Monthly Archives: December 2012

During a TedTalk-style professional development day a few years ago, a colleague from the high school spoke about alternatives to the almighty powerpoint presentation. He suggested that a more robust alternative, an infographic would be the next best thing.  Infographics are visual representations of complex information presented in a concise and clear manner. The tools required in the creation of infographics were not readily available to everyone, but not anymore. Recently, there has been a proliferation of web apps that make the creation of an infographic easier. Take a look here for some great resources to get you started and read library-guru Joyce Valenza’s article, Infographics as an Infolit Product. (Check out her blog, NeverEndingSearch in School Library Journal for more on how she uses infographics at her school.) Wouldn’t this be a wonderful way for students to synthesize information and assess their knowledge or understanding of a research project? I intend to spend some time playing with many of these. Stay tuned!

Recently, I stumbled on a group of students collaborating while sitting IN the study carrels.   Each of them, snuggled up knees to chest, was comfortably making our library their home.  I walked up to the group of students and said, “I’m not exactly sure why, but I need you to sit in chairs.”   Priding myself on reasonable self-awareness, I started to question the situation.  Why do I need them to sit in chairs?   What purpose does it serve besides calming my neurotic need for the appearance of order?   Side note: I also feel best when all of the chairs are pushed in at the end of each class period.

The following day, I watched Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, Bring on the Learning Revolution.   In the talk SKR suggested that in order to have radical change, we need to disenthrall ourselves with current conventions in education.   Specifically he said,

“There are ideas that all of us are enthralled to, which we simply take for granted as the natural order of things, the way things are. And many of our ideas have been formed, not to meet the circumstances of this century, but to cope with the circumstances of previous centuries. But our minds are still hypnotized by them, and we have to disenthrall ourselves of some of them.”

Disenthralling ourselves of current conventions is easier said than done.    Considering the idea, I started to make a list of conventions about our physical space that I seem to hold dear and ones that I have let go of in the last few years.

It is true that most of our work as librarians either takes place in classes, online or one-on-one with students and faculty.   That being said, libraries (learning commons) are still essential gathering spots for students to congregate, collaborate and even play.   Library Journal’s recent series, The Makings of Maker Spaces, has me thinking about our physical library and ways that we could continue to evolve to meet the needs of our students and faculty.   I haven’t come to any definitive conclusions about what exactly needs to change, but I know that revolutionary thinking should involve the following considerations:

•  Learning is driven by demand for knowledge rather than supply.
• We are moving from a culture of consumption to one of creation.
• Students are most engaged in learning when it looks and feels like play.
• Our students need to take a multidisciplinary approach to learning.
• Collaboration is an essential 21^st century skill.
• One of our students’ best resources on campus is each other.
• Students will continue to take more classes exclusively online.
• Our virtual resources are more important that our print ones.

Perhaps we should put the question to our students.   How would they design the library of the future?