World Book Day

Look out for details of events you can attend at bookshops and libraries in your area around the time of World Book Day. There are thousands of events organised every year − many of them open to everyone.

Is this what you see as important in your school library?

Image by vanhookc via Flickr Doug Johnson in his blog  What do our school buildings say about us? stated that "designers of most educational spaces seem to concentrate on low cost construction, ease of maintenance, security, and visual control. Comfort, aesthetics, and inspiration don't much figure into the design process."
Unfortunately comfort, aesthetics, and inspiration are  factors that stimulate learning. 

Doug suggests other ways to show respect for facility users include providing indirect lighting; varying elevations in ceiling heights; including real windows and skylights to provide natural light; the use of warmth-creating wood and fabric surfaces; and the provision of comfortable work/study/reading areas that are relatively easy to change the configuration of.  Also the inclusion of places to display student work and interesting pieces of art on either a permanent or rotating basic make the learning space visually appealing.

 Further related references on school libraries:
The following presentation includes extracts from:The School Library: A 21 Century Classroom? presented by Dr Carol Gordon at Armidale in 2009.

Design Departure: Do We Need New Classrooms? « Molehills out of Mountains

• Imagining the Future of the School Library (with Rolf Erikson and Christian Long), DesignShare, November, 2006.
• Importance of Bricks, Head for the Edge, Library Media Connection, September 2006

• The School Library Media Specialist: Overview (eduscapes.com)
• School Library Flexible Scheduling and Assessment (sldirectory.com)

Joyce Valenza leads the way! Sit back and enjoy the show!!

Enjoy Joyce Valenza's first post of 2011: 2011: The year to be FIERCE!

What librarians make. Or Why Should I be More than a Librarian? from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.

Inspired by Taylor Mali and his poem What Teachers Make

Read It! from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.

Parody lyrics by Graham Roberts, based on Michael Jackson's Beat It!

Thanks to STHS Choir led by Monica Femovich, Dan Meder, Joyce Valenza, editors Mike and Dave

Virtual Library Commercial from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.

Library Commercial from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.

About STHS Library by Carly Ludwig

Enjoy her super wiki @ Springfield Township Virtual Library 
Come and see Joyce when she visits Australia for the second time, this year: Dr Joyce Valenza will present full day seminars in Sydney, Adelaide, Gold Coast in July 2011. Go to www.sybasigns.com.au for details & rego

Related articles

• Why I Am Here: A school librarian's creed (schoollibraryjournal.com)
• What librarians make. A response to Dr. Bernstein and an homage to Taylor Mali " NeverEndingSearch (schoollibraryjournal.com)
• Rethinking the Library to Improve Information Literacy (edutopia.org)

2011 posts to start as soon as I have finished my holiday. See you soon.

I wish everyone a very happy and healthy year.