The school year is winding down quickly — tomorrow I go back from spring break for two weeks of state testing/chaos, then just two more weeks of circulation before I have to shut the library down to get the library packed up and ready for the move. Since I’ve yet to do a complete inventory and both fiction and non fiction need to be cleaned up in the system, May is going to be a busy month. Especially since I’ve been told that everything needs to be DONE and ready to go by the last day of school.
After looking at the calendar and realizing how quickly this was going to come at me, I decided I needed to move past the denial phase and start really planning! So today I’ve been playing around with how I want to lay things out in the new space, which is VERY different from the rectangular box where the library currently lives.
Since fiction and non fiction are all now broken down by genre/category, I think this gives me some interesting options for arrangement. Below is my first draft of the new library layout. Feedback would definitely be appreciated!!
I like the idea of being able to put relevant fiction and not fiction categories near each other. For example, sports fiction and non fiction can be next door neighbors! I’m also thinking that having Sci-Fi/Fantasy and NF Science, Supernatural, and Mythology in the same area. The same for Historical Fiction and NF History and War.
I think this layout puts high-interest sections in the more flexible/larger spaces. I’m going to have LOADS of extra shelf space (worried that it may look empty, but I can’t really control that…). I also have some furniture that’s been ordered that won’t be functional/relevant such as newspaper racks, dictionary stand, atlas stand, too much magazine space. Once I get all of the tables and chairs, I’ll have to figure out a way to arrange it so I can also add in some lounge seating (which wasn’t included with district funds).
The center shelving will be 48” tall and have adjustable shelves (up to 4 shelves per section). Shelving around the walls will be 42” (lots of windows taking up wall space) and those will have two shelves per section with wood dividers. Rectangular tables will be up front, along with my projector station. Round tables will be in the back area near the rear doors, which will open into the courtyard.
SO, if you have any thoughts, ideas, or comments after glancing over this layout and reading this post, I would REALLY appreciate some feedback!!
PS: Thanks to everyone who responded about newspaper subscriptions in their library! I haven’t had a subscription since I’ve been in this library and don’t see the point in spending funds on it, yet when my plans came in there were fancy sections for me to hang newspapers. It looks like a lot of you have canceled your subscriptions in the past few years or plan to in the very near future.
Looks nice. I like the idea of grouping the sections together. I think the kids will like that as well and how convenient for them to pick up a nonfiction while they are close by. You can always use the magazine area for cover out displays and put lots of books cover out to fill up the shelves. Order some book stands or look for inexpensive plate/frame holders. Maybe the empty shelves will prompt them to increase your book budget:)
I’m very jealous about getting to design a new library and of the size of your library. Our library is very small and the shelves are pretty permanently stuck(although I am in the process of trying to figure a way of changing things). I do love the way you have broken up the fiction and non fiction into sections into topics. I have a question. Is all of your books in a certain level of reading. Like all adult or youth books? No separate section of picture books? My library is a k-12 school and public library in one and I have so many different sections of books without separating them into topics.
I do think that the way you have them in topic sections is amazing!
Having lots of open space is good. Lounges assist students engage.
Having group work zones and areas that can be re configured can work.
I love putting NF science and F sci fi together etc.
It’s good that you are able to have input into the design. My library was redesigned by professional architects, which means I spend a lot of time hunching over the circ desk because they assumed I would be sitting down all the time. The one problem I have found with 48 inch shelves (other than the children trying to use them like parallel bars and kick each other!) is that no one looks on the very bottom shelf. When they were 60 inches tall, I could use three shelves, but now I can only use two if I really want students to see things. Good luck! It is possible– two years ago I packed 11,000 books into cardboard boxes and hauled them to the cafeteria. I have gotten over the trauma!