel, keeps things fresh and alive - and the school's library media is at the center of it.

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Redefining the High School Library Media Center

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Redefining the High School Library Media Center: Inspired by the Frankfurt Book Fair The School Library Media Center EXPRESSED! by David Di Gregorio 2008 (Updated 2018) Schools exist that do not have libraries. There is one right in my neighborhood.