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The Work Begins
The Work Begins
Now that you have assessed your collection and your space, the work can begin on transforming your space! Based on the checklist provided in the previous section, decide on an area to tackle first that can help immediately improve your space.
What should I tackle first?
What should I tackle first?
Cleaning up and clearing out your space can be one of the most beneficial first steps in transforming your library! If you have items like the pictures below, start with removing these items from your space. It makes it easier to envision your transformation.
Relics of technology past . . .
Unneccessary extras . . .
Stuff that needs to go!
Old magazines can be recycled, donated to art classes or saved for makerspace crafts. Old technology can be recycled or surplused or transformed for a craft. Powerhouse Recycling is one company that contracts with schools for old technology pickup but there could be others in your area.
Once you've eliminated the junk, consider how you want to change the layout of your space. As librarians, changing the collection has impact, but changing the space creates an immediate difference that's evident to anyone who enters the library.
Consider how you and your students move through the space, what kinds of traffic patterns are evident, and what is the best way to maximize the space. Don't be afraid to continually move furniture around until you find a setup that works for you and your students!
Offer extra items to your staff!
Send the rest to district surplus or donate (if allowed).
Teachers will fight for tables!
The old circulation desk was built when there was an assistant to check out books. I used the weeded encyclopedia sets to raise the computers up to make a self-checkout station.
I moved the lounge furniture all over the library until I found a setup that worked for the space. Lounge seating on the side allowed the tables to be oriented towards the screen for lessons and meetings.
Rolling bookshelves were previously on this wall with outdated copies of SAT prep books. I moved the rolling shelves out into the main library space to house the collection. There were two large sections of shelves that were stationary. I moved this shelf against the wall to serve as display space as students walk into the library. The other shelf was moved into a back room for storage.
Now that you've cleared out the junk and worked on setting up the space, you can start weeding the collection! NCDPI has guideline recommendations provided below for the minimums to have an outstanding library. These are goals we can all work towards in our spaces! I believe in having a robust collection, but after inheriting a library with a large collection that held no interest for the students, it is better to weed and only keep the relevant, engaging books. Numbers aren't everything!
You may choose to tackle weeding in different ways. If you want to make an immediate impact on the collection, start by removing all the old, tattered, smelly, wet, moldy books. Keep MUSTIE in mind!
Here is an example of a shelf before I weeded.
Here is the same shelf after 15 minutes by just removing all the old and sad books!
After running your collection analysis, you now have data about which non-fiction titles to weed based on age and which fiction titles to weed based on usage. Weeding an entire library can be overwhelming, but remember that every time you work on a section of the library you are making it better for your students! Consider tackling smaller sections of the collection first to ease your way into the work. Recruit students to help you in the process - high schoolers are completely capable and they know what they like. Involve them in the process!
Weeding is a process! Your library may look like mine as you remove books from the collection that no longer serve their purpose.
There may be a mess, but it will be worth it in the end!
Looking for more resources about how to improve your library? Refer to the links below!
You can transform your space! This is what's possible!
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