Slide 1

School Library Design

All Hallows School, Potter Library
Anne Weaver
http://readingpower.wordpress.com/
Edutech 2014
Images of our old, but beloved Potter Library


Hello, I am Anne Weaver, Head of Library and Information Services at All Hallows School,
Brisbane. We are the oldest school in Queensland, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861.
Library services commenced operation from 1866. In 2013, our school enrolment was about
1430 girls, from years 5 to 12 i.e. 10 to 18 year olds.

On the slide there are images of our old library. Some people asked why we were renovating as
it was a great library. But it was a library renovated in 1998 when mass mobile devices did not
exist. In 1994 only 3% of American classrooms had access to the Internet while by 2002 92% did
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet). It was a library for the past, not the future.

This renovation was part of a process of curriculum review in 2013, focusing on Year 7 and 8
which continued into 2014. The school established priorities which included creativity and
innovation as a vision. Years 7 and 8 in 2015 will feature new subjects: Transdisciplinary, Media,
Visual Arts and Technologies, that provide a futures approach to the Australian Curriculum,







Slide 2

Rationale : Why a new library?


The last time I spoke at an event such as this was the SLAQ / IASL Conference in Brisbane in
2010 when I spoke about how school wide one-to-one mobile computing devices impacted on
our library program. I spoke about our virtual presence and how we supported learning 24/7.
Today, is another step in this journey which extends the impact of one to one computing devices
to the design of a particular learning space: the Potter Library. The rationale behind the design
of the learning spaces in the library will be discussed, the process, and then there will be a
walkthrough video. This presentation is available via my blog readingpower.wordpress.com
which already features many photos of the library renovation.

We have the internet, so do we need libraries at all? Our teaching school community strongly
values blended learning, that is both print and digital resources, and the library facility. The
Potter Library was busy from 7.30 until 5 pm every day, both in and out of class time. Statistics
for bookings and staff feedback indicated a demand for more spaces, especially at peak
assignment times. Over a term, we averaged 120 students per day at lunchtime. More space
was needed for senior students in the Senior Study Centre, which is part of the Library and open
from 6am to 8pm on school days.




Slide 3

Rationale: Old library



Libraries can modernize without renovating. Even while our library staff were temporarily
accommodated in our junior school library, during the renovation, we provided maker space
activities including soft circuits. So being contemporary is more about the library program than
just the library space.

We did consider shifting or rebuilding a library, but it was a space that worked very well and
since 2004 a lift had been installed due to the renovation of another building and the tuckshop
had been moved to beside the library, so it was very well located. Finding a space of similar or
bigger size on our central city site was unlikely and completion by 2015 of anything in a new
location would not only have been more expensive, but impossible in this time frame.

In the slide, the big round tables, though heavy and hard to move, at the time were the height
of social learning. The cubicles were the 1990s answer to individual learning spaces. The
computer hubs meant a teacher who booked any research area got 30 seats, 8 PCs and access
to books. This was blended learning 1998 style.

When I look back over the last ten years of running a library, there has been a change from the
shoosh mentality to a social environment. However, with large numbers of students, the need
for crowd control and some reminders about noise will still be needed to provide balance
between those socializing and those doing focused work


Slide 4

Rationale: Old library
We shape our buildings; thereafter
they shape us Winston Churchill


The Library had last been renovated in 1998 as in the attached images. In our old library, the
nonfiction and fiction books were in a big clump and along with the computer hubs, took up a
lot of the library space.

Around March 2013, the Principal hinted a renovation might occur, so we started heavy culling
aiming at a 40 percent reduction in books. We asked Heads of Departments or their delegates
to determine what would go and achieved 30%. Our collection is assignment focused, rather
than a general collection, so with the changes wrought by the National curriculum, there were
topics that were no longer needed. We researched genre shelving that concluded this increased
lending. So, we culled fiction and re-badged it into genres.







Slide 5

Rationale: Old library



Between 2004 and 2010, we had done many mini renovations. We removed non-fiction
shelving, thanks to dedicated culling to create an additional class area. We added more PCs to
the Senior Study area and increased printing and scanning equipment throughout the library.
We moved about 12 OPACs that were located together near the front door to the fiction and
non-fiction areas and inter-shelved reference. This created space for a bean bag/ magazine
area.

