At our high school library we hope one day to introduce a wireless network and student laptops. We have both technical and financial constraints to overcome. We hope to break the two-floor space into smaller areas to facilitate use by more classes at once. Replacing tables and chairs with ones that are more comfortable and easier to move will help make the facility more flexible and inviting.

I'm currently a classroom teacher getting my Library Media Studies degree; this book and everyone's ideas on this wiki have given me so many new ideas. Two areas I plan to focus on when I am a library teacher are increasing access and technology. Because I'm in an elementary school, the fixed schedule is limiting, so my first step would be to have more non-traditional activities in the library during extended hours if possible. Increasing access to the library at the elementary level is difficult in many situations, but I think it could have a strong impact if done well. Increasing technology in the elementary library would be another focus area for me. This year I started a class wiki that the students have used to discuss the books they are reading for "Genre of the Month" and when they are doing research in the library and computer lab. (Wikis and other Web 2.0 applications are not currently used in our library or computer lab otherwise.) I'd like to continue this practice when I'm teaching in my own library, and try to incorporate other Web 2.0 applications as well. While my school does have a separate computer lab, the library only has five student computers; I think that number should be increased, and laptops would be a great way to do that without the need for a lot of extra space.

I did a large amount of change during the first year as a necessity because the library had been so ill used over the last three years. When I started I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that the place looked a tip and I desparateky wanted the library to be more than that room students passed on their way to class. I built the entire website during the school year, redecorated everything adding posters, student artwork, and book displays.

I removed all the old books purchased in the 1960's and 70's that had not been checked out inn twenty years. Redigned all the non-fiction sections so students could easily find materials without knowling the DDC system. I also grabbed every marketing scheme in Barnes and Noble that looked neat including the hot shelves, and reader recommendations areas. At the request of one of our staff members, I build a "give a book, get a book" program and display area. I invited students to contrbute to TitleWave so I could have an idea of their books requests and used those request to build the collection.

The VLC blog is constantly used and I do try to consider how to better organize information in a school with 4,400 students in over 150 different courses in 10 different curricular departments. We started to use the Vision system for more than keeping tabs on what students are using on the net. We started more social activities with clubs and teachers. BSA had a Black History month social and a guest speaker, journalist Beverly White. I also started taking library field trips with classes to the LAPL central library and the Huntington library.

Really the bottom line is I just keep trying to figure out ways to "throw up a balloon" highlighting the library and hope that people see it. Sometimes it worked; sometimes I have to get back together with students and teachers and come up with plan B. It's all trial and error.

I have a lot of ideas I would like to implement once I become a librarian the most pertinent change I would like to implement is I would like to make the library a lot more engaging and welcoming to the students. I feel the majority of the students do not feel a conection to the library and only come in because they have to check out books. I would love to open the library for students before and afer school which seems is the time they are most likely to attend. To entice the students I would first lure the teachers and have them create their own personal blogs and wikis and from there I would encourage the teachers to bring their students maybe once a week the last fifteen minutes of the class period and have them use the teachers wiki or personal blog. By having the teachers bring the students once a week as a class I believe this will get them hooked and hopefully entice them into use the library and even have them create their own blog for the schools created by the students.

Students at the high school level need to be enticed (offer extra credit) in order for them to try anything new. If students are not enticed on their own to enter the site then teachers and the librarian should make it encing for them. It seems like a very small step I am taking but at the high school level students are so busy with sports, different clubs, and school that one more thing they might be turned off. I would also encourage the Tech teacher and his or her students to be the sounding board or ideas on what might entice students.

We are an old library with many fixed furniture features...but we are big. And we have three labs, which many schools don't. So how can we expand and flex the space for student use. For example, at lunch, the library is so loud you can hardly think. Many students are hanging out (which we think is a good thing). Could not one of the labs be for "quiet" study and instruction, so there's a space for students who want to do homework. ( I know, this may be laughable but it is too loud at lunch to get much work done!)

Also, the iGoogle assignment has turned me on to the blog and website functions, and it's all so easy to do. We have a new "Global Citizenship" class that needs technology content...these might be good guniea pigs. I love my iGoogle page and many teachers have oohed and ahhed...it would be great for teachers to have fun managing their information spaces too!

I plan to find money (grants, donations, begging...!) so that each of the two elementary schools I serve can purchase rolling laptop carts - hopefully several for each school. Otherwise there are no computer labs at these schools, though some classrooms do have 5 or 6 computers in them. Before then, I can give presentations to the principals, teachers and parents a few at a time (this may take all year..) in order to introduce the idea and applications of the Learning Commons to them. I think this will go a long way towards securing funding for either labs or laptops, and will help us move these schools into the digital age.

As I mentioned previously, there are plans to purchase laptop computers to enhance the desktops in the library. The current desktops will be upgraded this summer, which will include new monitors. The new monitors take up less space so students will be able to work more comfortably at the computer tables. New computer tables will be installed along with the new desktops which will enhance the overall atmosphere of the library.
The school also has a separate computer lab and the computers there were upgraded last summer. Last year, the school also purchased its first mobile computer lab. This coming school year, teachers will receive their own personal laptop.

I just finished reading this new book and there are a couple of things that I am interested in doing to reinvent my library. My intermediate school library is currently being remodeled so it will be a great time to introduce change and fresh ideas in the fall. I am going to write a grant for more computers and I would like to incorporate a unit on iGoogle with the students along with/ or as an additional unit. At the beginning of the year I conduct an overhead presentation of the library catalog, how to find books in the library on the internet, etc. In the spring I had my library student aide make his own iGoogle page and I couldn't believe how excited he was about it. At the end of the school year he was showing his friends his page and it was exciting. My school also instituted PLC -Professional Learning Communities -this past year. We changed our whole schedule to accomodate for teachers working collaboratively once a week Every Wednesday, students were excused 2 hours early so that teachers would have time for this collaboration. It was interesting. It seemed that some of the teachers loved PLC and some hated it. I heard some grumbling about it causing more work for the teachers, not less. I would like to somehow include the library with the school wide collaborative process.