Lindsay Zielinski is the Lower School Teacher Librarian at The KAUST School in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, where she runs two libraries across two buildings for PreK through Grade 2. She’s in her fourth year at TKS and has spent twelve years in international schools across the world, including Thailand and the United States. She is most passionate about reading joy, community connections, and creating spaces that make children want to read.
1. As you look around your library, what is a display/program/initiative, that you have happening right now?
Every Monday I share a nursery rhyme with our teachers and students. Teachers receive an email with the rhyme, a deep dive on its history with fun facts, photographs, and lore surrounding it, and students can enjoy a new display outside the library. It’s a small thing with a little prep, but it brings a little novelty and surprise to watch the displays change, and supports oral language development. It’s a win win! In a school community like ours of 73 different nationalities, nursery rhymes give us common ground for language building. I find nursery rhymes fascinating and love sharing the history with teachers, too.
Yesterday I watched a PreK teacher bring a small group to the display. She invited her student to say the rhyme in her home language of Swedish. It was a really sweet moment to see the connection between them.
2. What’s something new or exciting happening in your area of the library?
As part of the Elementary Library Team I work closely with our G3-G5 Librarian. Our goal this year is around engagement, so we have been brainstorming low prep, fun, and meaningful moments and events to bring our community together in the library. So far this year we’ve held a pajama night with over 200 students (not including their parents and younger siblings), given out books as “Book Fairies” for International Literacy Day, coordinated and hosted guest readers in English and Arabic, and are currently deep in the planning process of a Teddy Bear Picnic. For the Teddy Bear Picnic we will have guest readers, crafts, and picnic blankets set up with different types of books, all set up in our beautiful outdoor play fields with a gorgeous view of the Red Sea. We’re holding it in the early evening to allow families time to get there after work, with no motive other than having a beautiful night surrounded by books and our families. We want families in our community to see the library as a welcoming space while highlighting that reading can and should feel joyful.
Spotlight Project : A Library Space Kids Want to Read In
Inspiration
This summer I spent a lot of time in Tallinn, Estonia with family and friends. One of our highlights was the Estonia Children’s Literature Centre, room and room of books brought to life, with areas for story-focused pretend play and stories and books at the heart of it all. I watched my daughter play with her best friend in the attic of that beautiful medieval building, and it has been burned into my brain since. The set up was simple but detailed and elegant: a kitchen, a bed, cushions, bottles and beakers, pretend food, a cauldron, costumes. They had a setting but also the materials to change the story as they saw fit. There were armchairs, cushions, books, and art supplies near. I want to create libraries for children just like that, where books are central, but there’s room to create and stretch and tell their own stories.
A library, especially an elementary school library, needs to be a place that kids want to read in. I want every child to feel comfortable and knowledgeable about finding a book they’re interested in, and have a spot to sit and read where they won’t be interrupted. In those cozy spaces kids feel safe to use their imaginations to explore stories already written and maybe begin to write their own. A library should be full of beauty, magic, and wonder, but we have to start with the basics.
What I Did
This is a multi year project, so I had to pick a place to start and be okay with not getting everything done all at once. At this time, it was clear our Grade 1 – 2 building needed a few changes quickly, especially lighting. While teaching I noticed that I would ask students to sit and cozy up and read, but there was literally nowhere to do that. Who wants to sit and get cozy on the floor with industrial carpeting? Not me, and not kids, either! I wanted to know what our students wanted, so we spent a week drafting out ideas and writing suggestions. I knew I had the fall break coming up with no travel plans, so I planned to do a mini makeover to surprise them when they returned. Their suggestions were the same as what I had been feeling, so I got to work. I drew a lot of pictures, made maps, cut shapes and placed them in different combinations, measured some more, and ended up with a plan that gave the library different distinct areas. With the help of our housekeeping staff I moved every shelf and sourced some shared furniture pieces. Nonfiction is now highlighted in its own area we’re calling “The Living Room”, with new signs and a map to help kids find the books they want to read in the library. Warm lamps, cushions, carpets, blankets, couches, and stuffed-animal reading buddies adding to the cozy vibes. I purchased items from Amazon and IKEA for about $1200 and spent about 24 hours of time across the school break to complete everything.
How It’s Going
Now, kids are moving so much more slowly throughout the space. They’re taking their time to browse, noticing shelves and topics they haven’t before. They’re eager to find their spot, and when they sit they stay, alone or with a friend, for the whole time they’re in the library. Under a blanket, sitting on a cushion, reading to a stuffed buddy, they are engaged and reading. My favorite comment was from a student who walked in with his class, gasped, and said “You made all my dreams come true!” It made me giggle but he continued to point at things and say, “I asked for that, I asked for that, I asked for that”. And that brought me joy. I’m grateful I had taken time to ask them what they really wanted because this is their library. It belongs to them. What they wanted was simple, soft, cozy things that create a feeling of warmth and safety, and with the world as it currently is, isn’t that what we all want, too?
What’s Next?
Art! Better signage, imagination stations, and . . . doing everything all over again for our PreK/KG building. Wish me luck!
