Teacher Librarian Feature Article

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Volume 32, Number 1, October 2004

Bringing Vision to Practice: Planning and Provisioning the New Library Resource Center

Lisa Wilson offers guidance for teacher-librarians planning and setting up a brand-new school library.

For school librarians, envisioning the ideal library resource center and placing into practice the best ideas gleaned from visiting dozens of libraries, reading hundreds of articles, attending professional conferences, coursework, collegial conversation and personal experience presents a tantalizing professional challenge. By the time the doors open to welcome the first students, the teacher-librarian will have negotiated a gauntlet of selection decisions and purchasing compromises. Pitfalls abound and mistakes can be costly and difficult or even impossible to correct. In a perfect world, every time a new school library is commissioned, the teacher-librarian would be selected at the same time as the architect. The two professionals would work cooperatively to bring the ideal library resource center to reality. In practice, however, such forward-thinking collaboration is seldom the situation, and the teacher-librarian is almost always hired long after all major architectural decisions have been made and well into the construction process. Many fine books and professional articles are available regarding the design of library buildings (see Erikson & Markuson, 2001; Klasing, 1991; Woodward, 2000), but I found nothing satisfactory in my search for the practical and political realities of provisioning a new school library resource center with a comprehensive collection, appropriate technologies, furniture, equipment and operational supplies.

The opening of Angelo Rodriguez High School in 2001 was the realization of a dream for the communities of Fairfield and Suisun, CA, which despite burgeoning population growth had not seen the opening of a new high school for 36 years. It was also the realization of a personal dream when I was appointed as Rodriguez’s first teacher-librarian. Thus began an exhausting yet exhilarating year of incredibly steep learning curves that continually required that I step out beyond my role as teacher-librarian, become an administrator of a million dollar operation, and step into the unfamiliar territories of facilities planner, designer, technology consultant and budget authority. What I learned can serve to guide others who find themselves with the exciting, overwhelming and rewarding task of setting up a new school library and help you succeed in bringing your vision to practice.

Begin with a vision

As simplistic as that sounds, and as eager as you may be to jump in and get started, it is critical to spend time reflecting on and developing a vision of the mission, culture and atmosphere of the new library. A clearly developed vision will, and should, drive all purchasing decisions. To this end, tour other libraries—both school and public—to develop a critical eye for spotting exemplary layouts and avoiding functional errors. Review the school district’s vision and mission statements to ensure that the library seamlessly supports the school’s efforts. Visit popular bookstores for insight into design elements such as unique shelving, tables and slat walls that make for effective book promotion and display. Interview teacher-librarians and ask what works in their libraries, what they wish they could change, and investigate what they see as emerging needs, trends and problems. The collective experience of other library professionals can guide you in fine-tuning your vision and avoiding costly errors.

Finances

Creating a quality library resource center is an expensive enterprise and undoubtedly the library’s large budget will come under close scrutiny. Obtain solid financial commitments from the school district with separate budgets for the collection, technology, furniture and equipment and supplies. It is impossible to establish purchasing priorities when budget figures are not set. At Rodriguez, the collection budget was well established, but the balance of library funding was always nebulous. When the district finally closed the coffers, I had authorized the purchase of a few luxuries such as mobile book display pedestals, but had not yet purchased necessities such as book carts.

Research costs and prepare realistic estimates of all expenditures. Build in contingency funds for cost overruns or unforeseen expenditures. Create a comprehensive budget document that can be presented to board members to establish legitimacy to funding requests. Attend all budgetary meetings and be prepared to defend library expenditures. Establish staffing requirements for clerical and information technology positions. Examine the quality of library services provided by other new schools and determine their costs. Comparing an underfunded, mediocre library program to a concretely described vision of an outstanding library resource center can make a powerful funding argument.

Inevitably there will be items that were overlooked or holes in the collection that won’t become apparent until the books are on the shelves and patron service begins. Can unspent start-up funds be carried over, or will second-year funding provide for these additional items? Obtain written commitments for future funding that includes dollar amounts and a timeline.

