Introduction

The school library that I chose to visit for this assignment holds a special place in my heart. The Library Media Center for Milwaukie High School and Milwaukie Academy of the Arts serves the students of the middle school that I taught at for the last 6 years of my career prior to transitioning to a library position this year. Although I worked with many of the staff and the teacher librarian throughout that time, I never had the opportunity to visit the library and media center. MHS recently went through an extensive rebuild, as the original building was over 100 years old. The library is brand new, and the school librarian, Melissa, was crucial to the design process of this new space.

(Ackerman, 2022)

Digital Access

The Milwaukie High School Library website is incredibly easy to navigate. Students can access the Destiny catalog via the “Read” page. Students can schedule time to work with the school librarian, and staff can reserve the space to use for events as well.

While there are not collections that are available online, there are a plethora of resources available for both students and staff alike. Melissa has curated many reading lists for students to use to find books to check out, and her research page is clearly designed to be a living resource for students after a research lesson in their classrooms. Rubin & Rubin (2020) state, “the school librarian serves as a highly skilled guide through both print and digital resources, encourages learners to explore new and challenging ideas, and promotes critical and creative thinking” (p. 155). The MHS website is an example of a curated site that promotes critical and creative thinking through its curated resources. 

Melissa and her library secretary are the two staff members that serve this library. Both are available via email for questions and consultation. 

While many of the resources on the site have a Spanish option available, there is not currently a way to read the website in another language. Our school district uses Google Sites, so I would be curious to learn if there is a way to apply a filter or extension that would allow a user to view the website in a different language.

The Space and Physical Access

The library and media center is located on the second floor of the building, facing the front with large windows that bring in a great deal of light. The building as a whole has a very modern look to it, with lots of cement, steel, and natural wood incorporated into the aesthetic. When entering the library space itself, I was struck by how open, modern, and clean it felt. 

Immediately outside of the library, there is a large set of stairs that bring you to the space. There isn’t any seating immediately available outside of the library, but there is plenty of outdoor seating available if a student were to choose to study or read a library book outside on the first floor.

There is handicap access available via an elevator from the first floor, and via an automatic door at the entrance to the library. The book shelves are on rolling wheels, so they can be moved to accommodate a variety of activities. The shelves are spaced for wheelchair user access, and all levels of the shelves are reachable from a wheelchair. 

It is clear that there were a variety of spaces intentionally created in the design of the space. Upon entering the library, the student/user is greeted with a large standing search station. To the right, there is a small “nook” with several book displays and a kidney shaped table with a puzzle laid out. I imagine that this is a piece of “passive programming” intentionally created by the library staff. To the left of the entrance is two large seating areas with large bench seats that can be pulled apart to create individual seats, with low tables. One group faces towards the wall at the front of the library, while the other group faces towards the windows at the opposite side of the library. There are low bookshelves here that hold graphic novels and the Spanish Language collection.

There are no “public” computers available, but this is because our district utilizes one to one chromebooks. Students have access to personal devices. There is a variety of other table seating available. I noted that there was a table group large enough to accommodate up to 20 people, while throughout the other side of the library there were multiple small group tables set up, and along the windows there were several two seat cafe/bistro style tables available for students. 

(Ackerman, 2022)

The areas of limited access included a staff work room, the librarian’s office, and what I assumed to be a meeting/study room of sorts. 

The space is very welcoming and is incredibly updated as this is the first school year that the library has been fully open for use.

Services & Intellectual Access

At the search station, each computer had the library catalog specific to this high school’s library pulled up. On a secondary tab, a google doc with all of the series that are held in the library is pulled up. From an earlier discussion this year with Melissa, the librarian, she created this document as an easy way for students to see what series are available for checkout in the library, as Destiny does not have an easy way to track this in the system.

Additionally at the search station, students are able to print from these computers. There is no charge for printing. Students simply sign into their school Google account, pull up the document they want to print, and sign out upon completion of their print task. I actually adopted this print station system from MHS because of how intuitive it is for students. 

The library offers several programs to students outside of their normal services such as textbook and technology checkout, personal reading checkout, and study space. The most exciting special program is the Cavalcade of Authors West, a writing workshop led by popular young adult authors that host middle and high school students for a day-long writing workshop. Students bring their own writing to the workshop, and learn from these authors. Melissa has been bringing students from MHS to this event for 4 years, and because of her enthusiasm and consistency, there are more schools (including my own!) that will be joining in future years. 

