Tag Archives: Environment

Making the most of my school library space

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My previous post discussed aspects of creating a dynamic information environment. I mostly referred to digital tools and digitised information. I mentioned that information comes in all forms and modes. Making the most of a library space, whether it be a school or public library, considers: the physical space; budget constraints; diverse needs of the library’s clients; and the management skills and expertise of the TL and public librarian.

My small school library is located in an older style building where two classrooms have been combined to make one larger space. It is restrictive with old fashioned window placements, two standard sized external doors, one internal door and two nib walls and a huge router in one corner, and an interactive board at one end, but there are positives! I absolutely love my long wooden deck/ verandah that receives northern sunshine on these winter days. When the sun shines, reading moves outside much to the joy of my students!

I am lucky enough to be currently making some significant changes within my library in terms of furniture placements, creating spaces for students to retreat or group work and the use of flexible furnishings. It’s not perfect, but changing my fiction and non fiction shelves means that my students can now reach books on the top shelf more easily. These shelves are also on wheels allowing me to change things around if I need/ want to. We are on a tight budget so some of these items were purchased like new but second hand saving some precious dollars. We are still working on improving acoustics and display opportunities by getting quotes for pin boards and also custom sized white boards in different areas of the library for flexible working/ learning opportunities.

I’d love more wall space for displays or interactive stations, such as Lego walls or a makerspace of sorts, to increase student engagement in problem solving activities. I don’t have any technology for students to use aside from a kiosk, but students do have access to ipads and/ or laptops for researching and the like. This, however, requires planning and reminders to students and class teachers to bring these devices from classrooms when they have their library session. We have a seperate technology room which can be used provided I book it in for library time. But in short, ready access to technology within the library would be a bonus. Another change that I am slowly working through, is culling old and severely outdated books. By ensuring my resources are current, relevant and accessible to my students, I am creating much needed valuable space on shelves and also creating a sense of light and space.

There are so many things that could be done in my library space with an limitless budget, but I am finding any changes I make are made with my students in mind. I am ever conscious of the fact that despite saying it is ‘my library’, it is very much my students’ library. Changes made in any library must consider the needs of its clients. So far, the small changes I have made in my library have been welcomed and praised by my students. I can only hope that further changes result in improvements for the benefit of my school community.

The dynamic information environment

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When I think of the dynamic information environment, I immediately think of information and how people access different types of information. As a TL, I reflect on the ways my students access information for learning and investigative purposes and how I guide their learning to help them build research skills.

My library space is limited when it comes to digital access and so my programming requires forward planning and liasing with fellow staff to book and secure access to laptops and ipads. My students thus spend the infant years understanding, learning and practising how non-fictional books are used and accessed. These skills are used and further refined from year 3 onwards, combining with digital research. It would be great to imagine my library space as one that creatively caters to the diverse learning needs of my students at the click of my fingers, however, this is not a reality and I know this scenario is repeated in many other schools. My school is fortunate to have a tech teacher who guides and supports tech and science utilising the tech room. Here, students use a range of digital tools applicable to their learning. Tools such as Book Creator, Word Clouds, Minecraft, Google Earth, and more, are all used to engage our diverse students to demonstrate learning success for a variety of outcomes and across KLA’s.

So, can I consider my library space a dynamic information environment? In a way, yes. At first glance it may not seem as such, considering the lack of obvious digital tools available for student use. But, we must remind ourselves that information is found in all sorts of places. Books, online, posters, magazines, signs, toys, and other tactile materials. I encourage my students to seek information from environmental print, provide opportunities to tell and retell stories using lego story boxes, rotate displays and always promote books about particular topics, authors or the latest trends. It is all too easy, in this digital age, to forget there was a time before ‘the internet’. Increasingly TLs and educators are striving to self educate on the latest digital tool or online information access point. While this is all well, I think there is still value in teaching students information access via books. Our diverse society means there is still inequitable access to digital tools by families, and we need to ensure these members of our communities  have the opportunity to develop the skills required to access information. As TLs, it is thus imperative that we maintain a diverse information environment, ensuring that we capture the curiosity of all of our students, staff and school community.

The information landscape.