The building

Obtain blueprints of the library building, and make sure you understand every symbol and measurement. During construction, meet with the architect and construction manager to review all concerns and questions and arrange for a guided walk through. Provide them with written specifications for the security and circulation systems. Communicate needs for electrical outlets and data ports.

Ask for copies of all change orders that occurred after the initial design drawings were completed. The original plans for the Rodriguez library depicted alternating rows of tall and short shelves. Imagine my surprise in arriving on scene to find the shelves completely installed, all at a height of 42 inches. The shelving change was documented in a change order written months prior to my appointment – an order I never knew existed that cut a third of our shelving.

Don’t assume anything and document everything. At Rodriguez, a false floor hides a six-inch deep well that contains all the data lines for the 30 computers located in the center of the library. Wrongly, I assumed that electricity would be installed along with the data lines. The plans did not indicate installation of power to the floor. It took nearly six weeks of negotiation to get electricity to the computers resulting in a one-month delay of the opening of the library. Ensure that adequate electricity is provided to the building. In the media production room of our new library, no electrical outlets were placed above the entire length of the work counter.

Finally, expect that some construction delays, alterations and mistakes will occur. Document all items that need repair or adjustment. Be present at the final “walk-through” inspection, share your remaining concerns and keep your own notes of the meeting. If you have taken the time to develop an excellent working relationship with the construction managers, resolutions to these problems will be much easier to come by. Small courtesies such as calling ahead to arrange for a site visit will lessen construction disruption and will foster a spirit of respect, trust and cooperation.

Collection development

Because our nearest public library is approximately five miles away via a busy interstate freeway, my vision for the school library included breadth and depth of coverage for all curricular areas with a large, non-circulating reference collection; duplicate copies of many in-demand nonfiction titles; quality, electronic subscription databases with remote access; and strong support for student recreational reading.

Every book vendor I spoke with offered prepackaged, opening-day collections, but as the late humorist Erma Bombeck once said, “One size fits all, fits nobody.” This pithy observation of life applies to library collections as well. Each school has an individual identity and needs particular to that identity. At Rodriguez, the social science department is deeply committed to project-based, constructivist learning. Numerous and wide-ranging resources, including primary source materials, are required to support these assignments. Becoming familiar with state and local standards, objectives and outcomes and taking the time to appreciate the individual preferences of your teachers will allow you to build a collection that successfully supports both mandated curricular areas and specific projects.

Beginning a full year in advance of opening and starting with the basics, I used Senior high school library catalog (Yaakow, 1997) to develop a professionally sound foundation print collection. Even this highly regarded collection development tool, however, suggested titles that I omitted as I knew they would sit unused – for example, a recommended biography of Adolf Hitler more than 1,000 pages long.

Most major book vendors provide free access to online collection development tools. Experiment with a few of them to see which you prefer. The best of these tools allow you to search by any combination of title, author, publisher, subject or Dewey classification; permit the use of limiters such as copyright date, grade or interest level; let you create lists based on specific review sources; provide flexible printing options; and very importantly, permit you to save your lists for future revision. For example, when searching for science and mathematics books, I specified Dewey numbers 500-699, young adult/adult interest level and copyright dates of 1998 and newer, and required at least three reviews including Senior high school library catalog. By printing an annotated list, I could easily go through the titles one by one.

After developing a core collection, I reviewed the book orders for the past two years at my previous high school and added those titles. A search of the catalogs of preferred publishers and book series generated many additional titles. Circulation reports provided valuable input about books that were actually being checked out. Examining the reference collections of other school libraries proved very fruitful.

Every provider of electronic information resources offers free trials, usually for a 30-day period. Though it can be time-consuming, meeting with salespeople for demonstrations of their products will give you a much better idea of the depth and capabilities of these programs than plodding through them on your own. Online subscriptions with current biography, country, health and science information, magazine and newspaper articles are essential for providing teachers and students with up-to-date information and must be considered an integral part of collection development.

