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On any given day, more than 500 students visit the library at Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia鈥攐ften before the school day even begins or during their lunch period. 

In other words, students are choosing to spend 鈥渨hat little unstructured time they have,鈥� inside the library, says Andy Spinks, one of the school鈥檚 two library media specialists.

The recently renovated library鈥攏ow known as the Learning Commons鈥攊s a bright, spacious multipurpose hub within the school. There are bistro tables where kids can work together; comfortable and flexible seating; a makerspace where students can explore activities like sewing and jewelry making; an ; and a where kids can create TikToks or YouTube videos using their phones or school-issued laptops. It鈥檚 a far cry from the space it used to be鈥攁n tracked just 21 students signing into the library one day.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 a place where students come together, interact, and build community,鈥� Spinks says. 鈥淚 often hear adults complain about teenagers 鈥榓lways looking at their phones鈥� and not being able to interact with people face-to-face, but that鈥檚 not what I see. I see them talking, working on group projects, playing chess and Uno, and exercising their creativity in collaborative ways. Even their screen time鈥攑laying video games, making videos, and recording music鈥攊s collaborative.鈥澛�

Spinks and other like-minded librarians across America are transforming school libraries from staid, silent repositories of knowledge into vibrant spaces that welcome kids and encourage 鈥渆xploration, creation, and collaboration,鈥� writes researcher and former teacher Beth Holland. Through careful planning and with the help of student input, the Campbell High School library, and others like it, offer a critical escape from the hurly-burly of the day, serving as a nucleus of support for all manner of social, emotional, and creative needs鈥攚hile still providing access to good books.

To get a sense of how schools are rethinking libraries, we spoke to librarians and library media specialists around the country about the creative ways they鈥檙e making libraries among the best places to be in school.

Putting Kids at the Center

At A. P. Giannini Middle School in San Francisco, almost half of the books brought into the school鈥檚 collection come from student requests, says teacher librarian Shannon Engelbrecht. 鈥淚f a kid comes up and says, 鈥楧o you have this book?鈥� and I say, 鈥業 don鈥檛 have it; fill out the request sheet,鈥� we鈥檒l have it in a week through the quick order system.鈥� The same is true of the makerspace, mostly stocked with items kids ask for, purchased from a budget provided by the PTA.聽

鈥淚鈥檒l go to the Dollar Tree and see if they have pom-pom makers so that what we have in the maker center is what students have requested,鈥� Engelbrecht says. 鈥淭hen they are much more likely to want to read a book or to recommend it to their friends and say, 鈥楬ey, I chose this book for the library. You should give this a try.鈥� Or 鈥楬ave you ever tried a pom-pom maker?鈥欌��

After completing a student needs assessment, Washington, D.C.-based librarian Christopher Stewart started making small changes to the school library, displaying fabrics and art connected to students鈥� various cultures, for example. 鈥淚 want them to be a part of it,鈥� Stewart says. 鈥淥rdering African American fabric [to display on dress forms], ordering art from Mexico that represents the students. It鈥檚 not just enough to have the book collection that is representative. I wanted to make sure that students see themselves not only in the pages of the books but also in the furniture, the art.鈥�

Stewart also hires students to act as 鈥渓ibrary brand ambassadors,鈥� functioning as a sort of market research panel with input on the library鈥檚 book collection, types of programming they鈥檇 like to see, and selections for book club, among other things. 鈥淚t鈥檚 beautiful because they are the ears for their peers,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 showing intentionality on the library鈥檚 part. Because I don鈥檛 want to give you what I think you should have; I want to give you what you want and need.鈥澛�

Reframing for Creativity and Even Some Noise

Libraries in the Herricks Union Free School District on Long Island, New York, aren鈥檛 always quiet鈥攁nd that鈥檚 intentional, says Michael Imondi, the K鈥�12 director of ELA, Reading, and Library Services. The days of whispering between the stacks are long gone, and when the district decided to refresh its libraries, the design priorities focused on four Cs鈥攃ommunication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. 鈥淭his is not a quiet space,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is a working space, a collaborative space.鈥澛�

There are large tables to encourage student collaboration, as well as silent study rooms where kids can work independently. In the middle school library, some tabletops are whiteboards you can write directly onto when planning group projects or mapping out thinking. A small tweak to the framing鈥攆rom library to Library Learning Suite鈥攈elped emphasize the new focus. 鈥淲ords matter,鈥� Imondi says. 鈥淗aving that word 鈥榣earning鈥� in there, it鈥檚 important because that鈥檚 what鈥檚 happening now. Whether you鈥檙e coming to read a novel off the shelf or you鈥檙e using our 3D printer to build something for your science class, it鈥檚 a learning space.鈥�

