Creating Student Centered Libraries
by Renee Houser | Reading
When we read more we think more, we talk more, we learn more, we advocate more! Whether designing at home learning spaces or brick and mortar classroom spaces, student centered libraries increase students’ selection choices and also increase the amount of minutes and pages students are reading. Student centered libraries help grow independent readers. In this video, Renee offers 3 quick tips to create (and co-design) spaces your readers will love to inhabit.
Student Centered Libraries in 7 Steps
Books! Books! Books!
I’ve moved a lot. Whether I’ve bribed a group of friends or hired a company, most of my moving boxes have been…books! I am fully aware that I don’t NEED one more book, and yet, I just can’t help myself – especially when I’m in a new town. The first places I search out are the local bookstore and the public library! Books are a part of ME! I’m a reader… and I love books. I love books because I love to read them! My husband is a reader. WE love books! And our daughter, SHE is a reader. She loves books! Reading together is one of our favorite things to do as a family. Not only reading together, but thinking together. We’ve had several dinner conversations discussing the consistencies, and inconsistencies of magic when it comes to genies and fairies, the origin of magic when it comes to Elsa and Rapunzel, and wondering if it’s possible to have stories without “meanies.”
For young and old readers alike, viewing the spine of a book provides very little information from which to make your book choice decision.
One thing we can do to support the children in our lives in discovering their reading identities is to provide them access to a lot of books! Whether these books are borrowed from friends, family, the public library, or purchased – establishing a system for accessing them is an important factor in fostering student readers engagement, volume of reading, stamina of reading, and overall understanding of what they read. Not only will their reading performance increase, they’re also going to love spending time with you, together in the reading spaces created together.
Let’s create student centered libraries for the children in your life
Step 1
Be Patient and Flexible
First and most importantly – involve your children every step of the way. Yes, this requires a bit of patience. It also means approaching the project with little to no preconceived ideas of “how it’s going to go.” When you start with patience and flexibility your children have a safe opportunity to create a space centered around them and their reading.
Step 2
Select a Location
Next, try these questions to get the conversation started. These questions can also be used with young readers still at home. Involve them in the conversation and decision making.
● Let’s think about who we are as readers and the places we like to read.
● You often like to read______. Say more of why?
● Let’s look around the (classroom, house) and look for places where we might enjoy reading together.
In classrooms, look for uninterrupted corners of the floorplan layout. Imagine placing book shelves in the corners. This will be a highly trafficked area, therefore, look for opportunities to create traffic patterns for students to travel in and out of the library.
Step 3
Sort your Books
After you’ve got the location selected it’s time to start sorting books. Show children an example of sorting. You might think aloud for them, “..we have a lot of Frog and Toad books, I’m going to sort and stack all of these together.” Give children plenty of opportunities to create their own stacks. Often they see ways of organizing that make sense to them and their reading identity, and since this library is for them, the system should make sense to them. After the book sorting, think through which books should be accessible right now, and which books can be stored away and perhaps used to rotate in at a later time to “freshen up” the library, or perhaps when interests and affinities shift and change.
Willow and RK sorting through books for her bedroom library and reading nook makeover.
Step 4
Select the Right Bins
Despite the cliche, we actually do judge books by their covers. Therefore, using transparent bins to display books so that their titles are easy to see makes it easy to find a book you want to read. It also means kids don’t have to turn their heads awkwardly to look at the title printed on the spine of the book or resort to pulling every book off the shelf until they locate the book they want. Displaying books in transparent bins with the covers facing out provokes productive book browsing!
Yes, it does take up more shelf space, but to me, the shelf space is worth it because I’m hoping to entice, and provoke, active readerly life behaviors – browsing books and settling in to read them!
When books are displayed with the spines facing out, there’s just not a lot of the physical space of the book to attract your eye. In this system of “spines out” display, books are often overlooked simply because they can’t be viewed at a glance.
Public libraries display books this way (and they have a LOT of books) but they also “feature” a book or two on shelves with covers facing out . That’s what we’re going for in our home and classroom library spaces.
● We like these bins because they are transparent.
● We like these bins because they have convenient handles for moving to and from the shelf. They are available in large and small.
