School libraries and librarians provide many benefits to students and teachers. They offer (1) a learning commons that serves as the foundation for education in the school by providing resources, technologies, and expertise to advance best practices in teaching and learning. They also provide (2) opportunities for students to invent, create, collaborate, and share their work. Additionally, they give (3) leadership in the school and help develop students' digital citizenship skills, which are increasingly important.

1. LIB 600 Libraries and Education
Fall 2012
The Gift of
School
Libraries
and
Librarians
Education in
practice!

2. 2
School libraries give . . .
• Room (virtual and real) for education:
–Today we need a learning commons, a learning
laboratory that is the foundation of all learning in the
school rather than a warehouse of information and
technologies. The new learning commons focuses on
client-centered programs pushing world-class excellence
throughout the school. Teacher-librarians in
partnerships with teacher technologists (the former tech
directors) and other learning specialists must look For
ways to capitalize on the rich
resources, technologies, spaces, and expertise available in
the school library to advance best-practice pedagogy and
energize teaching and learning for today's students and
teachers.
• Koechlin, C et al. (2008). The time is now: transform your
school library into a learning commons

3. 3
School Libraries give . . .
• An opportunity to grow
– Our library is more libratory than
library. It is the center of our school.
It is often a little noisy. You can hear
the sounds of podcasters and video
production and storytelling and presentation.
– Library is not merely a place to get stuff. It is
a place to invent, to create, to make stuff, to
collaborate on stuff, and to share stuff. It is
more kitchen that grocery store. More
transformational than transactional.
• Joyce Valenza, What librarians make. (Or Why Should I be
More than a Librarian?)

4. 4
School librarians give . . .
• Heart
http://murraylib601.org/BouchardInterview.pdf

5. 5
School librarians give . . .
• Something that makes
a difference
http://murraylib601.org/HighSchoolDifference.pdf

6. 6
School libraries and school
librarians give . . .
• Places for pedagogy
– Connecting
• Students and librarians
• Students and teachers
• Teachers and teachers
• Teachers and librarians
• Students and teachers and information
http://www.njasl.info/wp-content/NJ_study/Phase2_ExecSum.pdf

7. 7
School librarians give . . .
• Leadership, though misunderstood

8. 8
School librarians give . . .
• Digital citizenship
– I teach kids to be solid and proud digital citizens. I teach
them to be kind bloggers and tweeters and networkers. I
help them understand their digital footprints, to build
academic digital footprints.
– When my kids build media, when they remix, they know
how to respect the intellectual property of others.
– They know about the Creative Commons movement.
They are beginning to attribute Creative Commons
licensing to their own work.
– They know the rights and the limits of Fair Use. They
know how to attribute credit, how to cite, how and when
to quote.
• Valenza, What librarians make

9. 9
School libraries and librarians
give . . .
• The crucial edge for Senate Bill 1

10. 10
Gifts for Kentucky School Librarians?
• The Kentucky Department of Education
recommends the following resources for use in
guiding school media librarians, school
administrators and other school leaders in
improving the library programs at their schools:
– Characteristics of Highly Effective Teaching and
Learning in the Library
– School Library Media Program Rubric
– School Media Librarian Evaluation Instrument

11. 11
These gifts
truly keep
on giving!