These are a few of our favourite things….

A few years ago, I had a meeting in a recently-renovated public library: it was a fresh, warm and welcoming space. However, the staff led a tour that was focused what they didn’t like – it was disheartening.

I will not be doing that today.

Today, I’m going to share some of the things we really like about our new space: the second-floor of a building built in 1965, re-opened at end of 2015 after an 18-month renovation.

New windows & HVAC system – they’re not glamorous but having windows that open & close, as well as adjustable thermostats, is beyond stupendous. It has opened up new opportunities, such as having an air-conditioned summer school classroom (our school is beautiful but at 151 years old, does not have central air in all buildings). Plus our paperback covers didn’t curl this summer! (No photos – thermostats turn out to be surprisingly unphotogenic).

Adjacency to our Cirne Commons (named after a generous alumni donor): being on the second floor, I feel like Cinderella every time I come down the steps into this gathering space. We feel so much more a part of  what’s going on. And having a birds-eye view makes it very easy to track specific kids down! View from the top/view from the bottom:

commons2 commons3

Having falling in love with a glass board at the Academy of the Holy Names (#aisltampa2015), we used a gift from our Parents’ Guild to purchase a Visionary Move Mobile Magnetic Glass Whiteboard (4′ h x 3’w model #74950) – sometimes used for teaching, sometimes used for very scientific polls:

whiteboard

In the name of flexibility, we are loving our new classroom tables (Haworth Planes Collaborative Table) – so easy to move and flip up for storage:

tables

The castors on our bookshelves (Ven-Rez Horizon Steel Library shelving) make it easy for just two of us to move them out of the way (even with approx 400 books on each), as we did for some leadership training at the beginning of the year:

shelving1shelving2

Our super awesome custom bookdrop! We had no luck finding just the right one, so went with a plain metal unit from Brodart. One of our parents does graphic design and vinyl imaging – we provided the quotations, she designed/printed/installed:

bookdrop

While we looked at tablet chairs, our designer selected a basic lounge chair along with these cool tables (Steelcase Turnstone Campfire Personal Table) which are wonderfully flexible (ie. can be positioned in different ways and places – the kids really like them):

bookshelftablet1

We’re excited about showing our Ontario colleagues around this wonderful space (along with our also recently spruced-up Junior School library) at our spring meeting!

 

5 thoughts on “These are a few of our favourite things….

  1. Wow!! What a beautiful and functional and fun space! Every detail is such a compliment to what you do. I am very jealous and hope that you, your staff and students have many, many years of enjoying your Library. Now this is a great renovation!

    And – might I get the vendor and other information on the chairs that go with your new classroom table?

    • You’d think that would be an easy question, Barbara!

      Just tried to load the furniture file, computer crashed, Outlook reinstalled, file now corrupted – thank goodness this didn’t happen before I posted 🙂

      I’ll send details to you as soon as I get a new copy of the file!

  2. AMAZING!!!!! I want to come visit, too! Thanks for sharing each items’ info for my wish list. Your book drop is the best thing ever.

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