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Toddlers and their caregivers in Meridian, ID, have a cool new space to love with the arrival of the Tiny Library branch, geared toward early learning.
The Free Library of Philadelphia elevates early learning through play with the introduction of inventive children's spaces that encourage all kinds of movement.
Looking for short-term use of cake tins, camping equipment, or bikes? These libraries lend out all of those items and a lot more.
It solves so many problems. And it is sooooo easy. I just discovered Kapwing. The free web-based video editing suite offers nine features (and promises more to come) and I am so excited about sharing it with my students and using it in my teaching. It’s a kind of media Swiss army knife perfect for schools. Kapwing […]
Breakerspace. Toy Takeapart. Break & Make. Whatever you call it, a breakerspace lets kids take stuff apart to see what makes it tick.
We’re seeing a bounty of cool design tools these days. In our correspondence, our promotional materials, our business cards, we can use these tools for our own purposes, to brand ourselves as professionals and to share our libraries in a more cohesive and polished way. These can also be used by our clubs, business and design […]
Ideas to update your library: turn tires into comfy furniture, transform a map into a green screen, and more.
Since 2014, when SLJ conducted its first maker survey, maker activities have increased by four percent at the elementary and middle school levels.
2017 School Librarian of the Year Finalist Alisha Wilson’s library “Spark Lab” has all the supplies kids need—including a writing lab for one-on-one help.
Avoid these snafus—and design a 3-D printing program that you and your community will love.
The striking design of the Parsons Branch of the Columbus (OH) Metropolitan Library suggests that this is a place where people of any age can thrive.
An elementary school librarian and her students reconceive their library to make it more conducive to Project Based Learning.
It is difficult to pin down the first time I became aware of the work of Marc Aronson. The likelihood is that it occurred when I read his books. Or was it his work as an Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University? How about his support of international […]
Facilitating inquiry, problem solving, and collaboration, the Breakout EDU kit facilitates student problem solving in libraries and classrooms with minimal setup.
A lot of imagination, a little elbow grease, and the right tools can yield dramatic results like these.
How one public librarian researched, budgeted, and created the best maker space for her customers over the course of six months.
Need a fresh approach for rethinking your library program? Want to engage your learning community in the rethinking/planning process? Look no further. Developed by IDEO, and funded by the Global Libraries program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Design Thinking for Libraries is the inspiration you’ve been waiting for to brainstorm possibilities, reflect on […]
Teens are taking center stage—literally—at new library teen spaces throughout the country. From Boston to San Francisco, these notable projects have a few things in common—teen involvement, multipurpose spaces, areas for hands-on creation, and enthusiastic repeat visitors.
This eye-opening selection of books about buildings and architecture provide a wealth of opportunities for exploring various cross-curricular topics including art, science, environmental studies, history, and cultural studies.
Read about the winner, first runner-up, and editor's choice for SLJ's 2015 Build Something Bold Award, honoring creativity in school library programming that incorporates hands-on learning led by the librarian or media specialist.
A Detroit high school has scored a slam dunk—a renovation of its school library—by winning the Detroit Pistons’ “Reading Room Makeover” for 2015–16. More than 30 Michigan schools from 24 cities applied for the makeover, which supplies new carpeting, paint, and furniture.
This week I attended the PA Forward Information Literacy Summit, where I connected with school and academic librarians and discussed evolving visions of literacy. (More on that coming!) At the Pattee Library, I was treated to a tour of the Knowledge Commons by Associate Librarian Joe Fennewald. Joe showed several of us around a variety […]
These innovative public library destinations for young children and their caregivers are places for reading, romping, and learning.
