School Library Musings: Good Noise, Good Trouble!

Old television shows from the 1950s through the 1990s that featured kids in schools would inevitably set a scene or two in the library. Students would be sitting around large library tables, books open, whispering to each other. Should any of those whispers rise above a certain decibel, the stereotyped librarian’s harsh “SHHH!” would ring out over the room.

Times have changed, and fortunately, so have school libraries—and librarians, who have turned those silent, sometimes intimidating spaces into dynamic learning centers where students engage in maker activities, group collaborations, readers’ theater, and more during recess, lunch, or other “free” times. What exactly, we wondered, caused this paradigm shift?

With the arrival of computers in schools, the library was frequently the only place with enough computers for an entire class to use at one time. This new technology drew in students who didn’t ordinarily visit the library on their own but wanted to see just what these cool machines could do.

As more schools purchased 1:1 devices, more students sought out the library to play those early educational video games like Reader Rabbit and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? As the language of learning shifted from the word on the page to the word on the screen, savvy school librarians took advantage of this opportunity. With libraries doubling as computer labs, we librarians became the earliest online literacy instructors, helping students in their explorations and providing programs that helped them practice their new skills.

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Supported by studies connecting cognitive development and learning with game-based play, today’s school librarians have further expanded the concept of play in the library by creating “maker” or other exploratory spaces with materials that build critical thinking skills and hands-on skills practice while giving students the chance to create at a personally meaningful level. Sometimes, this type of cognitive learning can be very noisy.

A question posted recently on the California K–12 School Librarians Google group (How Loud is your Library?) about lunchtime in the school library received some very strong, pro-noise responses:

“We are no longer living in the 1970’s, 80’s, 90’s, or 2000's,” says Aptos Middle School librarian Lisa Bishop. “Our libraries have changed and so have we. ’Tween spaces are noisy, experimental, wonderful, messy, and amazing. My students take responsibility for cleaning up and helping because it is THEIR space, not mine.”

Josie Laine Andrews, MLIS teacher-librarian at Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley, has a similar take on that old paradigm of “no talking in the library”:

“My library is absolute chaos during lunch — and since I am in a HS, a lot of kids use the library during open periods, before, and after school. I love that kids WANT to be in the library; it’s taken a lot to alleviate the library fear that some kids come in with.”

Catherine Zaharris posts:

“My library is a popular place on campus. . . . It is not a quiet place, but a place where students can make friends, play together and check out books. I see my library more of a student union. I work at a high school. I love seeing students interacting with one another face to face and not through a screen. It is important to have a safe place on campus where students can hang out together.”

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One of the many unexpected positive results of early computers in the library was that libraries began to serve the entire student body, not just readers, by providing the space, time, resources, and expertise to create these flexible, welcoming learning spaces. Clearly, those lively, noisy libraries are also one of the great joys for today’s librarians.

There are, of course, always students (particularly in high school) who still head to the library in search of a quiet place to work to get their homework done before heading to sports practice, after-school jobs, or other responsibilities. Some librarians set aside adjacent rooms or out-of-the way corners of the main library where students can work in silence, while others offer special times when quiet work is the norm. Headphones and separate seating can also provide study space.

Engaging with students to satisfy multiple expressed needs and desires while still creating a welcoming space for all takes lots of time, lots of listening, and often several different incarnations of existing space alignment. Being receptive to the needs of all students is crucial. 

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Today’s school library can still be that place for quiet study; it can also be a place for lunchtime speakers (authors, community members, etc.) or book groups, college prep guidance, social justice meetings, and other activities that encourage group participation and exploration.

School libraries are the largest classrooms in the school, the place where students can expand on what they learn in their classes. Our goal as librarians is to provide the widest possible resource base for that practice, exploration, and learning. A library space where such discovery and companionship occur is inevitably one of filtered cacophony. And as we have shown, especially with multiple groups of students focused on different objectives, learning can be noisy.

On its own, noise is not necessarily positive, but when it is the outgrowth of active exploration, cooperation, and learning, it is good noise—it is the sound of success.

References
Power of Play in early childhood: https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/early-childhood/early-childhood-health-and-development/power-of-play/?srsltid=AfmBOoqnkoHEPRzdF8FT3Ik20GyTl8E-K1OPGgqV4DUjYxaM48D1g-aL

Edutopia: Game-based review sessions are fun and effective: https://www.edutopia.org/article/game-based-review-sessions/

Secondary School Students’ Cognitive Structures Regarding Educational Games: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1383229.pdf

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