Information Literacy Standards for the School Library

The School Library Association branch of the American Library Association has drafted Information Literacy Standards and is hoping that the schools will ADOPT these standards !!!! I had seen this coming since library school . . . . School librarians will be required to teach valuable information skills to all students. Students will be expected to become proficient and responsible users of information. A draft has been posted on the ALA website and the school librarians across the nation were asked to submit our comments . . . .

HERE ARE MINE . . .


To: learningstandards@ala.org
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 8:51:19 PM
Subject: AASL Standards : Comment

To my dismay, it seems to me that READING was added to this document as an after thought.

With all the research (Krashen, Trelease) we should be promoting (should have been promoting) our valued support for successful and meaningful READING.

Why not, AT LEAST, put READING first and foremost in this otherwise well constructed document.


FOLLOWING IS MY REASON FOR DARING TO PRESENT YOU WITH SUCH A SUGGESTION (Read this at your own risk) :

1. We have all the proof we need to prove to administrators that reading is essential to academic achievement.
2. What research do we have yet that any of these standards can actually help kids pass all those regional and college entrance exams? Especially those exams that require an extensive knowledge of and an ability to use vocabulary and written language.
3. I am concerned that all this promotion for literacy standards coming
from the American Library Association itself can be detrimental to the
health and well being of our libraries if a MORE BALANCED APPROACH is
not taken.
4. There seem to be other librarians that feel the same way or at least somewhat similar to the way that I do. I've met them on the various listservs throughout my travels.


We should be promoting READING FOR PLEASURE throughout ALL the grades. We should be doing something about the readers we lose along the way . . . we lose at least one third of our readers, particularly boys, in the fourth grade!!! (Jim Trelease : we start with 100% enthusiasm in Kindergarten only to lose more than half our readers along the way !!!)

We should be promoting a LITERATURE BASED curriculum throughout the grades. Reading aloud throughout the grades. SSR, FVR or DEAR.


My particular case in point . . . I saw it coming . . . One of the accreditation organizations had recently required that information literacy take place in the school library. My replacement, thus, has the children bring a salt and pepper notebook to the library. They are often required to do seat work. I am certain my clerk is happy now that the library is quiet and everything is under control.

My students used to enjoy exciting story time and having time to search for books and information that interested them, dinosaurs, the human body, rocket ships, you name it. Forty minutes, total submersion in the most meaningful, beneficial and critical LITERACY that would benefit them for a lifetime.

I hope my point is well taken, forgive me if I should come across impetuous.


Respectfully.

Ann Marie Grumm
Suburbia, USA

iPods for every child NOT computers.

The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss ~