Face 2 Face Sessions

Taking Action

Written by Wendy Darby

My How Might We statement is HMW create a culture around the library that promotes innovation, collaboration and scholarship. I have posted it up in the library and have had a few students pondering it. I haven’t had much direct feedback except for one student that thought scholarship had to do with money. Fair point. I guess in the absence of direct verbal feedback I can look for other sources. I am happy to report that there has never been so much engagement with the library in general. Students are coming in looking for resources for their projects and books to read for pleasure. In short, I’m starting to see the fruits of my labour and culture is changing.

The library I inherited was very traditional. There was a persistent culture around that library that promoted a quiet, studious atmosphere which did not make it a very engaging collaborative space. You can see in the photos the beautiful wood work, tall shelves and expensive paintings. It makes for a very special place to come to work every day; however, it makes innovation a challenge. My challenge.

How do I engage the students? Where do I display new books to promote reading? How do I address current issues and inquiry?

Well, I’ve had to be creative. Over the past few years, I have done lots of little things to try to change things up in the library. Some highlights are: I put in bench top sitting along the windows to take advantage of the view to the reading garden; I added a large screen TV to provide a flex space into the library so that I could teach research skills in the library; and, I have also taken back some of the shelving and am going to create benches for the students to sit in.

All my research has told me that librarians need to start with the teachers in order to get to the students. So, based on teacher feedback, I am going to recreate our resource page to make it much more inviting and curriculum focused. I created a survey and have received some excellent responses to help guide me in this. My next step is to meet with the faculty individually to get some further subject specific feedback. I have also prepared a student survey asking similar questions to the faculty survey so that I can get the student opinion as well. I will distribute this in the new year.

My goal is to finish the year with a new online resource page that is more engaging, focused and student centred. I’m off to a great start!

7 thoughts on “Taking Action”

    1. Thanks for your support. We use blackbaud at Ridley so we are limited to what they provide. I have been talking with IT and I think that they can do most of what I want to do. It might be a little clunky to start but it will be a start!

      1. Hi Wendy,

        Here are our resource pages which are also created in Blackbaud. We definitely built it over time and got some fancy graphics to make it sharp. The teachers are responsible for their grade level pages for the JS. As for the Library resource page, we have our Librarian maintaining it and making it more student-centered. Maybe these links can help you continue on your journey.

        https://www.yorkschool.com/page/jk-5students

        https://www.yorkschool.com/page/6-12-students

        Here is our Library Resource page created by the wonderful @sspencer (C21 alumnus)

        https://yorklibrary.follettdestiny.ca/

  2. Amazing @wdarby! Thanks for sharing this great initiative and it sounds like you’re well on your way. This is no small task – to expand if not reshape student understanding of what that space is for. I imagine “scholarship” is very much a part of student perception already, even if they’re not using the space for that purpose to the extent they should. If my experiences are in anyway similar to your students, then establishing the first two purposes might take some work. Is it possible in your school to run some innovation challenges, in teams, through the library? Asking the students to behave differently in that space might help them to shift their perspective: the library is not just for information, it can also inspire ideas.

    I really look forward to following this Wendy!

    gv

    @mneale @acampbellrogers @ashaikh

    1. Hi,

      Thank you for your feedback and ideas. I took some time to think about all this over the break and, you know, it’s working. I am already seeing and sensing a shift in the student view of the library. I even have the stats to prove it! Exciting times…I’m looking forward to taking the next steps!

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