Dennis Harter's Profile

The viewer scans the [designs] for clues to a code and by doing so becomes engaged in a perceptual activity not unlike that of reading.

They can provide the instruction and the technology to prepare "students for a love of reading, life-long learning, informed decision making, and the use of information technologies.

it teases children’s imaginations and whets their appetite ... it generates excitement about learning.

library design can spur group interaction

a flexible work and social setting for multiple activities, like modern workplaces or chain bookstores

Office settings have become less a beehive of closed rooms and cubicles and more a fluid colony of transient work and meeting places

adequately sized school library of about 1,800 to 2,000 square feet (the equivalent of two large classrooms) consumes about 5 percent of a school’s real estate yet can serve and inspire 100 percent of the school’s teachers and students

a good design should have colors, soft seating, and be questionable." Upon further probing, I discovered "questionable" meant that the design should be provocative

older technologies are rarely replaced by new technologies

Walk through a typical day using the floor plan

do site visits on a weekly basis as the facility is being built

What kinds of things will students be doing in the media center

How will the media center be staffed

Does the design eliminate any areas that cannot be seen from a single location

Are the circulation areas and the computer labs(s) near the entrance

 Are new technologies being accommodated

Have acoustical considerations been made

Under full spectrum light students attended school 3.2 to 3.8 days more per year, had nine times less tooth decay, grew an average of 3/4 inches taller, and had more positive moods and better academic performance than students attending schools with other lighting. Rouk, U. “School Sense” PROBE, Spring 1997.

Can some parts of the media center be restricted from student and/or public use?

Does the media center have a work area for teachers

What atmosphere are you trying to create?

library professionals have continually sought to establish the media center as the central foundation of a school. We must persist in this effort. But in its 2.0 incarnation, the digitally re-shifted school library, as I call it, must transcend the physical space to bring services and programming to every student and teacher throughout the school wherever learning is taking place.

On the face of it, we’re talking about using blogs and podcasts. The heart of the concept, though, is not about the tools, but rather the communities and the conversations that they make possible.