Information Central: Build a Display Tower for Classroom or Library

SUMMARY
Every classroom and school library needs to display information. In particular, a learning commons would benefit from central displays of information to meet a variety of needs. The author discusses the problem and provides a plan to construct a portable and stackable tower that is easy and inexpensive to build.


The Problem

You want a place in your classroom or library where students can find and read important information. You could use a side bulletin board but you want something "central" to your vision of being a learning commons. Whatever you settle on, you need to display many types of information:

• student work
• calendar of events
• inquiry projects 
• printed presentations
• art displays
• special exhibitions
• recurring news
• timely bulletins
• policies and guidelines
• graffiti
• poetry
• suggestions
• tech updates
• photographs
• fundraising info

Sounds great, but things can get expensive and the red tape is a pain.

The Solution

Build your own display tower and put it wherever you want! 
Collaborate with students, teachers, and administration to create your new "information central."
Build two or three or four towers to form a moveable line of structures that celebrates your art gallery, project examples, or changing exhibition.
Move your tower(s) strategically to other locations (e.g., on parents' night, at staff meetings, at science fairs) when you need to promote your program or student work.

How to Build Your Display Tower

Under the Pages section of this blog you will find full instructions to make your Tower. I have used materials that are inexpensive and easy to find. You can build to my suggested dimensions or change them to suit your needs. For instance, I have used a wooden box as a base for strength and stability. It will substantially outlast a foamcore base; however you may wish to do the whole thing in cardboard. If you choose. you could make all three boxes out of wood, in which case you must secure them properly on top of each other to prevent a fall. For this reason, I prefer the foamcore for the upper stories (replacement is easy).  A foamcore story is particularly easy to decorate on a table before mounting on the tower - an excellent product of a student inquiry activity.

This Tower is approximately 64 inches high but you could stack another cube on top for greater height in a secondary setting.Whatever your material or dimensions, try to retain the ability to stack and transport the Tower easily. And be sure to make it beautiful, with colourful backgrounds and attractive displays.

By the way, the original idea for this came to me years ago in a flyer from the Library of Congress who offered to send a version of this tower with a travelling exhibit using the panels of each side. I know if I had a school library today, I would make four towers and get students to create an Exhibition in picture and text entitled "Towards a Learning Commons: Lessons from Ancient Libraries."

Best of luck with building your Tower of Power!