We had tried a variety of means to deal with different noise needs. There was a classroom in
the library that we dedicated to quiet study outside class time. However, very few students used
it and those that did were often talking. So, it became apparent that students who wanted quiet
would not use a "quiet area" but would use headphones, go outside, or tolerate the noise,
rather than use a separate space.









Slide 6

Process
http://www.innovatemyschool.com/blog/item/976-classroom-design-can-improve-
performance-by-25-research-reveals.html
Active Learning Areas, All Hallows School


Our school was interested in research about how learning space design can improve
performance; some recent research suggesting by as much as 25%.

We visited other leading libraries and learning spaces. The school had already developed 3
Active Learning Areas elsewhere in the school, on a similar model to QUT Cube. The image
shows one of our 3 Active Learning Areas, located in another part of the school.







Slide 7

Process
Images of the Hunt Library in North Carolina
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hunt+library&FORM=HDRSC2#view=de
tail&id=C87DEA755676591BCB850B7A694242328CAB9A0B&selectedIndex=110


We visited both QUT Libraries. St Ritas Library had just been completed and this space
resonated with us in terms of meeting the needs of our students. Loris Phair at Hillbrook
Anglican College had long provided library envy with the booths in her library, genre shelving
and a dispersed non-fiction collection.
This slide shows The Hunt Library in North Carolina which had just been built and inspired us at
the time. You will see round shelving in our new library and instead of the yellow stairs, we have
neon lights as the surprise factor.







Slide 8

Process: the library evolves
http://www.steelcase.com/en/products/category/educational/
documents/ses_active_learning_spaces_interactive.final.pdf



Many common principles arose from research into learning spaces, such as that by Mary
Featherstone and Stephen Heppel. We wanted a space for different learning styles and needs,
spaces for individuals and groups. We wanted more flexibility about where students could sit
and use devices.

Steelcase furniture has great research on its site into the evolution of libraries from information
to social spaces, as shown in the image which represents how the library has evolved from
being reading and storage centred, to being learning centred.





Slide 9

Process - AHS library staff imagined



In May 2013 we presented renovation ideas to leadership. We surveyed students, marched out
statistics of high library usage, and further researched library and learning space design. We
explained how most learning actually occurs outside class time and that the library is a
supervised space for individual and social learning and collaboration, providing access and
support for a wide range or learning needs and resources, both academic and pastoral. Our
proposal asked for a better entrance; moving the careers office so visitors did not need to
wander through the whole library, dispersing shelving to create more class areas, expansion of
the Senior Study, a new counter and more flexible and modern furniture.

Then, we were advised that architects were being tendered. By September we were meeting
with architects Fulton Trotter and by October we were looking at plans. Fulton Trotter had done
other school and public libraries, so brought expertise in this area and much more creativity and
bravery to expand thinking than our more limited ideas shown in the mage. Fulton Trotter
brought ideas of big boulders, first, small boulders, later. So, we started with the big ideas. They
asked us for a normal day in the library, they looked at the school story and its location and
sightlines.





Slide 10

Rationale: Why a new library?
Before
After



So the project commenced officially around May 2013, and we opened for students April 18,
2014. It was practically completed for our annual Open Day on June 1, 2014, when we
welcomed about 1200 visitors to the school. The old Potter Library accommodated about 260
students, the new one will accommodate about 450. We have another library on site, so all up,
our library services can accommodate up to 600 students, at one time.

The images show how our library entrance went from a dark hole in the building, to become
more open and intriguing.







Slide 11

Process
New writeable
tables at AHS



Fulton Trotter met with students and staff, asking what they wanted in a library. Students
wanted: food, more flexible seating and table options that were more easily moved, more
whiteboards, more relaxed furniture, more light, better printing, more PCs/technology and
bigger screens, seating near windows, noisy and quiet spaces, better access to Careers, more
space, more modern decor and more variety in spaces and furniture.

Leadership wanted: no food, library to be future oriented to meet needs for the next 15 years.
The design recognizes the trend away from printing to online submission, and also increased
use of mobile devices, so not PC based. Leadership wanted a library that was based on research
about learning in high technology contexts, cost effective to build and maintain, that would
meet the needs of modern learners, be flexible, and an inspiring destination.