Step 5
Design Easy to Understand Labels
Working together with the reader, create a system of labeling the stacks of sorted books. Labels often parallel the reading ability of the reader. For example, labels in libraries for emergent readers are often image-based rather than print-based. Labels provoke active browsing that leads to reading. Labels also help in the overall organization of the library by clearly showing where to return books after reading them. Encourage readers to explore ways to create labels:
● Draw it
● Cut and collage from magazines and catalogs
● Clip art from word processor
● Google image search
● Take a photo of the book cover
We made you a starter set to get your library underway.
Download the Starter Set of Library Labels
Clear and simple! Match the book with the label and we are organized and know where the books are the next time we want to read them!
After we designed our labels, we laminated them for durability but it’s perfectly fine to skip this step.
Step 6
Display your Books
Display books covers out and make them viewable to readers. Depending on available shelf space, in addition to book bins, consider utilizing shelf space to personalize and beautify the library! Customize your library or reading nook to entice your readers to explore and read more.
● Display Favorite Books
● Photos of Readers
● Artifacts Created by Readers
● Labels
● Plants
● Lamps
● Inspirational Quotes
● Reader of the Month Book Pick
● Feature Books About a Theme
Step 7
Create Comfortable and Cozy Reading Nooks
Provide the opportunity for readers to get comfy with a book nook! This might be as simple as removing items from a space so the reader can stretch out. A few ideas for creating comfy book nooks that provoke long stretches of reading with engagement, volume and stamina.
● Furniture (bean bag chairs, pillows, comfy chairs, couches) Note: visit your local thrift store and tell them about your project – there’s a bargain in your future!
● Charts
● Rugs
● Lamps
● Plants
● Blankets
Reading Nook Makeover: Before
BEFORE we started to rethink our system. Book bins broken due to overcrowding, games tossed into random places, books tossed into baskets.
Reading Nook Makeover: After
Consider having bins of books at the most accessible places. That might mean on the floor or low height shelving. An added bonus of books in bins is they can easily be picked up and taken with you (in the car, in the bathroom, to the couch, to the yard) making reading on the go easy, fun and organized!
Student Centered in 7 Steps
That’s it. Follow the 7 steps described in this article to co-design and co-create student centered libraries and reading nooks for young readers that take you from boxes of books to organized nooks.
1. Be patient and flexible
When you start with patience and flexibility your children have an opportunity to create a space centered around them and their reading.
2. Select a location
Use statements like “Let’s look around the classroom/house and look for places where we might enjoy reading together.” to get the conversation started and involve the reader in the decision making.
3. Sort your books
Give children plenty of opportunities to create their own stacks. Often they see ways of organizing that make sense to them and their reading identity, and since this library is for them, the system should make sense to them.
4. Select the right bins
Despite the cliche, we actually do judge books by their covers. Transparent bins are helpful to display books so that their titles are easy to view. Displaying books in transparent bins with the covers facing out provokes productive book browsing!
5. Design easy to understand labels
Work together with the readers to create a system of labeling the stacks of sorted books. Labels provoke active browsing that leads to reading.
6. Display your books
Display books covers facing out so they can be easily viewed. Personalize and beautify your library to entice your readers to explore and read more.
7. Create comfortable and cozy reading nooks
Add comfy furniture, pillows, blankets, and more to make book nooks and libraries that provoke long stretches of reading with engagement, volume and stamina.
Your turn!
Create a student centered library or book nook WITH the children in your life.
Remember to have fun with the process of creation by involving your children in the decision-making and staying open to their ideas. Before you know it your young readers will be enjoying the library or reading nook you created together!
Let us know how it goes! Post photos of your after to our Instagram @ReadWriteThinkwithRenee or our Facebook page @ReadWriteThinkwithRenee and hashtag them #RWTafternook so we can applaud you. Happy creating!
Additional classroom library resources from Corwin Publishing:
Renee shares tips for Setting up a Classroom Library in this short video. Viewing time: Less than 3 minutes
Renee talks about book choice in this short video on Book Selection. Viewing time: Less than 2 minutes
Renee helps students in this short video on Setting Up a Nonfiction Classroom Library. Viewing time: Less than 4 minutes