I don’t know exactly how or when it happened, but I’ve become fussy about fonts. And I find the proliferation of free fonts both satisfying and confounding. It goes like this. I shop a font, usually through the options in Canva, Picmonkey and the frenzy of open source selections that pop up under More fonts […]
For years I’ve returned to Erik Kastner’s Spell with Flickr to help me create slides and titles. I just discovered that Type to Design curates letter designs from Instagram. It’s a by-product of the 36 Days of Type project which challenged designers and illustrators to explore the endless graphic possibilities of type and upload those possibilities […]
The award honors creativity in school library programming and lesson plans that incorporate hands-on learning.
Getting a new school library off the ground takes ingenuity—and elbow grease. Read how these determined librarians did it. Plus: grant opportunities and key questions for volunteers.
A school librarian assembles a "must-have" library design wish list with crowdsourced recommendations.
Do-it-yourself maven Melissa Techman says that bulletin boards can be important communication opportunities in your library. The K–5 librarian offers tips to keep it cheap and chic, and guidance on how to align bulletin boards with inspiring and informative instructional activities.
The four stand-out programs recognized by SLJ and LEGO Education's Build Something Bold design award reinforce the case for strong school libraries.
The winner of the inaugural 2014 SLJ and LEGO Education Build Something Bold Library Design Award is Walnut Grove Elementary School library, in Madison County, AL. Led by librarian Holly Whitt, Walnut Grove's library features a “digital diner” with tabletop “jukeboxes” of technology.
A Los Angeles high school's 3,000 square foot library renovation project, “Locke JetSpace,” aims to redefine the way students can learn.
Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado, rebuilds its library and gets a new outdoor commons, after a tragic high school shooting last December.
Kids are learning about nutrition and the environment as libraries create gardens to expand their mission.
After years of struggle fraught with zoning issues, East Hampton Library was finally able to cut the ceremonial ribbon on June 21 to celebrate its 6,800 square foot addition following a lawsuit and $5.8 million in donations—including a large sum from East Hampton local, actor Alec Baldwin.
Among the inspiring sessions I attended at EduTECH, was Anne Weaver’s session on Designing the Contemporary Library. I had the opportunity to visit the Potter Library, attend a staff meeting, and watch the action on Destination Day. (Students and staff dressed in outfits representing where they’d most like to be, and so Anne greeted me [...]
I am nearing the end of my visit to Australia where I was honored to speak and offer a MasterClass at EduTECH 2014. Among the nine strands offered was the K12 Library Managers Congress where I met and reconnected with movers and shakers who are rethinking library, engaging learners, and inspiring each other. I hope [...]
An event on May 14 honored the late Bernard Waber, author of the "Lyle the Crocodile" books, and designated the Yorkville Community School on East 88th Street a Literary Landmark. The street was made famous by Waber in 1962 with Houghton Mifflin's publication of The House on East 88th Street.
PowerPoint is robust and Google Presentations is very sweet for collaboration, but some of us simply crave beautiful new design options for our presentations and publications. Here are four worthy options, and another one about to be born. Canva allows its users to create beautiful slides, posters, Pinterest covers and headers for Facebook and Twitter [...]
The recent surge of interest in reconfiguring school library spaces offers tremendous opportunity to spotlight the potential of school libraries.
Missouri University of Science and Technology student Lara Edwards's school assignment resulted in a vibrant and detailed mural for the Leola Millar Children’s Library in Rolla, Missouri.
Something about the act of reading calls out for a safe, snug, and comfortable spot. SLJ explores an array of exceptional reading nooks, in libraries from the United States to Australia.
The eighth-grade students at a charter school in Berkeley, CA, designed and crowd-funded their own school library, complete with student-conceived geometric shelving, furniture, and more.
The "Build Something Bold" Library Design Award seeks innovators in the field of space use, resources, and programming in both libraries and classrooms around the United States.
If you were busy doing anything else last night, lucky for you this particular TLCafé was archived. (Well, they all are.) But, last night Shannon Miller and Carolyn Foote were truly inspirational as they discussed their own experiences and shared images about rethinking and improving the space we call library. Tiffany Whitehead moderated expertly. Our [...]