Slide 12

Process
New node chairs at AHS (more commonly called zoomy chairs


Support and teaching staff wanted: more space, more flexible work options, display areas, print
books, to be able to go to the library for an out-of-classroom experience, more interactive and
less didactic spaces than the classroom, more collaborative learning/active learning areas, more
digital resources, more media, student driven learning, the fiction/reading area were
important, Discussion Rooms- space for students to meet without teacher supervision - acoustic
privacy with visibility maintained. The Careers Office needed to cater for meetings of up to 4
and needed to be soundproof for privacy.

Above are our new node chairs from Steelcase furniture, which enable quick movement into
different group configurations.





Slide 13

Process
The Forum at AHS Potter Library


The Design team included library staff, the Deputy Curriculum, the Principal, the Business
Manager, the AP Technology and the architects, so was very collaborative and represented the
main stakeholders. A schedule was made for progress and plans appeared. The library has a
long line of rectangular columns through the centre. Traffic ways became very important, as
schools are defined by lesson bells, where large numbers of students move at once. We were
fortunate that most of the walls were not load bearing and could be removed. When the Year
12s finished school in November 2013, the Potter Library was closed as soon as they walked off
the premises and library staff operated out of the Middle School Library until Potter reopened in
April 2014.




Slide 14

AHS Potter Library


As can be seen the plans heavily feature circles which reflect The Circle of Mercy, a popular All
Hallows and Mercy symbol and hymn.

We review our library program yearly, but with this space barely finished, we are reviewing our
library program, looking at the research, visiting other future oriented schools, to ensure our
practices are as innovative, collaborative, connected and effective as this space we have
designed. We have started implementing maker spaces events and we are looking to expand
lunchtime activities. We already offer activities like book clubs, craft and writing workshops, and
are hosting a student careers expo. We want the library to be a happening destination that
welcomes the community and provides support for learning. We look forward to aligning our
middle school library space to the new concepts applied in the Potter Library. As Winston
Churchill said, We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.





Slide 15

Process
Research Areas 2 and 4 at AHS Potter Library


There is a clear correlation between the key qualities of good learning space design and what is
wanted by schools from library professionals. The qualities in good design are collaboration,
provision of focused, social, creative, flexible learning, evidence-based best practice, good way-
finding, high and low technology, connected and future thinking. These same criteria might be
used to evaluate teacher librarians and library programs.

This image shows a panoramic view of Research Areas 2 and 4.




Slide 16

Process
Counter, Research Area 1 and Senior Study Centre at AHS Potter Library


This image shows a view from the Senior Study Centre, across to the counter and front door,
then around to Research Area 1.



Slide 17

Process
Writeable walls and tables at AHS Potter Library


Feedback from staff and students:

We offered a prize of movie tickets for feedback on the new library, and in 2 days had 410
responses. Comments were too many to list, but included: spacious, like the wood, like
connection with outside, it's spacious, has various comfortable and cool areas and has tables
and areas which can be easily moved around, like the zoomy chairs, really love the fiction area
and how all the books are so easy to find in categories, like the area with the magazines and
beanbags, it is mostly more modern and has integrated more areas to sit, read and work and is
more suited for group activities.

Students greatly enjoy the whiteboard tables and walls.




Slide 18

Process
Research Areas 3 and 5 at AHS Potter Library
https://www.diigo.com/user/anneweaver


More feedback from students:
Now caters for a larger variety of uses, is more open and has great spaces for specific purposes
(eg. stapling bench). It looks nicer, has better learning spaces, is funner and more
comfortable. I love the senior study centre. I have found it so helpful, especially after school,
because it has really great resources and stays open so late, I like all the cool obstacles, desks
arrangements, cafe' booths, and it's really spacious.

Feedback from staff - library full, neon lights a surprise (Mothers' Network paid for these, so we
are grateful for their support), more spacious, everything I asked for.

Feedback from public on Open Day - wonderful, amazing, the students are so lucky




Slide 19

All Hallows School Library Renovation:
a walk-through.
Connection with the outside is emphasized in the walk-through as this has been shown to increase
learning space patronage. http://www.steelcase.com.au/en/products/educational/research/Documents/360_Education_Low-Singles_Mech.pdf
http://youtu.be/n-ZwdDVVAsA
See also:
St Ritas Library renovation http://readingpower.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/st-ritas-college-library/
Brisbane Boys Grammar Library http://readingpower.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/space-out/
https://www.diigo.com/user/anneweaver Search for library design
Older links http://readingpower.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/libraries-and-design-especially-in-brisbane/