The Whole School Library Learning Commons: An Educator’s Guide

Introduce your teachers, librarians, and administrators to the roles and responsibilities of educators in advocating a whole school library learning commons using this step-by-step guide for creating shared learning space in your school.

It is no surprise that technology has shifted the way we educate-bearing on how, what, and where we learn. This guide lays the framework for helping turn your school library into a whole school library learning commons (WSLLC)-a space where traditional academics merge with the latest technologies to engage learners in a way never before realized.

Author Judith Anne Sykes contends that since the WSLLC philosophy allows staff and students to co-create knowledge in a shared space, it is more effective than the traditional approach. Sykes addresses the differences between a school library and a WSLLC, provides reasons to champion its creation in your institution, and discusses how to use mentoring as a means to sustain its survival. The book explores the roles and responsibilities of educators in developing WSLLC goals and presents strategies for using typical assessment tools-including standardized tests, report cards, and anecdotal assessments-to help support its philosophy.

Links the use of the WSLLC to standards in education

Presents a doable plan to implement and sustain the learning commons approach in school

Illustrates how the WSLLC can be a means of increasing student engagement and improving academic achievement

Provides ideas for promoting the WSLLC concept to the education community

Offers suggestions for assessing the effectiveness of the WSLLC

Features strategies, standards, and checklists to support the program