Dinner with Pam: A Discussion about Learning Commons

Last night I had dinner with my good friend, Pam Harland aka @PamLibrarian. Even though we got together for personal reasons, we couldn’t help but delve into many professional discussions. (Pam wrote The Learning Commons: Seven Simple Steps to Transform Your Library and is a national speaker.)

We discussed many aspects of libraries. As always, Pam continued to blow my mind. Her statement that has resonated with me the most was, “Libraries used to be designed for consumers and now they need to be designed for creators.” YES! That’s why all libraries should be transformed into learning commons. I want to work in a space designed for students (by students, teachers, parents, administration, and librarian) so that they have everything they want and need to learn by creating.

As a classroom teacher, I would have loved my students to have such a space to use.  Now, as a teacher librarian, I want to create a learning commons for students to question, explore, read, write, collaborate, get messy, learn by mistakes, reflect, thus grow.

We intended to take a selfie once we left Martingale Wharf...oops, we forgot!