Deep Thinking

Thanks to Susie Highley for pointing out this article via the LM_NET listserv:
Libraries as Places to Linger and Mingle from CSM. Alex Wright explores the concept of library as place in this opinion piece, rather than just a silent depository. I think we could continue to offer examples of how libraries are far more than places to go to retrieve physical documents. Some of the things that happen in a school library include:
* instruction in large and small groups
* individual help exploring personal interests, academic pursuits, and career needs
* creation of new content with an emphasis on synthesis and evaluation (HOTS)
* sharing of favorite books via book groups, rats (read and talk sessions), chatting with friends
* recommending titles, authors and series by patrons - students across grades comment and help others find information, teachers share
* discussion of current news events when teachers group around the newspaper in the morning
* assembly of materials for instruction (which never happens silently and alone, but involves the patrons talking to others while there)
* previewing of content for instruction via video formats, computer, etc. where others come by and make comments
* small group tutoring by volunteers - I coordinate reading and math volunteers
* location of equipment and instruction on how to use it
* previews of materials - vendors beware that students participate and touch items here!
* faculty instruction at point of need on cross-curriculum issues, technology training, managing email and other communication devices
* student teacher support
* emotional support for issues faced by students and teachers via a gentle ear
* study for lessons to catch up or as a reward for good classroom behavior
* magazine perusal and discussion
* meetings for faculty groups on big and small issues - whole group and small specific groups
and much much more
* quiet, individual reading

I am sure others could add much to this list, but I run an elementary library. As you can imagine it is hardly ever silent. I do hold WHISPER WEDNESDAYS twice a year just to emphasize the difference between what libraries are perceived as and what they really are. The teachers struggle the most because they often are the noisiest patrons.

As Alex stated in his article “But the real Alexandria was much more than a giant papyrus warehouse; it was more like a Greco-Roman think tank, built with great colonnades and wide open spaces designed to draw scholars together, giving them a place to work together, engage in dialogue and debate, and practice Aristotle’s famous peripatetic method: meaning literally, to walk around.” I see many school libraries in this manner. Perhaps this is why my library is valued by the school community, administrators, and staff. We are far more than a quiet retrieval place, but are an active learning environment CONNECTED to the world with resources.

In much the same way I view the blogosphere as an attempt to BE in a library from a remote location. Everyone could passively use the internet or they could choose to be participatory and get involved in the world, creating and sharing opinions, responding, criticizing, and attempting to raise our collective knowledge.