Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Building Relationships One Change at a Time

“That book was crap!”   
Ahh...Music to my ears!


You know those moments at school that have you smiling all day? Moments that make you think, “Yes! I love my job!”


A student came into the library last week to specifically tell me that he was liking his book I had recommended. Another boy overheard our conversation and chimed in with, “Whatever you do, don’t read Call Me By My Name! That book was crap! After all that character went through and to have it end that way! Terrible!”


I know what you’re thinking. What’s the big deal about that? Here’s the big deal. Two boys that don’t like to read intentionally walked into the library and sought us out to tell us about their books. That doesn’t happen every day...but we sure hope it will happen again.


Our focus this past year has been on building relationships with students. That is not an easy task when our population is around 1800 kids. So, we also had to think about our environment and students’ overall experience while in the library.  After taking a look at our physical space, evaluating our procedures and talking to the kids, we decided to make a few changes.





Here is our recommended list of relationship game changers!


  1. Get rid of fines for late books. The money is not worth the relationships it breaks. Period. End of story.
  2. Go where the people are! We moved our desks from behind circulation to the center of the library. Kids have to walk right by our desks as they enter. If we are there, if gives us an opportunity to talk and connect with them.
  3. Make resources more accessible. Don’t hide or hoard the supplies. We have supplies by the printers and on a cart by our desks. Again, it creates traffic in our direction. :)
  4. Watch, listen and ask. Find out what your kids are interested in and what they want from their experience in the library. We have added games, a coloring station and mints on our desks (we’re not below bribes!)  We also moved the furniture to meet their study needs and social habits. In our Design Studio, we host student led workshops on topics that students choose.
  5. Let them eat, drink and be merry! We allow snacks and drinks in our space. The majority of students do a great job of picking up after themselves. And don't get me wrong about the "be merry" statement. Our kids are not running around the library or anything. We're just not a silent space. I would describe the sound as a productive buzz.
  6. Have some fun. We have tried to create experiences that draw kinds in just for the sake of fun. Our most popular events were the  Pumpkin decorating contest and Elf on the Shelf.
  7. SMILE! Say hello, go talk to them and assume good will.

We’re always changing things up and looking for ways to improve. We would love to hear your successes and recommendations!

Thursday, January 5, 2017

The Audio Studio is Open!


It was back in the summer when our vision of the dream audio studio began to take shape.  We spent hours online looking at existing spaces and going over professional and student feedback; We created our wish list of audio equipment that would support the needs of our students and staff; We considered both curriculum driven projects and those inspired by personal interests.  What else would we need?  Oh, yeah, funding! This was certainly not in our budget. 
Next step?  Figure out how to afford all of these amazing new things!  Thankfully we were in the midst of our summer grant writing groove – we just needed to add one more.  

Then, waiting, waiting, waiting… We’re not especially good at this part, but when it ends with good news, it’s totally worth it! 

Before
*While we waited we set up everything we had on hand 
to set the stage for the exciting things on the horizon.

When the funding came through in mid-September,  we got busy “building” our audio studio.  Orders were placed, the room was prepped, our school tech configured the equipment, and now, a few not-so-short months later – the Audio Studio is ready!   It looks AMAZING and the kids can’t wait to get in there. 

After

You can take a closer look here:  http://lhs.liberty.k12.mo.us/audio. 


We’ve got a pretty steep learning curve on all of this equipment.  Looks like our “To-Learn” list just grew again! Glad we’ve got a few student experts in the house.