Library Learning Commons Transformation – Part 2

Thursday, November 29, 2018

We are making amazing progress! Just before the Thanksgiving break we closed so the work crew could come in. One advantage of being a small school district is that we’re able to work with top-level staff without a whole lot of difficulty. Our creative, talented, and hardworking Director of Maintenance was an integral part of this process. He helped us plan so we could achieve most of our goals with a minimum of expense, supervised closely to make sure our plans were followed, and at times worked on tasks himself.

After researching best practices for designing a learning commons, we decided to leave parts of the counters in place to create cave-like spaces for students to work and read in. The counters were removed entirely in the Circulation Desk Zone and the Small Group Collaboration Zone. (See previous post for a map of the zones.)

Soft Seating Zone – during

Here’s my vision for the Soft Seating Zone, not including the beanbag chairs and floor cushions:

Soft Seating Zone – vision

Electricity was installed all over the library, as that has been a weak spot in the past. Tables were taken out of storage for the Small Group Collaboration Zone, and chairs are forthcoming.

Counter removed from Small Group Collaboration Zone
The circulation desk was successfully moved to its new location, which will give us a much better view of the whole library from there. It looks so amazing! This was our Principal’s brainstorm, and I just can’t get over how right it looks under the lights.
Thank you to our hard-working Maintenance Dept. Team!
After the circ desk was moved, we could see that there was more missing carpet than we had initially thought.
Makerspace Zone – before
Our Maintenance Director came up with a brilliant plan to install wood flooring, most of which was on hand from a previous project. Our Superintendent came over and approved the plan, and expanded it to fill the whole front of the library.
Wood Flooring in Circulation & Makerspace Zones

The back part of the library is staying basically the same, but the counter was cut out to allow the SmartBoard to fit in.

We hope to hold a Sneak Preview for the staff tomorrow afternoon, and our Grand Reveal on Monday morning. I can’t wait till everyone gets to see how incredible this looks! Hopefully this new flexibility will increase our usefulness.

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