Designing the Physical Space
The building itself
Libraries in the past tended toward fewer windows and more shelf space. Scratch that from your library conceptualization. Here, you'll want high ceilings, open spaces, and a modern feel. Think Starbucks or a cafe look rather than used bookstore.
Speaking of Starbucks, if you're following library trends and burning through your budget, think about adding a cafe to the library. It has become increasingly common to add juice bars or coffee shops to libraries with the space, and to allow eating and drinking in the library setting.
Importantly, you will want to conceptualize the space before you ever begin building. What might the space be used for? Go wild with your planning. It is better to over-plan than under-plan. Might the space used for slam poetry nights, movie screenings, band performances, and art showcases? Will you want meeting rooms with closing doors so students can study quietly? Will there be an issue with allowing students to be alone? Maybe these rooms need glass walls. If you're going with glass walls, consider purchasing glass-pens so students can use the walls like whiteboards.
Finally, consider placement carefully. You want this to be a place that is easily accessible for all students and staff members. If it is hard to reach it will get less traffic. You want lots of traffic.
Speaking of Starbucks, if you're following library trends and burning through your budget, think about adding a cafe to the library. It has become increasingly common to add juice bars or coffee shops to libraries with the space, and to allow eating and drinking in the library setting.
Importantly, you will want to conceptualize the space before you ever begin building. What might the space be used for? Go wild with your planning. It is better to over-plan than under-plan. Might the space used for slam poetry nights, movie screenings, band performances, and art showcases? Will you want meeting rooms with closing doors so students can study quietly? Will there be an issue with allowing students to be alone? Maybe these rooms need glass walls. If you're going with glass walls, consider purchasing glass-pens so students can use the walls like whiteboards.
Finally, consider placement carefully. You want this to be a place that is easily accessible for all students and staff members. If it is hard to reach it will get less traffic. You want lots of traffic.
Furnishings
The learning commons concept is one of flexibility and opportunity. If students want to pull together some chairs or tables in order to have a larger surface upon which to build a giant robot, you want to accommodate that. If they're looking for a comfortable place to relax and read a book, you want to accommodate that as well. If students need to clear a space without furniture, you want to accommodate that, too. As much of your library's furniture as possible should be mobile--and anything heavy needs wheels.
Susan McMullen says that the library's furniture must be "flexible, comfortable, attractive, and moveable. Custom-built furniture is expensive and may not be flexible enough to grow with evolving needs" (McMullen).
Books are still an important part of the library. Do not, I repeat, do not lose the books. But bookshelves should not be tall stacks, dividing students from each other and from the librarian--they should not break up the library's space, blocking the field of vision. Fewer books is not necessarily a bad thing--an updated library with strategic non-fiction sections will work well when combined with your digital offerings.
Hardware
1:1 Devices
Let's assume you've got a 1:1 school. In such a case, students should have their own devices. Chromebooks and iPads are two of the most commonly used in schools. Whichever direction your school trends, make sure you have additional copies on hand for students who have forgotten theirs at home or simply lost a charge in the middle of the school day.
If you have some say in the purchase of devices, the PC Magazine website has some excellent comparisons between Chromebook models. If money is no limit, the Asus Chromebook Flip is an amazing chromebook with few downsides. If you are looking for a very good chromebook with some limitations, go with the Acer Chromebook 14.
If content creation is important at your school--art, movies, and the like--consider the iPad. It's expensive, but has a lot of content creation tools that make it a better device for that purpose. But in a general sense, without a dedicated keyboard, an iPad is more difficult to swing for writing content.
Catalog devices:
You will still want a few dedicated devices for students to search the catalog--perhaps cheap tablets since they will be completing a simple function.
eReaders
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is often considered the best dedicated eReader on the market, and was even rated above the pricier dedicated e-reader offerings from Amazon (Colon).
As a savvy librarian with a big budget, having eReaders on hand for student loan is an elegant solution. Because Kindle also works with OverDrive, a top-rated ebook subscription app, which we'll cover in the next section, purchasing these will make sure that your devices can work with your applications--always an important consideration.
