FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY TO LIBRARY LEARNING COMMONS:

PROGRAM: THE LIBRARY LEARNING COMMONS
LLC PROGRAM ATTRIBUTES
The teacher-librarian works with the school community
to create and manage a program that is:
Open and accessible: under the management of
qualified TLs, little gets in the way of its being open
and available for students to use; the program
extends to times when classes are not in session,
that is, before, during, and after school; it can be
booked for after-hours use for related functions, like
district workshops, parent meetings, and so on
Dynamic, innovative, and creative: there is a
tangible busy-ness and constructive feel that is
focused on engagement with reading and active
learning; play is a feature; in this “hub” there is a
“hum” — “hush” and NO signs are things of the past
Welcoming and safe: the LLC has is a special
place in the school; in its “hub” role and location, it
attracts and invites teachers, other staff, as well as
students to engage with reading, technology,
teaching, learning, and conversations about these;
while it is often a retreat from busy hallways and
classrooms, it is a context for working, not a lounge
or an alternative to the school cafeteria
TLs’ PROGRAM VALUES
Collegial relationships and collaboration;
connections over collections (Lankes)
Equity of access: in this place, everyone can be
included and is encouraged to participate
THE LLC SPACE as PROGRAM
The program is not severable from the space; form
follows function, such that the LLC program, in its
space and as a place, is designed for new ways of
teaching and learning; it features:
Up-to-date technologies that enable
exploration, production, presentation, inquiry,
communication, and creation; there is a multimedia
production centre (a “green room”) for
viewing, recording, and creating new works;
students can also bring their own technologies
Different spaces, intended for students to
occupy and configure to their own learning needs,
including quiet reading or study areas and less
formal social learning areas for individual or
group work
Centres that may at different times be used for
reading, collaboration, innovation, presentation,
research, and making things
Concurrent uses as the space is flexible enough
to be reconfigured and to host more than one
learning “event” at a time; it is not unusual for
things to happen here, like human library, art
exhibits, small-group music and drama
performances, speakers, author visits, poetry
readings, teacher meetings, and so on
Infrastructure design with improved sightlines,
ease of workflow and movement, and greater
technological capacity
Responsiveness to community input through the
Advisory Team, surveys, conversations,
recommendations, and so on
Reading, reading, reading; reading improves with
reading; reading improves with access to books;
reading anything improves reading; reading is
positively correlated with learning success
(Krashen)
Students and teachers who work in the
environment, as service providers to make things
happen, as consultants to the program, or as
independent learners
Teachers and staff working, catching up on
reading, meeting, engaging in conversations
about teaching and learning; students can see
teachers at work here
Inquiry-based learning (Stripling)
Shared understanding, shared vision, shared tools
and resources, shared time
Optimized use of space, primarily instructional
and curricular, but also including recreational,
extra-curricular, professional, and communitybased
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