What might a 21st century library look like and is the building or the space more important than what is happening in that space? Think about your library, its physical and virtual spaces and what is happening there. How could you effect change and what strategies would you use?

In the 21st century, new names have been coined for school libraries to reflect their changing nature, for example, the Learning Commons (Holland, 2014) or iCentre (Hough, 2011, p.5). Students have access to resources, including helpful staff members, and tools to access those resources, which may include digital tools. Students are provided with opportunities to create and tinker, for example, within a Makerspace (Daley & Child, 2015, p.43). No longer is the library a place for books and silence (Thomas, 2016).

I feel that the physical building or space of a 21st century library is just as important as what is happening within the space. If students are to use the library effectively, building 21st century skills and achieving learning outcomes, the physical space must be inviting and encourage 21st century ways of working. If the space is not inviting, then what is meant to happen, won’t happen.

My school library is fairly dark, with a reasonably small selection of books provided on old grey bookshelves. There are five desktop computers set up in one corner, and another four in another corner. It is well and truly stuck in the 20th century. There are pockets of 21st century potential, for example, a Smart TV is connected to a laptop in the middle of the room, but this is rarely used for student learning. Professional development for teachers does occur in this space. As far as I know, there is no virtual library space.

I don’t work in the library, so my capacity to create change is very limited. If I did work in the library, small, bite-sized chunks of change might be best, and it would be important to show how the changes are positively effecting student outcomes. I would consider creating a Makerspace, as this would coincide with the focus on oral language development at the school. Many of the students are very ‘hands on’ learners. To make it bite-sized, I would need to run it one day each week, during a certain time. Maybe even at lunch time!

Other larger-scale changes require additional funding. Perhaps I could introduce dedicated iPad cushions to encourage students to bring their personal devices into the library for learning. Or budget for additional 21st century flexible furnishings.

References

Daley, M., & Child, J. (2015). Makerspaces in the school library environment. Access, 29(1), 42-49. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/publications/access.aspx

Holland, B. (2014, January 14). 21st century libraries: The learning commons [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/21st-century-libraries-learning-commons-beth-holland

Hough, M. (2011). Libraries as iCentres: Helping schools. Access, 25(1), 5-9. Retrieved from https://asla.org.au/access

Thomas, L. (2016, April 5).  The dangerous myth about libraries. TedX Talks [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdQwrhxw8LM