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Australia -- Assisi Catholic College, Queensland

Assisi Catholic College is an Archdiocesan P – 12 college within the Brisbane Catholic Education system. It is located on a spacious and natural setting in the rapidly developing precinct of Upper Coomera and is a state-of-the-art co-educational P – 12 educational campus.

Chiara LibraryThe built environment of the college and its unique engineering specifications reflect a commitment to environmental sustainability. Being a college in the Franciscan tradition there is a strong focus on the environment so consequently the college uses recycled water to facilities blocks and for irrigation of the extensive green areas of the campus.

The development of a library for a P-12 college was a challenge in that the learning spaces had to support a variety of learning styles and activities for students across a broad age range.

The college had been in operation since 2005 and was growing rapidly. The initial library space for the college was a section of the administration building.

Following my appointment in 2007 a number of opportunities arose to review the plans for the new library. Minor alterations were made to the plans, and the initial concepts of the planned spaces were re-defined. The focus for the new library was a focus on learning and not information storage; a focus on an environment for people not books or computers.

Chiara MapThe new library was named Chiara well before it was built. Chiara is Italian for Clare and it means ‘light’. The name reflects the role of our library in learning – giving light to the mind. The front entrance shows both St Francis and St Clare in the side panels with the name Chiara across the automatic doors at the entrance.

As an environment with a focus on people, Chiara needed to be a space for learning. It needed to reflect our understanding of how learning occurs and have space for traditional and future learning experiences along with accommodations for technological advances. It needed to support social and active learning strategies and be human-centered.

The design of Chiara provides a metaphor for the journey of students through the learning precincts of Assisi. The early years and junior years student enter to the left to a specifically designed space for Prep to Year 6. The year 7-9 students have a dedicated middle years area, which blends across an e-zone to the senior years area for years 10-12.

Chiara Circulation The circulation desk is also the operations areas for the library technician and library assistant so that they are always available to students to assist with reference questions, loans etc.

Chiara workroom The workroom and staff area is located in the centre of the building and has glass windows to each area of the library. It also has a small kitchen and toilet facilities for library staff.

Chiara tunnel The reading tunnel
A specially designed entrance leads students to the dedicated Prep-6 area. This entrance has proven a popular feature with all students but especially the Prep-6 students who have their own special space.

Chiara P-6 A view of the Prep-6 area.

Chiara TV A number of learning spaces in Chiara are defined for specific experiences. Near the entrance to the library is an informal learning space. In this space there is a large wall-mounted plasma screen television surrounded by newspapers, journals, magazines and other current affairs publication. This area is furnished with ottomans.

Students take multiple paths through information working as individuals or in groups. The furniture is lightweight to allow for easy configuration. There are a number of desktop computers around the wall of Chiara and a wireless network for laptops, which students can borrow as needed from the circulation desk.

Chiara e-zone The e-zone is designed for social engagement with activities such as debate, discussion, presentations and teamwork experiences

Chiara seniors The view from the senior years area to the circulation desk and the entry doors.

Chiara middle years Looking back to the Prep-6 area from the Middle year’s space.

Chiara library Chiara is a space to foster discovery, innovation and scholarship, not simply a building to contain them.

Submitted by Maureen Twomey, Teacher Librarian

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Last updated 20 August 2008 (KSB)