In the place formerly known as the library, students perch on long-legged chairs and huddle in purple and black booths. Once a week, they drink coffee and discuss books in the Java Room. They watch a history lesson, school news, and CNN on a 58-inch flat-panel “digital kiosk.”
Just don’t call it the library. The new Learning Commons was born from the old Chelmsford High School library, until recently an area so notoriously shabby that school officials conspired to keep superintendent candidates from glimpsing its electric yellow walls and duct-tape-scarred floors. But the school district’s head of libraries, Valerie Diggs, shepherded a renovation this year that resulted in walls painted soothing shades of violet and beige, fresh carpet, dozens of desktops and laptops – and a concept of 21st century libraries that is new to Massachusetts public schools.
Nice article that paints a picture of innovations in the school library media center. Checkout the comments for a bit of a debate about what this type of atmosphere means for schools.