Literacy and Media Centers

Christina Young

Harland, M. A. (2018). Literacy and media centers: School libraries. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (2nd ed.) (pp. 71-80). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

Summary- Harland’s article, also a chapter in Information Services Today, is an overview of current public school librarianship and a preview of what is to come. According to Harland, school librarians are first and foremost teachers, but also experts in “informational literacy, basic literacy, and technological literacy”. In addition to maintaining and managing our collections we must be curriculum generalists, have a working knowledge of state and national standards, and model lifelong learning. Harland discusses the importance of inquiry-based education and describes three popular models of inquiry-based education: problem-based, project-based, and guided inquiry. She also reviews the three types of schedules a school librarian may face: fixed, flexible, and mixed. 

Evaluation - This article is a helpful overview of trends in public school education and how the school librarian can best support learning in his or her school. Inquiry-based education provides a wealth of opportunities for librarians.  It seems like the field of school librarianship is in the midst of a sea change. Helping students develop digital literacy skills and facilitating inquiry-based learning are now, according to Harland, at the heart of the job. Coming from a teaching background this is pretty exciting to me.