Literacy, Libraries and Learning

Book excerpt: The school library has changed dramatically. Today, it is a portal to a world of learning that includes traditional books, digital resources, and online environments. As the importance of information and communication technologies grows, teachers and teacher-librarians hold the key to creating powerful learning opportunities that help students function more effectively. This comprehensive guide discusses the changing responsibilities of classroom teachers and teacher-librarians in helping students become better readers, writers, and researchers. It offers suggestions for re-inventing the school library by offering a better and more current selection of resources, instilling students with the reading habit, and supporting them in these key areas:promoting reading for learning and pleasure;improving critical literacy skills when using information from many sources;encouraging research methods that respect copyright and lead to original work;designing information tasks to help students work effectively with data;developing better informational text structures that increase comprehension;encouraging the integration of emerging technologies and traditional resources. Literacy, Libraries, and Learning argues that using diverse learning resources can improve literacy achievement. It shows teachers and teacher-librarians how to turn their schools into first-rate learning environments and their students into lifelong learners.