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 ISCI 794   Explore


              (This is an image of three people in the library.  Two are sitting down,
                one is on the computer while the other is reading.  One patron is
               exploring the bookshelves behind the other students)

    Being able to explore a library is probably the best thing about going!  I was able to spend one day at our only high school in our district, Dorman High School.  Dr. Natalie Childs is the head librarian there and has been a librarian for 10 years.  Dorman has the largest library in our district to help house almost 3,000 students.  I thought that interviewing Dr. Childs about the shared foundation of exploration would be perfect, because most of these students are independent and I wanted to know how she encourages her students to discover what the school's library has to offer.
    
    One of the ways that she is implementing this competencies is her signage that she has displayed all over the library.  She likes to incorporate her signage and displays to spark interest and allow the students to explore independently with the help of her non-verbal guidance.  An example would be her book displays.  In one section of her library, she has a "Popular on Netflix" area where she has books that are based on a Netflix movie or series.  She also has a "Banned Books" section which, I think, is genius because I think that high school aged students would like to see what books are banned and question themselves on why.  I would like to add more signage to my library to provoke interest on a different variety of books that my students might not read or not yet discovered.  

    Dr. Childs has a variety of different resources that allow her students to explore.  She has a maker station area where students can knit, sew, make buttons and stickers, do origami and puzzles, and play games.  She is allowing the students to create.  What I love about these resources is that she has books that teach the students how to do the different activities.  She also has storage space that students can save their project for a later time.  This, to me, is a great way to keep the students coming back to the library when they do not have a class.  She also allow students to display what they have created by putting them on top of the bookshelves with a description, which encourages writing.  I would love to display all of my student's creations that they make in the library.  This helps to foster new ideas and concepts that other students are learning. 

    The only really challenging thing that Dr. Childs expressed is that she can not keep the kids out of the library!  What a wonderful problem to have, especially at the high school level.  The students are so engaged and want to explore all that her library has to offer.  

    I am so impressed on how Dr. Childs has implemented this competency.  She has her library set up so students can explore independently and not only find resources that they need, but find things they may not have thought of doing or reading.  She collaborates with the teachers in her school by scheduling times for when their students would like to come in so that every student is allowed to explore the library.  

    

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