MA School Library Transforms into New Learning Commons
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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 12/10/2008 2:00:00 PM
Before there was the enormous LCD TV, coffeehouse, and scattered comfy couches, the library at Chelmsford High School in Massachusetts was a run down mess. The bright yellow paint was peeling. The furniture was outdated. The carpet was frayed—and everyone kept tripping over the duct tape that helped keep it down.
But the place had one thing that kept kids coming back: librarian Valerie Diggs.
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The new Learning Commons at Chelmsford High School. |
But now things are even better. Thanks to a recent overhaul, the library has transformed into a Learning Commons, a true virtual and physical 21st-century learning space.
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| Valerie Diggs |
“We’ve opened it up so that all kinds of learning goes on,” adds Diggs, explaining that the library can accommodate up to six classes simultaneously. “This is now the center of student learning and staff development.”
What exactly is a Learning Commons? According to David Loertscher, a professor at San Jose State University and coauthor of The New Learning Commons Where Learners Win: Reinventing School Libraries and Computer Labs (Hi Willow, 2008), it’s a collaborative space created by users that turns the library into the “center, the network, of social, cultural and learning in the school.”
Indeed, academic libraries have utilized the Learning Commons concept, but the idea is still relatively new to school libraries. In fact, it’s so new to the New England area that Ross Todd and Carol A. Gordon of Rutgers University’s School of Communication, Information and Library Studies wanted to be on hand for the library’s December 5 open house, says Diggs. Loertscher was also there to see firsthand a high school Learning Commons in action. And he liked what he saw.
“This library has achieved much of the open commons idea that I envision,” Loertscher says. “The parade of good things, the culture of student productions in its listening lunches, its popularity as both a social and an intellectual space is evident.”
The bottom line? Library traffic is up and its hours are longer, says Diggs. Circulation has shot up by as much as 20 percent since the new library opened its doors.
“We now have better displays, paperback spinners, and friendly signage,” says Diggs. “It’s partly the way it looks and the Barnes & Noble atmosphere. Kids respond to that. It entices them.”
