In our profession a building program generates two positive outcomes, the appearance of much appreciated new facilities and perhaps more importantly an upsurge in optimism, a prized attribute in any work place and especially valued in education.
Pouring dollars into concrete foundations and new brick work can persuade even the most jaded sceptic that their work environment is changing and more than likely for the better. Australian adolescents can at times be a prickly, argumentative bunch with an innate ability for finding fault in anything connected to education. Brand new amenities ease the task of winning the hearts and minds of our students and helps convince them their education is a valuable and worthwhile pursuit. Even a bunch of toughened stoical teacher librarians can benefit from a decent dose of encouragement. A new building offers irrefutable evidence that we have not been overlooked by those in authority and the work we undertake is significant and deserving of recognition and support.
There is no institution or faculty within the school more inclusive than the library and consequently there is no institution or faculty more worthy of a building upgrade. It is our hallowed responsibility to cater for all members of our learning community regardless of their disposition and attitude. This means the cooperative and the contrary, the submissive and the strident, the focused and the wayward, all at some stage come wandering through our doors. It is our duty to tame the unruly, bring some hope to the hopeless, civilisation to the under-civilised, reading to the recalcitrants and the internet to the technologically inept. Our wonderful new library presents us with an opportunity to spark the curiosity of our students, lure them inside and through the use of both subtle and direct persuasion convince them of the value of reading and education. Well, that is the theory we will be operating under anyway.
The construction process is an ugly, messy business which gives the impression of lasting forever. A building site looks something like a wrecker’s yard with a half finished structure surrounded by piles of debris, cracked discarded bricks, broken planks torn plastic packaging and even in a drought year a great many muddy puddles. Mysteriously, builders would disappear and then re-appear while bursts of activity were followed by bursts of inactivity. The building business seemed to follow some weird timetable inexplicable to outsiders. Perhaps later this century when the gender imbalance in the building trades is properly addressed and more environmental consultants are employed, the bomb sites will be tidied up and the construction business will proceed at logical steady pace.
There was no great sadness in decommissioning the old library. Cramped, barely adequate with blind corners to make the mischievous feel welcome; it was a tired run-down entity crying out for termination. Seeing the space stripped bare of shelves, computers, tables chairs, paintings, posters and the trusty photocopier gave me a sense of elation and relief. All that was left was a bare cavern with ugly brick walls and mounds of dust piled up in the corners of the room. Good riddance to the old I thought bring on the new.
Our school had engaged professional removalists to save the aging backs of the library staff and to ensure we manage to open some time before Christmas this year. Books and videos were secured in mobile steel cages and then trundled over to their new home. Trolley four, loaded with painting, photography and music resources failed to negotiate a tight bend in the pathway resulting in a judicious mixing of the arts which required some sorting out. The new library was a hive of activity for as we were moving in the finishing touches to the building were still being completed about us. Workers busied themselves going up and down ladders, waving paint brushes, drilling holes, tightening screws and putting in doors. I was assured it was standard practice to shift the resources even though the building seemed some distance from completion. Just like education itself beneath the superficial chaos and seeming mayhem a coherent plan and process was in operation. Apparently it is a grand tradition in the construction industry for a new building to look unfinished until under twenty four hours prior to their opening.
I was touched to observe when smoko rolled around how the removalists, the electricians, the cable layers the window cleaner and the heating specialist all went and took a book off the relocated shelves, stretched out on the new carpet and began to read. Drugs in sport, Pasta cookery, Kylie naked, (she isn’t really) and Great Monuments (we were unlisted in the index I was informed) all proved popular. The power had yet to be connected and it would be some time before we opened for business but our collection was already being browsed and admired by an interested group of readers. Imagine how well we things will go once the lights are installed.
We need of course to give our new facility a fitting name. Our students tend to favour the term library which is a sure sign of the conservatism of the young. We tribal elders, keepers of the books and tenders to the flame of learning know there is no point using a single expression when a handy phrase containing several words will do just as well. The Centre for Enlightenment, The Venue of Understanding or The Citadel of Knowledge all seemed deserving titles worthy of consideration. ERC ,(Expectations Raised Considerably) has I understand already been copyrighted by another institution. One perceptive science teacher tells me to abandon any sense of modesty, name the new facility after myself and declare to the world that the new building will hence forth be known as Christendom. While this is an attractive and commendable suggestion I fear it will not go down well with all members of our school community. I suppose if consensus about a new name cannot be reached we may even have to live with the term library.
The official opening day is not far off, the champagne ordered, the band booked, the caterers warned, and the chorus line sent away to practice. At the present moment we have reached an interesting stage having left one library but not yet taken full possession of its successor.
I do like the look of the new place. Superb natural light, pristine carpet and all the surfaces in the new building for the moment unspoiled by doodling pens, chewing gum, careless feet, scratchy implements and wayward highlighters. For one wicked moment I contemplated a select entrance policy designed to keep the masses outside and only admit a chosen few who could prove they had recently washed their hands.
I soon came to my senses, realised discrimination on the basis of student cleanliness would be quite unprofessional and I needed to set my mind thinking about the future. In the field of education we foster the belief a better world is waiting for all of us somewhere around the nearest corner. We encourage our students to study, in order to better themselves, develop their minds, gain formal credentials, pick up a few skills and locate a peer group with which they can socialise. Education promises a lot but does not always deliver and to the dejected it may appear to be little more than a burdensome exercise in frustration. We all need a little help to boost and maintain our morale and help free our minds from negative feelings.
I see us like the reptile reborn, emerging shiny and new having shed our old skin and our dull old ways, ready and willing to make a brave new start. Some time next term we will throw open the gates, invite the barbarian hordes inside and introduce them to the civilised values which characterise a quality library service. We will be do our bit to promote reading writing and the third thing, which is now mainly carried out by the use of electronic calculators. I rather hope the new library will serve as something of educational de-militarised zone, a place of exploration and enjoyment free from the fierce exchanges which often blight the classroom regimen. Unless we go crazy on the plastic book binding glue and do something totally disastrous our new facility cannot help but raise our standing, boost reading and cultivate some positive emotions within our school community.