If I were a library volunteer or doc-tech or an older librarian who had never been comfortable with new technology, the video displayed here might scare me a bit. It’s a great promotional video for the Library Learning Commons in that it suggests exciting possibilities of what students might achieve in this revised library space, but change is scary. I could see library personnel feeling that they don’t have the skills to keep up. They might be afraid that they will lose the positive aspects of what made their library great. Maybe library-staffer-Mary enjoys the quiet of the library and books neatly displayed on the shelves. She sees computers and mobile devices as distractions to learning and to the serious aims that the school library has. Perhaps Mary is an avid reader who believes that the promotion of literacy is the sole aim of the library and therefore sees the whole concept of the learning commons as a threat to what her library’s aims have always been.
This is why it is so important to have a Library Learning Commons Leadership Committee so that change is implemented collaboratively. We should include library personnel in activities with students so that they can see the importance of trans-literacy as well as all the digital skills that our twenty-first century students must acquire. We could invite everyone in our learning communities to contribute their ideas and skills into making the LLC an actively used space. Perhaps visiting other schools that have already embarked on the Learning Commons journey might spark the imagination of people who are reluctant to embrace the new concept.
It’s also important to make people feel that the new skills that they themselves will be developing will make them more valued members of the school community. Whether it’s becoming an expert in searching or using GAFE tools or helping a child make a well-researched presentation, technology can be a wonderful tool to broaden our horizons and connect us to new worlds. Books have always done this so it’s a natural extension to see the digital world doing the same. By encouraging everyone to consider themselves as learners, we can accept that not everyone knows everything right off the bat. Learning implies struggling with new concepts to gain new skills. Learning means that we will make mistakes, but mistakes can be corrected. The person who can make a bang-up library Christmas display may find their creativity can be applied in the digital realm as well. Our friend Mary may love her new space all the more.
When we model learning for students, they understand that there is no “graduation” from learning. We learn all our lives and the Library Learning Commons can be the place where learning is encouraged for both children and adults, where trial and error is a-ok, and where everyone can help one another to do amazing things whether it’s with an i-Pad, a 3-D printer or a set of Legos or a terrific book. The Library Learning Commons is there to help everyone get a little closer to the world outside the school’s walls and for those of us who work in them, it’s a marvelous opportunity for the children and for ourselves to stretch a bit and discover new skills.
