What Could My Library Become?

A lot of people ask me, when they find out my job- "libraries are still a thing?" "Books are still involved in a budget?" 

Why yes, of course! Why not? 

Maybe not as many as ten or twenty years ago, but at least in my school, library period and downtime for reading are still a heavy part of the curriculum. As much as I love checking out books and putting them all back on the shelf, there are so (I mean SO) many books that haven't been held by a student in years. These can be "weeded" out and donated! I am so excited to do this. My best friend Pinterest has shown me some great photos and articles for weeding books from the library. 

Why do I want to do this? So I can have more SPACE for new and cool things. I'd love to make this room a space where students and staff can come to communicate, cooperate and create! Don't worry about my books- they will still be here, and maybe I can replace some of the old beaten up/popular books with new ones. 

This room needs new tables, new flooring and a re-vamp of how the room is laid out. We also have some older furniture that can be replaced with some benches/chairs/foot stools. This school does not have a cafeteria so a lot of students come in here to hang out, and if they haven't gotten enough sleep the night before, some come in here to relax and catch a few Z's. I definitely don't want to take that away from them. 

I've been asking for feedback from some students, and privacy was a huge matter! The room is already light and open concept, but keeping some areas from the learning commons would need to happen. So much to think about. 

I'll share a link that my vice principal showed me on re-creating an old library and turning it into something amazing! http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/education/2015/05/25/fathers-school-library/27902597/

This morning I walked in to 13 brand new laptops, they are charged by USB and they no longer have disc drives! The future is now. (haha) I am not sure they will be my responsibility next year, which is o.k, maybe I can get the ball rolling faster on a re-vamped library. 

I know I know, you're thinking "man where will she get this money?" It will take a long time, but I will make do with what I have until we can get it all done at once. 

ONE MONTH LEFT OF SCHOOL!