[AISLE-Share] Learning Resource Center in the Library

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Hi Christy,

We have exactly the setup you described here at West Aurora High School. We house a tutoring/intervention program that we call the Academic Assistance Center (AAC) in the library. We also have a Testing Center within our space.

I will try to describe our set-up. We have about 3,800 students in our school, so I know the size makes things different for us.

We have two entrances to the library, one for the AAC/Testing Center and one for the Library. We have an Office Professional at each entrance. When students arrive, their IDs are scanned into a website called Hero (herok12.com), which tracks which space they are checking into.

The AAC is staffed by content area teachers throughout the day. It is considered a “supervision.” For example, a teacher could choose to do AAC instead of Study Hall for his/her “supervision.”

The Testing Center used to be an open space with connected study carrels, but noise became an issue, so the decision was made to wall it in. The Testing Center also offers test reading services, during certain periods, using our special education paraprofessionals when they are available.

The library portion of our space is separated from the Testing Center/AAC by book shelves. Differing levels of noise is still an issue, but not just one way. Sometimes the library is loud and the AAC wants quiet and vice versa. Sometimes both are loud and sometimes both are quiet, it just depends on the period. The lunch hours are the busiest times with up to 100 students in both spaces combined.

The setup has worked pretty well and it does serve a need for our school. However, I think my librarian colleague (we are lucky enough to have 2)and I would agree that we would rather not have the AAC and Testing Center in the library. We would like to use the testing room as an office. We currently have no office, our desks are out on the floor of the library, which is good for some things, but sometimes we would like a place to concentrate on something or make a phone call.

We would use the AAC space to create some sort of high school equivalent of a makerspace, with things like a 3D printer and other things to create stuff. A student called this high school makerspace “the room of modern conveniences.” We liked that☺

Please let me know if you have any further questions. We would love to have you visit, but I know we are far away from you.

Bruce Fraser
Library Information Specialist
West Aurora High School
(630) 301-5505

From: aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info <aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info> On Behalf Of Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 11:07 AM
To: aisle at list.railslibraries.info
Subject: [AISLE-Share] Learning Resource Center in the Library

My high school principal would like to create a place in the school where students can get assistance with homework, there is a staff member to proctor tests, and interventions can be delivered. (Which left me saying-- "Ummm, isn't this what the library staff does everyday- though on an informal basis?)

I'm trying to convince him that the library is the best place for this to occur. He's new to the district, and sadly not super supportive of the library program.

If you have a tutoring/intervention program housed in your library, can you email me off list with a brief description of how it is run, what the benefits/drawbacks are, and how those students are monitored/tracked? He likes data, so I need to go in armed with lots of information.

Thanks in advance!

Christy Semande
csemande at yahoo.com<mailto:csemande at yahoo.com>

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