Even if it costs a little more, order your collection from reliable, tried and true vendors. Remember that construction schedules are hopeful at best and bald-faced lies at worst. The completion of Rodriguez fell more than 100 days behind. Remaining flexible will allow you to keep some hold on your sanity. Therefore, when you need to reschedule the delivery for the third time an accommodating vendor will cheerfully handle your request.

Customer service is a major consideration in selecting a book vendor. When the collection was being delivered at Rodriguez, a careless truck driver allowed two pallets of books to fall from the deck of his truck, spilling dozens of boxes onto the concrete, breaking book spines and denting the covers of our beautiful new books. My sales representative arrived early the next morning and arranged for the replacement books to be shipped immediately. What seemed like a catastrophe at the time was resolved with a single phone call because I was dealing with a vendor willing and able to make things right.

Neither is this the time for processing surprises. Time will become very precious in the last few weeks before opening, and the last thing you want to do is fix poor cataloging records or type new spine labels.

At the time of ordering, insist that your price include delivery into the library – not the nearest building. Boxes of books are incredibly heavy and finding volunteers willing to risk lower back injury is difficult.

Furniture and equipment

When hiring personnel, government agencies remind us to “describe the job and not the person.” This adage holds true for furniture and equipment as well. Your furniture and equipment needs will very likely be put out to bid. The more complete your description, the better the chances are of getting exactly what you want. An excellent reference for writing furniture and equipment specifications is Designing a school library media center for the future (Erikson & Markuson, 2001.) Obtaining to-scale drawings of the floor plan and furniture enabled us to visualize furniture placement and determine correct quantities. An empty library building can appear cavernous, but as the shelving is installed and furniture delivered, the space will fill quickly.

It is unlikely that you will be able to order your circulation desk, worktables, computer stations, library tables and chairs all from the same vendor. If your furniture has laminate tops, specify the brand name and color of the laminate you have chosen. These are standard throughout the furniture industry and will assure that your pieces will match exactly. Keep wood finish samples and fabric swatches of all furniture under consideration.

Purchase furniture that allows for flexibility in arrangement. Round tables encourage conversation and participation in group work but aren’t practical for combining to create larger workspaces. Consider the comfort of your patrons. Soft seating sofas and chairs create a welcome reading retreat. A huge hit with the students at Rodriguez are the two-position wooden rocking library chairs. The selection of glass-topped computer tables with recessed monitors created a sleek, uncluttered look but more importantly, provides tabletop space for student books and binders. Computer chairs with pneumatic height adjustment are essential for accommodating the wide range of sizes of high school students.

Request bids from equipment suppliers. Competitive bidding resulted in price reductions of 25-30 percent from nearly every supplier. Insist that all bids include delivery, assembly, installation and setup, and demand that all packaging material be hauled away from the site by the vendor. If you have your heart set on a particular manufacturer or supplier, contact the company and advise them when your contract has gone to bid. After a year-long search for furniture, the manufacturer I was most excited about never even put in a bid.

None of your purchasing decisions exists in a vacuum; the collection, building layout, furniture and equipment should all enhance your vision of quality library service. However, in the modern school library resource center, technology may well be the tie that binds all of the other aspects together into a seamless information portal. One of the goals at Rodriguez is that students will be proficient users of information technologies. In support of that goal, the library purchased quality electronic databases, powerful computers with T-1 Internet connectivity and state-of-the-art production software; created a media production center within the library with dedicated computers, television, VCR, digital cameras, scanners and CD recorders; and linked all library resources, including the catalog, on the library web page.

Visit schools with commendable reputations for employing technology to advance student learning and access to information. Ask specifically what their future technology plans include. Begin your technology plan a year in advance of opening, but hold off writing your equipment specifications until the last possible moment as advancements and enhancements appear almost daily. The digital cameras first specified for Rodriguez were ultimately replaced by models that offered higher resolution, were more compact and easier to download and cost nearly $400 less each.

