This week, the Johnson Elementary School Learning Leopard Library was UNDER CONSTRUCTION! Although it is always a fabulous and exciting place to be, our library needed something new. Making the decision to change was the easy part – moving everything wasn’t so simple!

This was a BIG JOB. More than 5,000 books needed to be removed from the shelves and placed out of the way, kept in Dewey Decimal order. Then, the enormous shelving units had to be moved. Each of those shelves weighs around 500 pounds! After they were placed, every single book had to be re-shelved in order.

Even the shelves that didn’t make big moves still shuffled a little, to make room for all of the changes. A very special thanks goes out to Johnson Elementary’s hard working custodial staff, as well as Mr. Stern and Mr. Chris. I couldn’t have done it alone!

Thanks to many volunteers, heavy lifters, and 8+ hours of work, the library is now a brand new place to learn. Our nonfiction shelves have moved towards the back of the library, while our classroom area has moved to the front. Students will enjoy having a more open space to learn, and some of the newly available space may even become a reading lounge! The area in the back of the library, which now houses the majority of the library’s bookshelves, will now be known as the “stacks”. This area has lots of open space for students to ask questions, give suggestions, and help each other to find materials. Soon, it will feature helpful signage to point students toward their favorite subjects and series. With more of the bookshelves in one place, our library mimics the look and feel of a public library, helping to set our students up for a lifetime of library usage.

I look forward to watching students explore and master their “new” library. This change comes at just the right time, as our classes are starting to explore the different sections of the library and their locations. They’ll have our new order down in no time!

I welcome you to stop by and see some of the new and exciting things happening in the Learning Leopard Library!

– Miss Messham