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A reflection about one school library faculty's goal of creating a positive learning environment with space that would help students and teachers develop real-world connections and the approach they took to creating it. The ideas for the space included housing the collection, helping students and teachers collaborate, being a hub for learning with a flexible floor plan and supporting newly developing areas in educational technology. The school decided to create a learning commons to move beyond traditional thinking about libraries and respond to what the kids and teachers really needed. The faculty envisioned their environment to be developmentally appropriate for their young students, as well as to foster a sense of creativity, inspiration, and encourage dialogue and a sense of community. The new learning commons library offered more space for stacks, added conference rooms and a lounge area, but the learning commons concept informed more than the library. These design changes increase opportunities to be inspired by student work and performances and create stronger interpersonal connections among students and faculty.

"Research and academic libraries are moving quickly in many directions in response to expectations of patrons who are growing accustomed to the consumer technology experience and digitization of content. Among the trends that are redefining institutional libraries: a push for mobile content delivery, more focus on managing research data and rethinking the use of library spaces. These and other trends were highlighted in a new, freely available report published by the NMC, a community of experts in educational technology."

"This guide is the result of a collaboration among a group of individuals who were grantees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Libraries initiative. We came together as a voluntary project group to share our research, insights and experiences from Chile, Poland, Ukraine and other countries about the value of making in public libraries. We have compiled this short guide to share our learnings about: the case to support making in libraries; different services libraries can provide to encourage making; lists of equipment, software and other tools you can use to create physical or digital content; tips and ideas on how to implement maker activities; as well as links to other maker spaces, resources, and much more"

"Craigieburn Library in Hume City, Victoria has been internationally recognised as the recipient of the 2014 Public Library of the Year Award."

" Today's library is a place for social interaction as well as quiet reading. It is a community cultural center, not simply a repository for books. It is a welcoming building with a design focus on transparency, not a series of isolated spaces."

The library now also has reading lounge areas with comfortable modular seating, as well as tables with chairs and stools that students are free to move around; two music studios; a HackerSpace (with high-tech equipment such as a microscope, 3D printer, gaming hardware and software, and a green screen for filming) and a Maker Space that also houses a 3D printer and serves as a "hands-on" craft room where old technology can be disassembled and re-configured with other materials. In short, the Monticello Library Media Center has become a "Learning Commons."

"Often called the 'library of the future' in learning and educational circles, Wallaceburg's A.A. Wright public school has transformed their library space into a learning commons."

"The culture of any library should not only encourage meaningful student learning, but also provide the tools, resources, and opportunities for students to thrive and flourish. The impact of these types of transformations on libraries can support all learners and encourage them to contribute to building a more dynamic and creative community."

"One librarian discusses what makes a maker lab/space more desirable than engaging in more traditional library programming."

From the Guardian: Schools of the future series. Technology just have to mean the end of school libraries.

Some interesting ideas and the questions in the last part of the blog got me thinking. "How do you include student voice in your library program? Does your library space reflect student voice? Are your lessons designed to celebrate student voice? We need to relax our adult expectations and be flexible enough to allow our students to shine"

Fayetteville Free library was the (one of the) first to have a makerspace. Now they have 3 makerspaces

The School Library as Learning Commons is a paradigm shift that is happening around the world. "We can get hung-up on the money when it comes to learning commons spaces. But it is first about mindsets - we need to embrace new ways of learning and find ways for our space to reflect these changes and be the gathering places for our all our learners.  The thinking around the learning commons is symbolizing the shifts we are seeing with learning throughout our schools."

Goals that are alpplicable to all school libraries at any time of the year.

"Quiet in libraries is no longer the chief value. Instead, makerspaces are bringing books to life, and the new mantra is, "Innovate, create, collaborate." Many media specialists still struggle with this transformation from silent reading space to innovative makerspace; with that in mind, I interviewed six women who seamlessly flow from rockin' librarians to Creative Directors of Making in the same day to ask how they do it."