I started working as a teacher librarian last year in a school where within 4 weeks I was asked why students were talking in the library. Why games were being played. Why students were not reading or studying when in the library at break times.
My concept of a modern library was, as happens to anyone realising they might be in a horror movie, rapidly slipping away from me.
This extended to the literature on offer as well. Magazines that were now out of print sitting in display stands, non-fiction books that are 40 years old (and refer to countries that no longer exist), and fiction books that may have inspired reading when my mother was a youth. Pennac (2006) would find these barriers to reading particularly heinous.
This horror was not going to kill me or my readers!
This year we started defending ourselves, our spaces, and our collection.
We looked at how to weed and update our collection with modern fiction that students would enjoy (Sharp, 2018). We asked them what they wanted to see (Krashen, 2021) and addressed these areas first. Manga was the first to flourish from a small stand to its own zone, now spilling onto rotating display stands adorned with figurines from the titles we carry.
We looked at how students were using, misusing, and wanted to use the physical space. Privacy, group study and comfort were requested from students. Students not climbing over the brightly coloured, vinyl clad circus furniture was a request from the teachers. A refurbishment of furniture allowed for newly created nooks, high back chairs for private study and no opportunity for gymnastics practice.
We looked at engagement in the library space and connections to our collection beyond the fad of the new Manga series. Students who had written poetry were published and held readings in the library. Engaging displays directed students to the new genres created in fiction to guide students in accessing books they might connect with (Cornwall, 2018). First Nations literature was almost non-existent outside of some picture books, so this grew too.
Today the library space, collection, and the students accessing the space have all changed – its been a long 6 months.
References
Cornwall, G. (2018, July 22). How genrefication makes school libraries more like bookstores. KQED: Mindshift. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51336/how-genrefication-makes-school-libraries-more-like-bookstores
Krashen, S. (2021). Pleasure reading. Bring Me a Book: Research Roundup. https://www.bringmeabook.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/BMAB_RESEARCH-BRIEF_Krashen_v6.pdf
Pennac, D. (2006). The rights of the reader. Walker Books.
Sharp, C. (2018, November 1). Free choice…with support: Game changer! [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/PiwiJWSIaFA
