Melissa Techman rescued some discarded monitors to repurpose for library signage.
Need some great ideas? Head over to School Library Journal’s Pinterest page, where you’ll find a range of tips for your classroom or library, courtesy of our guest pinner, Melissa Techman.
In her presentation at SLJ’s recent Leadership Summit in Philadelphia, the self-described “cheap and cheerful” librarian demonstrated a knack for innovation that derives variously from personal resourcefulness, a scarcity of funds, and her vast and wide-ranging Twitter network.
Whether for enhancing classroom spaces or engaging kids in learning activities that touch on technology integration and literacy, Techman, a K–5 librarian at Broadus Wood Elementary School in Albemarle County, VA, has a wealth of ideas to share.
On the “Cheap and Cheerful Tips” page, you’ll find:
Post holidays, Techman approaches her local Starbucks, which gave her this piece, which she uses to hold “reader’s advice” cards.
- Repurposed displays from Starbucks and Anthropologie
- A giant computer keyboard made from takeout containers
- Monitors discarded from the IT department transformed into library signage
But there’s more to it than stuff, of course. Techman has driven a long-range plan to recast her library as “a learner-centered space,” she said at the summit. And with a purpose: “When you honor the interests of your users, they can make the connections [to books],” she says.
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