Even if you've never thought of it as such, every time you re-arrange your classroom tables and chairs, even with the same old tired furniture, you are a designer. So what are our motivations for dragging tables from one side of a lifeless space to another??
LEARNING! You feel that on some level you may be helping the kids focus better or collaborate more effectively... your objectives are alway student driven.
When looking at a space you need to ask your self a few questions...
- Who or what is valued here?
- Who was this space designed for?
- What key values do you think informed the designing approach?
Unless the answers to these questions are students... students... learning, you may have a problem on your hands.
Shifting the focus of learning spaces can be expensive... the companies catering to school furniture needs and even more specifically library furniture needs have the market cornered. Those chairs that the last librarian splurged half the budget on 20 years ago are still 'functional' but are they comfortable? Who are you catering for? But when you find that you need to weigh up the need for comfy chairs versus the need for new books, the need to keep information flowing almost always wins out.
I have created the POP CULTURE - School Library Stylin' page to curate and showcase some cheap alternatives I have found and mostly used to avoid killing our lackluster budget... ensuring that the students can still have the books and a comfy/cool place to read them too.
But... Where to start? An easy way to brighten things up is to PAINT!!... not everything though. Choose a few key areas, start small. We were lucky enough to have some water damage (always look on the bright side!) that required a few walls to be repainted. Instead of the replacing the muddy beige of the last 50 years we spoke up and asked for a new palette. But what colours? Safe is boring... even safe dates (just look at your walls now).
We had some advice from an architect masquerading as an integration aide (it pays to know your colleagues secret strengths). She told us to find a graphic or artwork in an artbook/magazine that we liked, as the artist has already chosen colours that go well together.
The image to the right, by Caroline Johansson - a Frankie Magazine favourite, shows bright colours that compliment each other well. We took a picture (similar to this) to the paint shop and matched colour swatches to the picture. Then by buying inexpensive sample pots we were able to introduce the new colours into our space cheaply and gradually on signage and old furniture. The response to the new colour splashes from the school community (especially the kids) was so good that we were confident enough to use the paints on our walls.
Other money saving ideas include purchasing furniture from IKEA where appropriate (yellow and white lounge chairs and blue stools in picture 1) at a much lower cost and op-shops (The sofa in Picture 2 was a great find for $100 from the Salvos). Picture 2 also shows wall paper made from the pages of an old book which was beyond repair. Picture 3 shows our new circulation desk made from weeded books (our old librarian was a hoarder) and reclaimed timber from an old walkway in front of the school that was demolished (I'll blog another time about my design for the desk). And lastly Picture 4 shows that you don't need to be a slave to a library furniture company. Instead of getting new shelving (which was way too expensive and wasteful) we tidied up our current shelves and made repairs. We painted our old bay ends and bought inexpensive picture rails from IKEA to use instead of slat wall - this helped us save thousands.
Shifting the focus of learning spaces can be expensive... the companies catering to school furniture needs and even more specifically library furniture needs have the market cornered. Those chairs that the last librarian splurged half the budget on 20 years ago are still 'functional' but are they comfortable? Who are you catering for? But when you find that you need to weigh up the need for comfy chairs versus the need for new books, the need to keep information flowing almost always wins out.
I have created the POP CULTURE - School Library Stylin' page to curate and showcase some cheap alternatives I have found and mostly used to avoid killing our lackluster budget... ensuring that the students can still have the books and a comfy/cool place to read them too.
But... Where to start? An easy way to brighten things up is to PAINT!!... not everything though. Choose a few key areas, start small. We were lucky enough to have some water damage (always look on the bright side!) that required a few walls to be repainted. Instead of the replacing the muddy beige of the last 50 years we spoke up and asked for a new palette. But what colours? Safe is boring... even safe dates (just look at your walls now).
We had some advice from an architect masquerading as an integration aide (it pays to know your colleagues secret strengths). She told us to find a graphic or artwork in an artbook/magazine that we liked, as the artist has already chosen colours that go well together.
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| Source: thecarolinejohansson.com |
The four photos below show some inexpensive things we have done in our school library to refresh our space. The colours we chose for our palette can be seen in picture 1 (far left) - the blue alcove and picture 4 (far right) - the re-painted bay end. As you can see we used the colours to paint frames for our sings too. We also have a lime green on other walls and frames (not shown).
Other money saving ideas include purchasing furniture from IKEA where appropriate (yellow and white lounge chairs and blue stools in picture 1) at a much lower cost and op-shops (The sofa in Picture 2 was a great find for $100 from the Salvos). Picture 2 also shows wall paper made from the pages of an old book which was beyond repair. Picture 3 shows our new circulation desk made from weeded books (our old librarian was a hoarder) and reclaimed timber from an old walkway in front of the school that was demolished (I'll blog another time about my design for the desk). And lastly Picture 4 shows that you don't need to be a slave to a library furniture company. Instead of getting new shelving (which was way too expensive and wasteful) we tidied up our current shelves and made repairs. We painted our old bay ends and bought inexpensive picture rails from IKEA to use instead of slat wall - this helped us save thousands.
Source: Crampton, Emma. (2014) My Library [digital images]
Hopefully the above has given you ideas about how to refresh your own space, I know our colour choices aren't everyones cup of tea (insipid was the description given by one of our teachers!) but you can't aim to please everyone and at the end of the day it's about inspiring students and making them want to be in the library. Our library is about connecting kids with books, the world and each other.
1 comment:
Hi Emma, this was a blog I certainly understand and relate to. It raises a number of questions regarding the value placed on the Library as a learning facility in schools. We are often reminded by our curriculum writers of the importance of developing the skills to research and critical inquiry yet schools are often left short in their ability to fund what is needed.
I commend you on the creative heart of the library and your efforts at creating a place students would clearly want to be. It is also humbling to think that financial obstacles can be overcome with determination and thinking outside the square. You remind any reader the student is the centre of the learning experience. I can see you have created a much valued space. Well done.
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