Furniture

I agree with you about creating a work space with lots of room.  I am in a newly renovated LC and find the TL /circulation desk very awkward to use.  There are 3 OPAC set up for check out all side by side with not enough room to put materials down in order to complete check out procedures.  I am thinking of removing one in order to create more space.  There is no place for students to put their book when they return them before they get checked back in.  I am constantly fidgeting around trying to make it work.  Using a chair, a bin or whatever to hold these books.  Very inefficient.  I'm glad we had to address these questions because it made me realize I have to do something about my own situation.  I like the bigger work areas attached to the TL desk.  It's a nice place to make displays on themes, or projects we are working on.

LM NET message:

“I know this is a long shot, but my principal just dropped in my lap the

possibility of new library furniture.  He wants something new and different.

He loves technology.  If any of you have recently configured your library

and have gotten new furniture, where did you get your ideas?  Is there a

website that has something that I can get ideas off of?  I'm in a Middle School (6-8).  We still have traditional teachers who want tables and chairs. We also have more small group work. Thank you in advance

for any help you can give me.

My Response:

I get ideas from visiting other Libraries that have been operating as a LC model for some time already.  Some things to consider before hand could include making a scaled map of the space to see how and where things could possibly fit.  Measuring the furniture you already have or are planning to keep and making cut out representations of these pieces on colored paper so that you could move them around the scaled map in different arrangements to see what you like best.  

Does the book shelving height need to be lowered for visibility and accessibility reasons?  These shelf tops can be useful for displaying projects or book/theme/research ideas and props.  Can you create shelving systems on rolling casters that can be moved around.  In our LC our Nonfiction shelves can be pushed all the way up against the fiction wall to open up the space completely.  This is useful during book fair if you have to limit access to library materials during this time.

I am not a fan of beanbag chairs.  I have had them in two LCs and find students can be fidgety in them and can cause distractions.  Students can also disrespect them by mistreating them.  I would prefer varied types of seating that are firm but comfortable such as couches or chairs.  We created padded benches out of old book box shelves flipped upside down with handles on each end that were going to be replaced.  They are portable and can fit many students. 

How do you want your tables to work?  If you want them to be portable, think of purchasing tables that fit together to give more open space when needed by pushing them to the side or to create more table space when needed. I like the wavy rectangle tables that fit together to create a large boardroom style table.  They do not offer as much space as the hexagonal tables but are more versatile and portable.  At the beginning of the year I was going to try to remove some of my 5 hexagonal tables to create a more open space.  I was able to get rid of one, I would like to get rid of one more and only have 3, however, a few months in, I have changed my mind and still see the value of having tables.  For now I am happy with 4, mainly because my rolling shelves are so versatile.