Imaginary geographies of childhood

From the School Library Monthly blog is a post about "secret spaces" in school libraries -
http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com/index.php/category/library-as-place/ - those secret little corners and nooks in libraries where children feel in a place of their own...

Here is a real little nook at Kerikeri Primary !

The writer quotes Brian W. Sturm’s article in the Maps issue of Knowledge Quest... Here’s the abstract (from Worldcat) for his article “Imaginary ‘Geographies’ of Childhood: School Library Media Centers as Secret Spaces”:

Secret spaces serve as mirrors in which children can explore themselves and play with identities, while at the same time they act as windows to the real world through which children develop an understanding of social interactions and societal norms and expectations. The understanding of secret spaces has important implications for the physical design of school library media centers (SLMCs). What more creative space exists than the room in the school that is filled with the world’s knowledge and the endless possibilities that knowledge creates. However, libraries tend to be built with close attention to easy sightlines to avoid blind spots where children can cause mischief. In this article, the author contends that if SLMCs are to function as secret spaces, designers should reconsider this practice and allow children some spaces to hide. Children need small spaces, nooks and crannies, and areas not in the direct sightlines of adults if they are to feel sheltered enough to imagine freely.

Here is a link to open the pdf of the article from Knowledge Quest, Vol 36, No 4, March/ April 2008 http://tiny.cc/ImaginarygeographiesofchildhoodSturm