Six years ago Jessica Gilcreast accepted the position as the school librarian in a diverse urban elementary school (80 percent low-income student population). The library had a bare-bones automation system, block scheduling, and no library assistant. None of this, however, was her biggest challenge. Inheriting an institutional, cold,…

When designing a school library space and deciding how to arrange resources, it is important to consider multiple components of adolescent development, including social, emotional, and behavioral aspects. Acknowledging these developmental facets and their importance can provide additional justification for some of the more controversial aspects of…