I supervise three library media centers in three elementary schools. All part of one district, the schools are 7-10 miles apart. I circulate between the three and am thankful for a full time aide at each building. The students deserve someone there full time. The faculty deserve someone there as a resource full time. And thankfully our district agrees.

In the 23 years I’ve been in the district two of my media centers have moved from minuscule spaces to areas designed just for them. I was able to collaborate on both spaces, especially on the one ten years ago where I was allowed to be involved in planning from the ground up.

So when there were rumors that there might be new construction at my third school I immediately began expressing my interest in collaborating early. I was working on my Master’s Degree at GSLIS at the time, so I made designing new space one of my projects in preparation: http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~mbrandt3/LibraryDesign.1/indexhome.html

Unfortunately, with this new building there was no input from anyone who uses it. So we are left to make our beautiful new spaces as functional as possible. This is quite frustrating when you know that if ANYONE had asked “what do you need in the space?”, you could have made a huge difference. But as one of my colleagues said, “Suck it up, let it go, and make it work.” Good advice.

Bottom line – we went from almost 7,000 books and 20 computers shoved into one classroom sized space to a facilty the size of three classrooms. Here is what improved:
Student spaces were improved by 150%!

New tables

We can now seat 32 – a full class with a few seats left over!
The computer lab is separate from the “library” space.

Windows for leisure reading space

There are gorgeous windows which will be used as casual reading areas (as soon as we can order comfy chairs and rugs).

What didn’t improve:

We barely fit our collection on the shelving.  New media space should always allow room for growth.  We made a lateral move.

"circulation" desk

The architect designed the circulation desk and built it like a reception desk.  It is so high that we can’t supervise the room when we are seated behind it.  Worse, our fourth and fifth graders cannot see over.  There is one low area for circulating books.

The desk has a book return hole in it, but no depressable book truck to catch the books.  And the space is not standard so I can’t order one.

They provided zero space for storing equipment. 

The beautiful 24 feet of shelving behind our circulation desk has limited use because it is only 11 inches deep and open.

Bottom line…..

Do everything possible to collaborate on library renovations or building projects.  I did; but along with everyone else who should have been involved, for whatever reasons, there was no collaboration on this project.

So when all else fails….suck it up, let it go, make it work.  That’s what librarians do best, anyway, isn’t it?  We make it work!

And it is beautiful, isn’t it?  But libraries must be designed for function.

Deep cleansing breaths … I’m letting it go, I’m letting it go, I’m letting it go….