Toolkit

ers, both in professional development settings and collaborative classroom situations.
I have built relationships with students who have rediscovered their lost love
of reading because I have spent time finding the perfect books for them. When a
student recently ran into the library, clutching a book, grinning from ear to ear,
saying “Thank you, thank you! I haven’t read a book this good since third grade!” I
know I have encouraged one more lifelong reader.
5. Can you explain why we
should fund the library budget?
6. It seems like more
information is available
online now. Couldn’t we budget
fewer dollars for
the school library program?
7. Explain information
literacy to me, please.
8. Since the Internet has
millions of resources, can’t
we buy fewer books?
Many studies indicate a strong correlation between strong, well-funded school library
programs and increased student achievement. These libraries are composed
of more than just books. Funds are needed to find and make accessible the best
resources in all kinds of media that relate to the school and district curriculum and
meet national and state standards.
Without a decent budget we cannot provide the quality or quantity of resources
that our students and teaching staff deserve access to both on and off campus.
“The school library is the school’s physical and virtual learning commons where
inquiry, thinking, imagination, discovery, and creativity are central to students’ information-to-knowledge
journey, and to their personal, social and cultural growth”
(Todd 2009). Learning does not end with the school day, and neither should access
to quality school library resources and services. Students are always exploring and
engaging with new information, and not always with good information resources.
In addition to curating quality resources for the library, the school librarian teaches
learners how to learn so that they can navigate and evaluate information inside and
outside of school.
Information literacy includes multiple literacies: digital, visual, textual, and technological.
These skills are crucial for all learners in the 21st century (AASL 2007). It
means knowing how to find, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources.
It means knowing when a book may be more helpful than a website. It means
knowing what questions to ask. Is the information complete? Accurate? Is someone
trying to sell something? Good decisions depend on good information. School
librarians know that the best source of information isn’t always Google. They teach
the newest research skills that students will use to become lifelong learners.
Our school library program strives to create an environment where independent
reading is valued, promoted, and encouraged (AASL 2007). The best resources are
not always available online. Students need to be able to read and research high quality
resources that meet district curriculum goals and state learning standards. “Shouldn’t
schools be the place where students interact with interesting books? Shouldn’t the
faculty have an ongoing laser-like commitment to put good books in our students’
hands? Shouldn’t this be a front-burner issue at all times?” (Gallagher 2009)
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