Supplies

Order enough of everything to last through the first year. Once the facility is operating, you may find that once-open purse-strings are drawn tightly shut, as other district needs become more pressing. Obtain a commitment to fund those items that were overlooked in the original order.

Keep and continually update lists of required supplies. The final supply list for Rodriguez consisted of a 20-page spreadsheet. Consider all the functions of and services to be provided by the library: book repair, photocopying, printing, project binding, laminating and sales of student supplies such as posterboards and diskettes. Open every drawer and cabinet in your existing library and write down every item. Ask clerical staff to make lists of necessary supplies and have them keep notes of everything they use over the course of a typical week. Walk through your library, inspecting from floor to ceiling, and note the number of bulletin boards, trashcans, tape dispensers and staplers. List book display materials, signage, literature holders, printer cartridges, copier paper and toner. Don’t forget bookends – I nearly did. If you don’t currently work in a library, ask a colleague in a busy library to allow you to make detailed observations and interview the clerical staff.

Moving in

During the year of planning and provisioning, I interviewed four teacher-librarians who had recently opened new library resource centers. While all of them offered invaluable guidance and individual insight, each of them cautioned me to take time—lots of time—to think about the layout of the collection on the shelves, to consider how students will enter and exit the library, to envision classroom visits and busy lunchtimes, to plan for active learner groups and quiet study areas and to anticipate a logical and pragmatic flow to the library.

Our opening day print collection arrived in 300 extraordinarily heavy boxes that the vendors had clearly labeled with the Dewey range of the enclosed books. We recruited students from phys ed classes to place the boxes in Dewey order next to their assigned shelves. Filling the shelves only half full and leaving the bottom shelf of each row empty has allowed for future expansion without needing to shift the entire collection. Placing the books on the shelves in their exact order before processing made for a quick inventory and cut down on the number of times the books had to be handled.

Recruit a minimum of 10 reliable volunteers from local churches, service organizations, seniors groups or neighborhoods to help with inventory and processing. Order at least a dozen of each of your book stamps. While you will never need this many stamps again, it will allow many volunteers to speedily stamp large numbers of books. At Rodriguez, I ordered only three sets of stamps and this shortsighted cost-saving measure likely delayed the library’s opening by 10 full days.

Provide your district Information Technology department or computer installers with approximate dates for installation, a sketch showing where all equipment is to be placed, and a list of all programs and databases to be provided. Confirm that computer furniture will be delivered, assembled and in place prior to installation. Finally, test your circulation software and security system and ensure that all computer programs and databases are fully functional.

Conclusion

Opening a new high school library proved to be a challenging yet rewarding episode in my professional life. The most critical factor in creating a successful school library is the development of a clear vision of the mission and functionality of this integral learning space. However, the process of bringing a vision to realization involves harsh realities and sensible planning. The budget will determine many purchasing decisions and therefore it is essential to have solid funding figures. You should be prepared to defend the financial investment in your library to the school board and the community. Develop a collection integrating print and electronic media that support curriculum, standards and student literacy, while being attentive to the individual teaching styles of your staff and the recreational reading needs of your students. Furniture and equipment selections should enhance instruction and student learning. Invest in supplies that will free you from clerical tasks to enable more time to be spent on your most important role as teacher-librarian.

Ultimately, a year of planning, preparation and hard work and an incredible amount of money resulted in the opening of the Angelo Rodriguez High School Library Media Center. The adventure of bringing the vision of an active, student-centered library that serves as the academic hub of the school to practice is an accomplishment to celebrate.

References

Erikson, R., & Markuson, C. (2001). Designing a school library media center for the future. Chicago: American Library Association.

Klasing, J.P. (1991). Designing and renovating school library media centers. Chicago : American Library Association.

Woodward, J. A. (2000). Countdown to a new library: Managing the building project. Chicago: American Library Association.

Yaakow, J. (Ed.). (1997). Senior high school library catalog. New York: H.W. Wilson.

Author bio: Lisa Wilson is the teacher-librarian at Angelo Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, CA. She can be reached at lisaw@fsusd.k12.ca.us.