Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Grant Wiggins Introduction Chapter 1: Closing the Learning Gap: Reframing Our Mission Chapter 2: The Learning Specialists: Clarifying the Role of Library Media Specialist Chapter 3: Designing Instruction to Fit the Nature of the Learning and the Learner Chapter 4: Providing Robust Assessment and Feedback Looking to the Future: Providing Resources to Support 21st-Century Learning Afterword Index

About the Author :
Allison Zmuda is a faculty member in the Understanding by Design cadre for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a staff consultant for Education connection in Litchfield, Connecticut and operates her own consulting firm, The Competent Classroom, LLC. Violet H. Harada is professor of library and information science in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii. Harada has been a secondary teacher, a curriculum writer, an elementary school librarian, and a state specialist with the Hawaii Department of Education as well as a college professor. In addition to her teaching duties, she coordinates the school library specialization for the Library and Information Science Graduate Program.

Review :
After Zmuda, an education consultant, and Harada, a professor of library and information science, met in 2006 as keynote speakers at an American Association of School Librarians Forum on Assessment, they decided to write a book based upon both their specializations. The result is a must-read for both school administrators and library media specialists. Organized into five chapters, the book discusses the necessity of an articulated mission statement; the need for librarians to become learning specialists; the ways to use current research to design instruction; the necessity for assessment and feedback; and finally, planning for student informational needs in the twenty-first century. Team this thought-provoking title with Daniel Pink's New Frame of Mind (Riverhead Trade, 2006), and be prepared to rethink the way you are doing things. Zmuda and Harada explore how the media specialist can work together with school administration and other educators to help students reach their full learning potential. They discuss how media specialists must work on a mission statement to fit both the needs of their job and the school. The book gives a nice breakdown of how to give effective instructions to students… The authors provide an excellent reference tool for the media specialist who is just getting started in the field or one who has newly acquired educational duties. The book examines the necessity of a mission-centered mindset and changing the role of a library media specialist to a learning specialist. Curriculum design based on current research findings, adapting instruction for diverse student populations, the importance of assessment and feedback, and using this feedback for effective teaching are also addressed. Written for both school administrators and librarians, the well-documented book gives a workable framework for collaboration. The authors make a good case for opening the doors between classroom and library and provide tools for doing so. With so many school administrators focused only on test scores, this book may provide an impetus and rationale for more authentic learning. [A] scholarly guide for librarians to not become obstacles in quenching the thirst for knowledge, but instead facilitate their patrons' search. Helping librarians put on their teaching hat, Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century is highly recommended for community library science collections. Simply the best professional book of the year for teacher-librarians who must push into the center of the teaching and learning in their schools. Zmuda and Harada have written the best professional book for teacher-librarians of 2008! Zmuda, a member of the ASCD cadre, and Harada, who is retired from the University of Hawaii, give a central piece of advice to teacher-librarians who want to move into the center of teaching and learning. Bottom line: If you have not yet seen or encountered this book since it was published, order it today and the minute it comes, concentrate on its message. The book is intensely packed with topics ranging from reform in our schools to the role of Learning Specialists. Also included are instruction designs and how to apply them to diverse learning styles.