The books are organized by the Dewey Decimal System. The books that were featured along the tops of the bookshelves included a range of lived experiences, and it was clear that there is a marked effort to ensure that all students see themselves represented positively in the books that are chosen for feature.

As an interesting additional feature, Melissa has a professional development library that is out on the library floor for staff members to peruse and checkout from. Most of the texts are about anti-racist pedagogy and practices, whether from a historical or content area specific perspective. I found this to be a really cool feature because most professional development libraries are stored in the backrooms of school libraries, if nothing else but for space (that is the case in my own library). Melissa’s display has inspired me to think about how I can bring some of these books out more visibly for staff to see (and subsequently, students to see what their teachers are learning about!)

Melissa has also chosen to generify her library using genre labels. When I was a middle school classroom teacher, I organized my books by genre rather than Dewey, and I personally found it to be a much easier way to recommend books to students. Currently, my library is solely organized by Dewey, so Melissa’s system has inspired me to consider how I might add a genre organization system to my library.

People – Patrons & Staff

The library serves the students of Milwaukie High School and the Milwaukie Academy of the Arts, which is a performing arts charter school housed on the campus of MHS. This is evident in the types of materials that are available for checkout, the resources provided on the library website, and the fact that the library is housed in a high school. 

When I conducted my observation, I saw Melissa working with a student assistant and getting them set up with a project. She was enthusiastic, kind, and cordial in her interaction with the student. It was apparent that she was trying to make this student feel comfortable in their role.

Melissa is also accompanied in her role by a Media Assistant who serves students at the checkout counter. I watched the Media Assistant work with several students to check out personal books, check their accounts for overdue items or late fees, or help students with printing. Additionally, she had several students come to her with technology issues surrounding their chromebooks. At one point, when the media assistant had to step to the back to get something for a student, I was able to use my own expertise to help students! It was nice to see a few familiar faces in this role as a helper. 

The students who were in this space were primarily studying. When I first began my observation, students were wrapping up the last lunch period of the day, so there were a few duos quietly chatting at some of the cafe/bistro style tables along the wall. It felt very college-like!

There was a racially diverse group of students who were utilizing the space. While the Milwaukie community is the most diverse in our school district, it was affirming to see that it was not only one type of student who felt comfortable utilizing the space for study, decompressing, or pleasure reading.

Collections

The general collection features fiction, non-fiction, Spanish Language, and graphic novels, which I think clearly represents the fact that it is a school library.

One thing that sets MHS/MAAs space apart from the other high school libraries in the district is that they incorporated a dedicated space for a Maker Space in their remodel. The development and use of the makerspace is still under development, but it is an exciting prospect for the rest of us who are also dipping our toes into the Maker Movement! The space is accessible from both the inside and outside of the library, which I think was a clever design choice as to not interrupt the quiet that studying students may need from the noisier machines of a maker space. 

The materials that I saw in the makerspace (the 3D printer) were all accessible at a wheelchair user level, so I think accessibility was considered in the design of the space.

(Ackerman, 2022)

Other

As stated on the front page of their website, the Milwaukie High School Library’s mission is “Helping Mustangs become effective users and producers of ideas and information” (MHS, 2022). This mission is apparent in the amount of information that is accessible from the website for students and staff alike. 

Once, Melissa (the librarian) said to me, “Some people teacher-librarian. I teacher-librarian hard.” This is apparent in the way that Melissa was managing multiple events and tasks in the short time that I was there, which included grading and teaching research skills to AVID 9 students, setting up a student worker for success with a new project, and assisting a student with a technology issue. Mathews & Soistmann (2020) state, “it’s not the age, condition, or amenities of a place that determine how close our connection to it is. It’s our relationships with the people there” (para. 11). The Milwaukie High School Library serves as a space where students and staff feel welcome and supported, and because of the relationships that have been fostered, it serves as a deep connection point for the community. This is a library and a librarian that I want to continue learning from!

References:

Mathews, B. & Soistmann, L. A. (2020, September 1). Encoding space. American Libraries Magazine. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2020/09/01/encoding-space-library-design/

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science. American Library Association.