Designing Your School Media Center - Offer Both Basics and Bonuses
By: Jenna Bradley
As educators, you teach both kinds of knowledge. Your media center teaches students to search for information on many subjects from many sources, and classroom lesson plans instruct on specific subjects.
Sign systems are among the most basic forms of library instruction. Ask yourself the following questions. Does my media center support student self-sufficiency? Are there enough guideposts so that students can find their own way to the answers? Can students readily find materials without asking for help? If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, your signage is doing its job.
If you answered “no” to the above questions (say, if signs are taped to machines, posted on shelving and hung all over your media center, or if there are no signs in your library), you would benefit from a signage plan. If you are the person who maintains the library materials, it may be difficult for you to evaluate your present signage. Experts recommend using a brief survey of students, teachers and colleagues to get objective comments about library signs. Your survey should ask if the respondent is a student or faculty member, what grade the student is in, how much they use the library, and how easy or difficult it is to understand general library behavior and reserve policies, find reference materials, find periodicals, use the online catalog. Ask for an overall rating of the library signs. Ask for suggestions for any new signs.
When you have the survey results or your own assessment of the current signage, it is time to create a signage plan. Your plan need not be elaborate. Some plans are a simple inventory of what you have, noting its text and placement. Some high schools have very detailed plans that include the requisite type face, size and color combinations to be used for each application. Your time, budget and media center’s size will help you decide what is right for you.
Signs help create a first impression of your library. Done well they are informative, legible and attractive. Keep your messages positive, focusing on consideration of others rather than a list of library “don’ts.” Include “feel-good” messages like. Use graphics and color to add life and energy. Pictures add clarity to text so use them to speak to a diverse student population.
Every media center has specific needs dictated by architecture, layout and usage. Consider including the following types of signs if they are appropriate for your specific needs.
* Use directional signs (arrows) if your room has hidden areas, turns or different levels.
* Direct users to major areas using identification signs such as fiction, reference, non-fiction, picture books and periodicals. These are often done in large type and in color.
* Instructional signs help students know how to use a resource once they have found it, providing “how to” directions for use of online catalogs and computerized literature searches.
* Regulation signs tell students what things are permitted/prohibited in various areas of the media center. Copyright notices are usually posted near copiers. Signs providing directions to fire exits and tornado shelters are an aid in emergencies.
* Current awareness signs tell students of special events or circumstances.
Once you have determined what signs you need, you can consider their appearance and how you will get them. Signage options are unlimited, and there is attractive signage for every budget.
For signs you update frequently, consider changeable letter boards or create signs on your computer and put them in sign holders. Sign holders come in every shape, size and color. They can have tabletop easel backs or be attached with screws or tape. Sign holders are readily available from many Web, catalog and retail companies.
Take extra care with permanent signs--they represent an investment of time and money. The following guidelines should be considered for permanent signs.
Color Coding
Because of the library layout at Druid Hills High School in Atlanta (fiction bookcases sit between ranges of non-fiction), librarian Kathleen Disney found that color-coding by area helped students find materials more quickly. Fiction, non-fiction and reference all had their own color. The signs were large enough so staff members used them as visual cues while helping students in another part of the library. In addition, every shelf was color-labeled to coordinate with the large color-code section markers. They used a large font size on the shelf labels so students can find what they need at a glance. Student time in the library is brief, and these aids allow them to get the most work done in the least time.
If you are building a new media center or have the budget for all new signage, you may decide to enlist the services of a signage designer or facility consultant. They may visit your building; they will certainly ask for a to-scale room layout. They will provide a detailed proposal, quote and sign samples. Most library design companies will also provide a signage plan and quotation if requested. The plan and quote are often provided free of charge.
A signage plan is never really completed. It is continually being updated and revised as the collection, space and technology change. A written plan is a foundation on which to build and improve.
Create Bonus Curriculum Extension Areas
Now that signs have made your media center an easy place to do research, you can enrich the classroom curriculum with creative research projects. Whether you devote a corner, a table or simply a bulletin board, you make subject enrichment a part of the media center.
You already know the school calendar and what areas of study will be underway at any given time. Working with the classroom teachers, you can fuel the desire to learn and create added interest in topics they are required to study.
Give each subject area its time in the sun. Math and science are critically important disciplines and worthy of your extra effort. Brainstorm with your teaching colleagues to develop challenging ancillary activities that take topics out of the classroom to where students live.
Consider these ideas to enhance standard curriculum areas of study.
Mathematics
Who are the people behind the theories? Display biographies of famous mathematicians. Offer mathematical puzzles and small prizes for those who solve them. Post real-life math challenges. For example, ask students to use geometry to place four legs on a round table or have students calculate the relationship between horsepower and fuel usage.
Science
Many television programs bring the natural sciences to life. Courses such as chemistry and physics may be less accessible. Post a chart of the periodic table of the elements. Display samples of some of the elements for students to see and touch. Show common compounds they use everyday. Challenge them to use the laws of physics to explain hydroplaning and the G-forces of amusement park rides. Create the professional scientists of tomorrow through activities that encourage scientific inquiry.
History
Helping students feel a part of the time they’re studying encourages understanding. Students study causes, battles and treaties of past warfare. The impact of wars on the home front is a topic that is rarely taught. Hold a contest for the student who recreates the home front most vividly. Teachers can judge the submissions. For example, when studying WWII, a student might research and recreate ration coupons for the necessities that were in short supply. They could have a CD of time-specific music and a list of items being donated to the war effort.
Language
The media center should have magazines and newspapers students can read to sharpen their understanding of each language’s idiomatic expressions. Display signs written in Spanish, French, German and other languages. Display maps, menus and train schedules to add to the feeling of immersion.
Christian Studies
The media center can borrow many ideas from summer Bible school activities. Internet sharing of ideas is widespread among church and Sunday school leaders. Skits, puppet shows and films inspire students. Older students can be challenged to create essays or speeches using what they have learned. They might select a current world problem and a Biblical figure to solve it. Their essay/speech describes the problem and why they chose the figure they did to serve as the mediator or solve the problem.
Finally, encourage students to offer ways the media center can support their class work. This will be a focus for their ingenuity and creativity.
Your efforts to expand upon their class work will create a buzz and interest to see what is new in the library.
Jenna Bradley is a design consultant with DLI (DEMCO Library Interiors), www.demcoservices.com.
Note: Articles by the Association of Research Libraries, New Mexico State University, Children’s Librarians Julie Winkelstein of Albany, California, and Kathleen Disney of Druid Hills High School in Atlanta, Georgia, were used to provide ideas for the discussion of signage and displays.
