Enhancing Teaching and Learning: A Leadership Guide for School Librarians

Rapid change calls for informed leadership. The goal of Donham’s text has always been to help school library professionals make a difference in the educational experience and academic attainment of students in their schools. With the addition of new co-author Sims, a junior high school librarian, this newly revised fourth edition rises to the challenge with updates and enhancements that confirm its value as an important resource for both LIS students and current school librarians. Covering all aspects of the school system, including students, curriculum and instruction, principals, district administration, and the community, it demonstrates how to interact and collaborate in order to integrate the school library program throughout these environments. Inside, readers will find myriad real-world examples of issues in school librarianship and evidence-based practice; discussion of such urgent topics as the educational needs of the iGen (those born between 1995 and 2012), changing reading habits, the influence of the media, and news literacy and other issues related to the proliferation of fake news; updates which touch upon the new AASL Standards, inquiry-based learning, assessment, and library program evaluation; specific tactics for establishing the library program as an active player in teaching and learning; an overview of education-related technology such as course management systems, the virtual library, makerspaces, information presentation and data representation tools like ScreenCast and Google Maps, online home-school communication, and online student safety and privacy; and end-of-chapter discussion scenarios that explore opportunities for the practical application of concepts. Reflecting changes—professional, theoretical, legal, and political—in both the library field and education, this new edition of a groundbreaking school library text will equip readers to be leaders at their schools and in their communities.