Some schools even allow each student to purchase a number of books through Kindle each year--the books remain on the Kindle and can be read by the next student to check out the device.
Determining how many to purchase will depend on your own school's needs.
HD Camera and a green screen:
Having a camera or two for library use can come in handy for those students attempting to create multimedia projects.
If you've gone the iPad route, you can actually use these devices to film videos. Score!
If your school has selected chromebooks, the Canon Rebel T6i is a good way to go for basic film-making on a moderate budget. It's technically a still image camera, but its filming capabilities are good and it pulls double duty.
If you've got the cash, go with a camcorder like the Sony FDR-AX53 4k HD Camcorder. There isn't much a staff member or student can't do with this device.
A great budget green screen can be a green sheet held up by clothespins. If you want to spend as much on a green screen as you do on a camera and really want to get your library users excited, try something like the Lastolite Panoramic Background.
Let's assume you've got a 1:1 school. In such a case, students should have their own devices. Chromebooks and iPads are two of the most commonly used in schools. Whichever direction your school trends, make sure you have additional copies on hand for students who have forgotten theirs at home or simply lost a charge in the middle of the school day.
If you have some say in the purchase of devices, the PC Magazine website has some excellent comparisons between Chromebook models. If money is no limit, the Asus Chromebook Flip is an amazing chromebook with few downsides. If you are looking for a very good chromebook with some limitations, go with the Acer Chromebook 14.
If content creation is important at your school--art, movies, and the like--consider the iPad. It's expensive, but has a lot of content creation tools that make it a better device for that purpose. But in a general sense, without a dedicated keyboard, an iPad is more difficult to swing for writing content.
Catalog devices:
You will still want a few dedicated devices for students to search the catalog--perhaps cheap tablets since they will be completing a simple function.
eReaders
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is often considered the best dedicated eReader on the market, and was even rated above the pricier dedicated e-reader offerings from Amazon (Colon).
As a savvy librarian with a big budget, having eReaders on hand for student loan is an elegant solution. Because Kindle also works with OverDrive, a top-rated ebook subscription app, which we'll cover in the next section, purchasing these will make sure that your devices can work with your applications--always an important consideration.
Some schools even allow each student to purchase a number of books through Kindle each year--the books remain on the Kindle and can be read by the next student to check out the device.
Determining how many to purchase will depend on your own school's needs.
HD Camera and a green screen:
Having a camera or two for library use can come in handy for those students attempting to create multimedia projects.
If you've gone the iPad route, you can actually use these devices to film videos. Score!
If your school has selected chromebooks, the Canon Rebel T6i is a good way to go for basic film-making on a moderate budget. It's technically a still image camera, but its filming capabilities are good and it pulls double duty.
If you've got the cash, go with a camcorder like the Sony FDR-AX53 4k HD Camcorder. There isn't much a staff member or student can't do with this device.
A great budget green screen can be a green sheet held up by clothespins. If you want to spend as much on a green screen as you do on a camera and really want to get your library users excited, try something like the Lastolite Panoramic Background.
References
Colon, A. (2017, January). The best eReaders of 2017. PC Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/roundup/294182/the-best-ebook-readers
McMullen, S. The learning commons model: Determining best practices for design, implementation, and service. Retrieved from http://faculty.rwu.edu/smcmullen/Lessons.html.
Murray, M. The best chromebooks of 2017. PC Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413071,00.asp
Thompon, D. (2013, November 20). Library Media in the 21st Century - Part 1/2: Physical Spaces and Student Projects. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REN8hAw1mhA
McMullen, S. The learning commons model: Determining best practices for design, implementation, and service. Retrieved from http://faculty.rwu.edu/smcmullen/Lessons.html.
Murray, M. The best chromebooks of 2017. PC Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413071,00.asp
Thompon, D. (2013, November 20). Library Media in the 21st Century - Part 1/2: Physical Spaces and Student Projects. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REN8hAw1mhA