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My previous post looked at understanding information as a ‘thing’. Something to be gained, manipulated and used for purposes hopefully with wisdom. I likened the current state of affairs as the information environment being an overgrown jungle. So many different platforms and modes accessible to users.

I was challenged to explore the different aspects of the information landscape. When you consider the  formats available and the delivery modes, one realises that information is a constant in our lives. It is everywhere, every day, every moment of our waking lives.

Information comes to us in all forms of carriers: the internet, books, recordings, manuscripts, etc. This fact of course is liable to change in future. The concept of the World Wide Web is relatively new when you think of the history of the industrialised nations. In future who knows what will exist that doesn’t exist today! It is no wonder then that the definition of information is undergoing change on a regular basis, or at the very least being extended to include new definitions.

McCreadie and Rice discusses access to information utilising 4 conceptualisations. Information is a resource or a commodity that can be produced, purchased and manipulated; information is environmental as it provides perceived data in our surrounds; information is representational; and information is a communication process. The concept of environment really struck a chord with me. Yes I was aware that information is around us, but I hadn’t thought consciously that our environment is providing ‘data’ that we need to analayse on a consistant basis.

This leads to the equally interesting illustration of the Shannon model. Could information presentation and communication be a bit like Chinese whispers? I know too well the obstacles and challenges that come with Chinese whispers. As a hearing impaired citizen, gaining information can be challenging when relying on audio alone. All the more reason to double check what I have heard, and investigate environmental data to confirm my understandings.

Navigating facts and seeking reliable information leads us to consider different levels of information available. As Masters students, we were asked to investigate the deep web and interact2. Such vast domains with even more information that forces us to carefully analyse and use wisely. Information presented in the digital sense, is truly layered, dense and complex.

With information at our fingertips and increasingly accessible to people from all walks of life, what are the ramifications of this reality? Reflecting on my own use and access to information, I can identify three benefits and negatives.
The benefits:
1) Availability. As a teacher, I am striving to ensure my students are  informed and guided young citizens. I therefore need to have access to current and relevant information with which to inform and educate my students no matter the topic. Information that I need is there when I need it. If I don’t know something, I can search and find it.
2) Accessibility. I can inform myself as a teacher, student and citizen on current news and data that will be relevant to my life. I can learn new skills by accessing instructions and procedures. I can entertain myself by accessing visuals, podcasts, and literature. I can educate myself by logging in to my online learning modules at any time or place.
3) Currency. Having access to information all the time means we can be armed with current information and be in the present. When researching topics, whether it be as a student or teacher collating useful sources for my students, I can access information that is recent, relevant and up to date with the latest research.

The negatives:
1) Constant. My previous post talked about the realities of living during the world pandemic that is COVID-19. Daily, the news blares out new statistics, images of doom and gloom and a sense of hopelessness. We wake up to a radio spewing information. We turn on our computers to open up emails to access information. We check noticeboards for information. No matter what we do information is in front of us, whether we are deliberately accessing it or not.
2) Overload. For me, information overload is a new sensation that is proving negative. Interestingly it is making me understand how my mind works in more detail. Being a citizen, a parent, a teacher and now a student, I am having to access all sorts of information in all sorts of places. With dates and information to remember, calendars are very useful tools for keeping track of engagements and so on, but still there is so much. Come Friday’s, it is not uncommon for me to say “My brain is just too tired”. Surely a sign of information overload.
3) Higher expectations. With greater access to the information landscape, the expectation to perform to a higher degree increases. I listed my roles earlier, all of these roles have different expectations. With information at every turn, the pressure to keep up to date, perform and evaluate is always there. Beginning this course, I knew I would have to prioritise my time differently and complete more work. With this fact, the pressure to perform definitely increased. Without ready access to information, I don’t think I would be up late completing readings online, comparing my work to other examples online to ensure I am performing well, receiving multiple emails to complete the next task whatever that may be. Yes, constant accessible information certainly means we pressure ourselves with higher expectations.

Yet the information I access is just ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Combe’s infographic clearly illustrates how much we use and access.

Information will always be in our midst. How we access, interpret and use it however will, I’m sure, be an ever changing realisation.