“What is that on the wall?” Emilia Quintana, newly hired documentation technician at Vincent Massey Collegiate in Montreal was amused by the fact that the symbol painted on the drably coloured walls really perplexed teachers and students alike. She assured them that it had nothing to do with libraries…and then, with the help of her colleagues, she came up with a big idea.
Through the Culture in the Schools program, Emilia was able to get funds to hire an artist to design and paint a mural for the library using student drawings. As you will see in this film and the other two films that are available on the QSLiN YouTube channel, Emilia brought exciting changes to the Vincent Massey Collegiate Library within a matter of months. The mural was just the beginning.
Emilia explains how she initiated the project and how the artist worked with the students to make this mural a student work that they could be proud of. Participating in the creation of the mural gave the students a sense of ownership and pride in their library. It became a place for them to feel comfortable and a place that they wanted to come to.
Canadian Library Association standards encourage librarians to create spaces where students are free to be creative and playful. Emilia has done exactly that at Vincent Massey Collegiate.
