Monthly Archives: April 2021

21st Century Library – considering the physical space

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What would a 21st Century Library look like?

Some initial thoughts: Australian School Library Association (2013) recommends that flexible and varied spaces be utilised in pursuit of personalised learning. These should involve a mix of communal and social spaces, individual and group spaces that allow students to move between the spaces as needs develop. The increasing integration of technology will require supportive infrastructure such as wifi, charging stations and technical support. Collaboration and group interaction will be important for future focused learning spaces, so technologies that encourage and support collaborative learning, such as interactive touch screen tables, movable and adjustable furniture and technology peripherals such as headphone splitters may be helpful. Small group inquiry always involves students talking to each other and can result in sound difficulties, so attention must be paid to sound dampening technologies. As technology becomes more ubiquitous, BYOD programs may see students bringing a variety of devices with different requirements and abilities. Apps, software and supportive infrastructure will need to be available (eg, a variety of charging cords available in the charging station, apps running a browser based version rather than an iOS or Android specific app). There will always be a place for the print collection, but the nature of it may change and it may become more integrated with the digital collection, for example, linking print and electronic versions of texts in the LMS, offering audiobook and print copies of the same texts etc. As pedagogy shifts more towards content creation rather than content consumption, 21st Century libraries need to provide access to equipment and spaces for this, for example, green screen filming, sound and video recording equipment, video editing software and web authoring tools. But it might not only be a matter of online creation. A makerspace may involve tools for physical creation also: anything from screw drivers, hot glue guns, soldering irons and sewing machines to 3D printers and robotics. Teacher librarians, in designing these spaces, need to consider choices in lighting, sound and colour, flexibility, durability and attractiveness.

The 21st Century library must be staffed with a team of people: teacher librarian to look after the pedagogy and teaching aspects, a technical support officer to look after the technology and a library assistant or technician to look after the collection management aspects. In some cases, these three roles may be

The Pointy End

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What does it mean to be “at the heart of the school”? This is a phrase I have heard quite a bit over the last few years as I have undertaken the study in this course. We want libraries and teacher librarians to be at the centre, the heart learning and the school. But what does that actually look like? Today I had a thought. And it is this:

21st Century Learning is about problems. Defining them, investigating them, seeking, proposing and testing possible solutions, communicating and then applying new knowledge. The 21st Century education is not about memorising lots and lots of facts. It is about learning to find, evaluate, use and think about facts and information. This is the specialist area of teacher librarians. Knowledge management, fact finding, fact connection and evaluating is our schtick – our bread and butter. Teacher librarians, then, are at the pointy end of 21st Century education. Far from being a dying breed, relegated to the dusty innards of a book shed, armed with an RFF roster, a date stamp and supply of unfortunately coloured twin sets, teacher librarians need to be leading, modelling, reflecting on and investigating 21st Century learning in our schools, sharing our skills and new knowledge with our colleagues as well as our students.

My focus now needs to be on how we actually go about this. 40 minutes a week with 2 classes in the room on a fixed schedule 7 periods a day 5 days a week poses a challenge in terms of practicality – actually having the time during each lesson to accomplish all that is needed and give students time to participate, explore and partake in hands on learning as well as manage borrowing time requires exquisite time and classroom management skills. I am not sure it is actually possible and so a new way of thinking about the problem is needed – an opportunity to engage in some problem based learning myself!