Transformations

I've been contemplating the future a lot lately. The future of libraries, generally, and my school library program in particular. In what ways do things need to transform to best meet the needs of the learners at my school and help push things forward in a meaningful, substantive way? I've been contemplating transformations.

Today I looked and read several things that made me continue to contemplate. No action plans here, yet, rather just an awareness and openness that these ideas are rattling around in my brain not quite ready to be cohesive.

I saw the presentation deck from a session called "Field Guide for Change Agents" which was posted by Ben Hazard and came from the EduCon conference.

Field Guide For Change Agents

View more presentations from Ben Hazzard.

I saw the slide deck from a talk given by Dr. Michael Stephens for the Australian School Library Association called "The Hyperlinked School Library".

One of my goals this week was to read at least three dissertations. One of the works I read by Carol Revelle relied heavily of the work of Paolo Friere, an educational philosopher who I am inspired by, and it got me thinking more about transformations.

Where do I go from here? I'm not sure yet. But whatever shape the future takes I'm excited about it! Any ideas?

Use and Configuration of the School Library

My district recently had a competition for ten electronic whiteboards that are going to be purchased as a result of a grant the district received. The Highland Learning Center was awarded one of these tools. As a result I've been thinking a lot about the layout of the physical space and how the space can be maximized for teaching and learning opportunities within the school. One of my professional goals for this year is also to build a more user-friendly space and program, including the addition of a more comfortable space for readers.

I just watched a presentation by the Disruptive Innovators from the 2008 K-12 online conference that helped continue my thinking. Donna DesRoches and Carlene Walter talked about the library as a production center and the library as a place to learn and do everything.

At my school the library is intimately involved in both helping to create a community of readers and helping to create a community of information literate learners. My question is how to maximize the space, resources, and my work in order to help both things progress and help students achieve and grow?