Who Needs School Libraries?

Thanks to the over 400 folks who read and linked to last week’s blog which I posted in response to the People for Education report on school libraries. 

This week I want to highlight the school library as a physical and virtual place. Obviously, I think it is central to a school’s learning, life, and culture. To remove all or any of its modern functions would seriously weaken a school, both in the short and long term. 

However, rather than preach, we must get all players involved in the conversation. So I hope you can use the above evoke-a-gram* with your staff, a teacher-librarian in-service, a parent meeting, a new principal, or students having a library orientation. Here are some discussion questions to get you started.

1. What is meant by a learning commons? How does the term relate to such ideas as common learning, communal learning, learning in common, learning for the common good?
2. Why is modern information described as a web? How is this different from earlier forms and systems of information? Is this web always useful or can you get “caught up in the web”? What is the role of information and communication technologies in and through the school library?
3. How is browsing different from searching? How does browsing lead to discovery?
4. What specific roles do a school library and a teacher-librarian have to play in helping students begin, develop, maintain, and enjoy reading? Don’t subject teachers and parents do this just as well? Does study centre mean the same thing as study hall?
5. Why is the school library a good place to access information? Why is it a different experience from private work on the Internet or group work in a classroom?” What is meant by quality resources?
6. How can a school library develop skills and knowledge in research and inquiry? What is a hub? What value is added to these activities when they place in a hub like the school library?
7. In what ways is calling the school library “Your home for learning” accurate, evocative, or self-serving? In answering, consider each word – your, home, and learning – carefully.

* If enough people are interested, I will make available a poster of this evoke-a-gram at moderate cost. Please email me at tim.gauntley@gmail.com. In the meantime, please respect copyright and use as an individual aid only.