At Campbell High School鈥檚 library, Spinks says one of the big shifts in recent years concerns the fundamental role of libraries as spaces 鈥減rimarily concerned with the information that students receive.鈥� Now they鈥檙e 鈥渟hifting more focus toward making things, producing information and media.鈥� One of those areas is the creative arts: Spinks was surprised at the well of talent that students exhibited in the library鈥檚 audio and production studios.聽

鈥淭hese kids are so talented, they鈥檙e so creative,鈥� Spinks says. Originally he thought the studio might not get much use during the school day because students would need an hour or two to get anything done. But they keep surprising him with what they鈥檙e able to accomplish in short snippets of time: 鈥淭hey come in, and during a 25-minute lunch block, they can load up the beat, freestyle over it, and have something to share with their friends.鈥澛�

Libraries Where Kids Let Their Guard Down

After noticing that students needed a 鈥渟pace that was their own鈥� where they could safely process their emotions, Stewart created a peace, love, and meditation room inside the library. 鈥淚t is the hub,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 place to not feel judged, to feel so much love, and to feel warm.鈥� A welcome and necessary respite from the stress of the outside world with calming music and a water feature, it also doubles as a venue for restorative justice sessions as well as an open room that counselors and therapists utilize to care for the needs of the school community.

Carving out a judgment-free zone inside the library is also a priority for Engelbrecht. Need to use one of the desktop computers to finish your homework before class? That鈥檚 not a problem. Having trouble keeping your eyes open? Engelbrecht doesn鈥檛 mind if students occasionally doze off on the big U-shaped couch in the center of the room鈥攊t holds around seven kids sitting, and she won鈥檛 tell you to keep your feet on the ground. 鈥淵ou never get to do that at school because you鈥檙e not supposed to put your feet on the furniture,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut we have three pieces of furniture specifically for putting your feet up.鈥�

Still, judgment-free doesn鈥檛 mean lawless, she says. Engelbrecht sees every English class once a month and teaches different lessons on media, technology, and digital literacy and citizenship. Her motto is 鈥淎ssume best intent, equity of space, kind heart.鈥� The conversations she has with students about everything from cyberbullying to how to respond when someone makes you uncomfortable are crucial to creating trusting relationships and establishing the library as a safe haven.聽

Meanwhile, in states where book bans are in effect, we spoke with librarians who are finding ways to keep their spaces welcoming and inclusive鈥攙ia, for example, book displays that highlight different cultures, values, and identities.聽

鈥淓very child deserves to come into the library and find a book that has somebody who looks like them, or acts like them, or has some similarity to them,鈥� says Jamie Gregory, a librarian in a private school in South Carolina. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important that our library collection reflects our community, but it should still be diverse, so students can learn that there aren鈥檛 people to be afraid of or who are out to get them. Every type of community deserves fair representation.鈥澛�

Books Are Still the Bomb

No matter how much libraries evolve, reading is still the foundation, says K. C. Boyd, the 2022 School Library Journal School Librarian of the Year. Rearranging her bookshelves to be more dynamic makes the library a place where kids are continuously intrigued and drawn in by new books. The effort also drives circulation in her library.聽

鈥淟iterature is the priority. The print and e-book collection is the priority,鈥� Boyd says. 鈥淭he second priority is access to technology, so that kids are on an even playing field with other students from across the district and across the country. I want to make sure that the kids have clear access to materials so they can learn and discover independence, not just through a classroom assignment.鈥�

Keeping a keen eye on the books so they鈥檙e relevant, interesting, and popular remains a top priority for all the librarians we spoke with. Even though she frequently thins out the collection, no books go to waste in Stacy Nockowitz鈥檚 middle school library in Columbus, Ohio. Everything that鈥檚 weeded out is offered to students as part of a book giveaway. This year鈥檚 giveaway was supposed to last a week鈥攂ut supplies only lasted two days because kids 鈥渏ust went crazy for the books,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here was a lot of talk a number of years ago about 鈥楢re libraries going to go bookless? Are they going to go all digital?鈥� That kind of thing. We made a very conscious decision not to do that. It was not something that we ever even considered because our kids love having physical books in their hands.鈥