Supporting You: Implementation Guide

Implementation Guide – For Transition To A School Library Learning Commons

Leading Learning is deliberately designed to provide many points of entry for schools planning on transitioning the school library to better address the teaching and learning needs of the school. The standards are not aligned hierarchically because they are very dependent on one another and overlap to drive the synergy and sustainability of this approach. Using Leading Learning successfully depends on fully assimilating the key steps for implementation, as outlined in the “Moving Forward” section of the document. These key steps are to establish right from the start that this transition is:

a whole school approach not just a library upgrade;
not the isolated work of the teacher-librarian or library support staff – a team effort is required if any lasting transformation is to be achieved; and
more than changing the appearance of the library, although that may be a needed outcome to enable the desired program.

Growth Stages

The very first step is to establish a learning commons leadership team committed to long-term transition and implementation. This team should be as representative as possible of the school community and not appointed, but invited to lead. The team moves forward with study, analysis and action oriented stages of progress interwoven with constant review and evidence-based growth. The final step is to know that there is no definitive destination point other than providing the best possible learning environment and program for learners. The learning commons is always in a state of beta, constantly evolving to address shifting needs. This is the strength and the promise for sustainable school improvement.

Approaches and Tools to Help

Once the School Library Learning Commons (SLLC) Leadership Team is established:

Explore Learning Commons in Action to build an overview of possibilities.
Introduce the standards by brainstorming what each standards icon could mean. Click here to open and download a PDF worksheet Leading Learning Icons.
Use some of the discussion starters in Appendix 1 to dig deeper into the potential of each standard.
Link school and district goals to action planning using Appendix 2, Appendix 3 and Appendix 4.
Explore tips for transforming physical spaces to participatory learning commons environments in Appendix 5.
Explore tips for building a virtual learning commons to expand access to 24/7 in Appendix 6.
Consider the cost. What can be done for free or almost free and what will the school need to budget for? Download this $$$What will it cost? form or create a collaborative digital document or form for brainstorming.
Make use of collaborative technologies to create surveys, gather data in spreadsheets, create action planning templates, and build a site to archive progress.
To be successful the learning commons needs to be open and ready for learning at all times. Consider some creative learning commons scenarios from Appendix 7.
Explore recommended resources in Appendix 8 as well as hundreds of “See it in Action” exemplars for each standard in Leading Learning:Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada.
SLLC teams could think about addressing SLLC implementation and sustainability through remembering MARC – Mentoring, Accountability, Research, and Community. How do these MARC concepts work in SLLC transformation? Discover the strategies in this TMC4 paper. Moving Forward: Implementing and Sustaining School Library Learning Commons (SLLC) Through Mentoring, Accountability, Research, Community (MARC)

Leading Learning in Action:

School leaders and library professionals are utilizing the standards to transform not only physical spaces but also approaches to learning in the SLLC.

Transformations made to address building a culturally relevant and responsive school library learning commons learning community in a senior high school are presented in this video by Carlo Fusco (2017) presented at the Treasure Mountain Canada 5 Symposium, Winnipeg, Canada. Revisioning the Library as a Learning Commons


		
			
	
		
		
											
											
											
											
					

		
								
				Measurement & Growth
									
						
					
								
					Array
				
			
								
				Professional Learning
								
									
			
								
				Teacher Action Research
								
									
			
								
				Implementation Guide