Guest Blog: Order in the Library

Bev Humphrey, Reading, School Libraries & Digital Media Consultant

www.bevhumphrey.com

Creating a calm, productive library environment can be one of the biggest challenges for school librarians. In this guest blog, literacy consultant and librarian Bev Humphrey shares the strategies she used over the years to bring more order to her library, including what worked, what didn’t, and what she learned along the way.

When I first became a school librarian many moons ago, I was completely untrained and had no experience of working in libraries, so my first months passed in a blur of exhaustion and learning new things. Once the dust settled however I started to compile a mental action plan of things I wanted to address and the first of these was creating a calm environment in the library. I was in an all-boys secondary school so it was never going to be a completely silent environment (and I didn’t want it to be) but at that time the quiet, productive buzz of conversation I wanted was more like a loud hubbub with me calling for quiet increasingly loudly the more stressed I got. Unsurprisingly my pleas weren’t having much effect.

The first thing I did was reset my own reactive behaviour. I brought in a pretty strict ‘two strikes and you’re out’ policy , meaning that if I had warned a student about noise/their behaviour twice , the third time I approached them they had to leave and would not be welcome in the library for the rest of that week. I stuck to this unflinchingly and without exception for a good couple of months, after which I was able to relax this a little, because those students that had only come into the library to mess around had been put off and didn’t come in anymore. I also stopped myself ‘arguing’ with them – a battle of words with a teenage boy is not something anyone enjoys so I would approach the individuals, quietly but firmly ask them to stop, letting them know what would happen if they didn’t then despite their protests of ‘it wasn’t me’ I would simply turn and walk away, refusing to be drawn into an exchange of words.

I tried hard to reward students who were abiding by the library rules, either by thanking them or even on occasion giving out reward points or sweets/bookmarks, usually around special times like Christmas or the end of the summer term. I recruited some pupil library helpers, trying hard to make sure some of them were from upper years and also not always going for the quiet students but trying to encourage more rambunctious boys to become assistants, as students sometimes paid more attention to one of their peers than they did to me. Having a training programme with my pupil library helpers was essential however, the perceived power did go to some of their heads!

I am often asked by new librarians whether I had computers in the library and if I allowed students to play games on them and the answer to both questions is yes – at first. Lunchtimes became very noisy as a result however with boys literally stampeding into the room, desperate to be the first one to get to a screen. I tried a booking system, but this took up too much of my time so eventually I banned game playing on the library PCs and they were only used for homework, research or taking book quizzes. We had software on the computers which meant I could look at and control any of the screens from my desk and this was amazingly helpful, as if the boys were not using the computer for the designated purpose, I could lock the screen or even log them off remotely.

One of the most effective measures I brought in was to play classical music at break and lunch times, at a low volume, I was then able to remind the students to be quieter if I couldn’t hear ‘my’ music. The music was very calming for me too! The classical music wasn’t appreciated by everyone but that was ok, many students did grow to like it and actually asked me what was playing so that they could listen at home (the first time someone asked I was over the moon!).

I did play music after school too and after one song of my own choice I allowed the boys to choose, as long as the music they played was inoffensive and unlikely to upset me or other library users. When it was my personal choice however it was always amusing to see their faces when ACDC blasted out of the speakers instead of the sedate instrumentals they had expected, “this librarian rocks!”

As time went on, I was given a screen in the library and then I started playing book trailers on certain lunchtimes, again at a low volume, this was very popular and I found boys who were intrigued by the trailers would ask others to be quiet because they couldn’t hear – result!

I am happy to say that over time the library morphed into a much calmer space and I was able to relax and be a bit less strict after the ground rules had been established. To anyone struggling with order in your library I would say I do empathise, I wish you peace and patience, it will get better.

Looking for more on how to create a calm library environment?

If you’re looking for more ideas on creating a quieter, calmer library environment, take a look at our recent webinar from Paul Register. It’s packed with practical advice and useful strategies to help you build a space that feels welcoming, productive and easy to manage.

👉 From Chaos to Calm: Behaviour Management in Your School Library