The mission of the Lakeview Middle School Library Media Center is to teach students to be
effective users of information and to encourage and prepare them to be life-long learners.
effective users of information and to encourage and prepare them to be life-long learners.
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This mission is accomplished by...
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As a school librarian it as my responsibility to give full measure to our students’ right to read by providing books that enrich the quality and diversity of thought and expression. In spending years in a library surrounded by students I have learned that young people need to read nonfiction for information in order to understand their world and literature for imagination in order to understand themselves. They need to read books not only for pure enjoyment, but they need to read books that challenge their vocabulary, their view of different customs and cultures, and their comprehension of the world. After all, whose job is it, if it’s not ours as educators, to help students at all levels of development to blossom intellectually?
And it is my job specifically, to provide them access to those resources, both in the realm of fiction and nonfiction, so they can explore through the written archives of human experience those ideas from mankind’s keenest minds that students can aspire to and want to use in their personal quest to understand who they are and who they want to become.
The collective goal of all school libraries is to lead students to the works of a wide range of authors, different genres, and contrasting points of view. Outside of totalitarian regimes, libraries do not limit their collections only to a restricted number of safe, pre-approved, non-controversial topics and writings. Literature, by its very nature, pushes readers out of the nest, far away from their zone of comfort and forces them to take flight in a new world of exotic and unpredictable ideas. For growth through reading can only be achieved by reading stories with ever increasing levels of vocabulary and with ever more challenging themes. And we all know that students will read more when high interest books are readily available to them. Yet, common sense also tells us that there are times when children are not ready for certain genres of literature, and when a child does make a questionable book selection we try to guide that student to a better selection, but in all cases, we always acquiesce the final authority to the parent for their own child.
And yes, since the invention of the written story, students have been drawn to the “uncomfortable” truths and controversial language far more than many adults feel comfortable with. But it is also our job to offer students or parents who object to any book an alternate selection that deals with similar topics and themes, which we have always done.
And it is my job specifically, to provide them access to those resources, both in the realm of fiction and nonfiction, so they can explore through the written archives of human experience those ideas from mankind’s keenest minds that students can aspire to and want to use in their personal quest to understand who they are and who they want to become.
The collective goal of all school libraries is to lead students to the works of a wide range of authors, different genres, and contrasting points of view. Outside of totalitarian regimes, libraries do not limit their collections only to a restricted number of safe, pre-approved, non-controversial topics and writings. Literature, by its very nature, pushes readers out of the nest, far away from their zone of comfort and forces them to take flight in a new world of exotic and unpredictable ideas. For growth through reading can only be achieved by reading stories with ever increasing levels of vocabulary and with ever more challenging themes. And we all know that students will read more when high interest books are readily available to them. Yet, common sense also tells us that there are times when children are not ready for certain genres of literature, and when a child does make a questionable book selection we try to guide that student to a better selection, but in all cases, we always acquiesce the final authority to the parent for their own child.
And yes, since the invention of the written story, students have been drawn to the “uncomfortable” truths and controversial language far more than many adults feel comfortable with. But it is also our job to offer students or parents who object to any book an alternate selection that deals with similar topics and themes, which we have always done.
You can help! Keeping the links on a website up-to-date is a very difficult thing for one person to do. So I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know (by clicking here) if you find links that are no longer active. Plus, if you find any new cool educational sites, let me know about those too, Thanks.
~Mrs. S.
~Mrs. S.