The Life of the Mind Consortium was invited to work with the library media specialist of the Burrowes School to make the school library more attractive to students. The Burrowes School serves a diverse population of K-5 students in the city of Lancaster in a 40+ year old building. The library is spacious but lacked amenities and the visual excitement to entice children and convince them of the excitement and the joy of reading and learning.

Initially almost twenty residents (including artists, educators, engineers, cabinetmakers, computer experts and, of course, parents and grandparents) visited the library and talked with the librarian about his aspirations for the program and the space to support that program. After listening to his ideas; the group brainstormed, suggested possibilities, and then analyzed and measured the available space. The primary concern of residents was to add the color and excitement of art in the environment. One of the computer experts created a CAD image with exact measurements of the room, and the resident team met again at Willow Valley to come up with a revitalization plan to be submitted to the school for their approval.

Consortium members saw a number of possibilities for physical changes to emphasize the role of the school library media center for children of the 21st century as they engage with the world of ideas and information. Our recommendations fell into two major categories. First, we recommended rearranging and regrouping existing furnishings to accommodate different teaching and learning styles into what might be called “information neighborhoods” within a larger integrated learning community. Second, we proposed adding to the aesthetics of the environment to emphasize the enjoyment of learning that obviously takes place there. We suggested adding a variety of art to bring more life and color into the environment to more adequately reflect the joyous spirit of the Burrowes School culture.

The focal point of that plan was a large and very imaginative three-panel mural representing Water, Land, and Sky. Those three elements were agreed upon as a unifying theme, and the fabric artist began the search for fabrics to create quilted panels to be installed above the remaining shelving to ground the room and bring it visually down to the level of young children. When the school faculty expressed excitement about the plan, the resident team began work in earnest.