Thanks to four new recumbent bicycles installed at the school library at Falls Church (VA) High School, students can fit in some physical activity while simultaneously catching up on reading and schoolwork.
The Detroit Achievement Academy in Michigan announced that it is naming its library in Ellen DeGeneres’s honor because of her philanthropic work and advocacy for its students. Only in its first year of existence, the charter school and its 28-year-old cofounder, Kyle Smitley, were featured as part of the “Inspirational Story” segment on The Ellen Show.
A school library in St. Louis, Missouri, boasts something unique: It’s the only known library whose design is based on Multiple Intelligences theory—a groundbreaking concept of intellect conceived by psychologist Howard Gardner and widely embraced by educators.
In her final Fresh Paint column, teen services librarian April Layne Shroeder reflects on the accomplishments of Loudoun County’s Gum Spring Library branch's inaugural teen-only space.
Let’s be honest. Physical resources are in decline, and the transition to digital holdings will only accelerate. So what can we do with all that library space opened up by the decline of print? Consider the Unperfekthaus, a German model that encompasses maker spaces and much more.
At a tween-only library in Stockholm, the only patrons allowed are children between 10 and 13—a group that often feels too old for children’s sections but not yet ready for full-on YA experiences.
John Locke's Department of Urban Betterment (DUB) is behind the 2012 installation of mini-libraries in New York City telephone booths. Now DUB is at it again with the concept and design of the Inflato Dumpster, giving the phrase "dumpster diving" a whole new meaning.
Loudon County Public Library recently concluded their 8th annual Teen Film Competition which drew in 29 film submissions. Gum Spring Library branch hosted the film festival, but the program was open to all teen residents of the United States. Teen services librarian April Layne Shroeder shares how her library expanded its program participation
Back in the fall of 2010, SLJTeen reported on one librarian’s dream to build a library at the Jambo Jipya Academy in Mwtapa, Kenya with the assistance of the organization Reason2Smile. The fundraising is almost complete and Jambo Jipya is hoping to expand and purchase the land adjacent to the school to become the future home of the school library. Donna Rosenblum brings us up to date on her quest to build that library.
A design revolution is reinventing the children’s room in public libraries and changing the way young children learn. This new breed of literacy-packed play spaces in libraries is inspired by children’s museums and the developmental theories that drive them.
The Summer Reading Program is Loudon County Public Library's biggest event of the year, and for the first time, residents of the Gum Spring area will have the chance to experience it at our new library. We're hoping for a record turn-out for our 9-week program, In Your Backyard... and Beyond.
Opening Day of Loudon County Library's newest facility, Gum Spring Library, has come and gone. More than 6,500 people checked out 14,000 materials in just under five and a half hours, and we issued over 1,100 library cards. And those are just the tangible statistics! Teens finally found a place in their community to call their own! Caretakers can now stop driving 25 minutes to the nearest storytime! An entire region of northern Virginia learned what it feels like to have free resources available to them in their own backyard. The looks of amazement and happiness that I saw on Opening Day filled me with amazement and happiness. The Gum Spring Library has arrived, and we're open for business!
As this article goes live, we are three—count 'em!— three days away from opening the new Gum Spring Library. I've been here since mid-January, and I'm just beginning to realize that the expectations I had in my head were way off base. Between preparing volunteers, planning opening day activities, and training pages, few things have gone exactly as planned. Yet despite the many changes we've made in our schedule, our confidence grows as we learn what must be done now and what can wait.
My father is a Marine, so by the time I was eight I was quite adept at packing up my things. I vividly remember when we moved to Beaufort, SC. It was 1996, and it was the first time I ever took advantage of a move. Instead of trashing my old clothes and childish toys, I fixed up parts of my personality that needed improvement and tried out some new traits. I asked people to call me “Al”, giving the role of tomboy a spin. I also spoke up a little more and put myself in more social situations. I used this experience to invent a whole new me.
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