Ohio Sets School Library Standards
Guidelines may be first statewide standards-based initiatives for media centers
Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 4/1/2003
Dubbed the Ohio Guidelines for Effective School Media Programs, the standards for grades one through four focus on identifying successful school library resources and services, such as technology, collection development, and literacy and reading support. Those for grades five through seven detail the instruction that effective school libraries provide, such as information literacy and print and online media skills. The standards, which are not mandatory, will go into effect in August and may involve as many as 4,008 K–12 schools across the state.
While it's common for states to have school library standards for things such as the number of books per student, Ohio appears to be the first to establish statewide guidelines that make a direct connection between school libraries and academic standards in classrooms, says Carla Southers, assistant director in the Ohio Department of Education's Office of Curriculum and Instruction. The guidelines also outline collaborative activities and lessons to help implement the standards.
"We hope to achieve a truly aligned system of education in which school librarians would provide materials to achieve a truly collaborative role in teaching and learning," says Southers, a certified school librarian who helped draft the document.
Some 65 certified school librarians, school library administrators, university librarians, and members of state agencies have spent the last year and a half drafting the library standards, which will be posted online for public review in April (visit www.ode.state.oh.us/Curriculum-Assessment/school_library/).
Ohio requires that all students have access to school library media programs and that each school district have at least one certified librarian. Schools also have the option to contract with public libraries to help operate school libraries. Similar guidelines for technology, foreign languages, and the arts are expected in the future.
