Enhancing Teaching and Learning: A Leadership Guide for School Librarians

This book is a great tool and aid for any media specialist in a school library. It should be kept close by to refer to for several reasons. It helps the library media specialist understand the multiple roles that must be played to ensure success. Lynn M. Dixon Chicago Public Schools

Now in a newly revised and expanded second edition, Enhancing Teaching And Learning: A Leadership Guide For School Library Media Specialists by Jean Donham (Library Director, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa) is focused upon helping school media specialists to become influential leaders and collaborators in elementary and high school libraries and media centers. All of the diverse elements of successful school library media programs are covered in specific detail, including benchmarks; emerging technologies; collaborative planning, scheduling; collections; literacy; information literacy; student assessment; evaluation; and leadership. Enhancing Teaching And Learning is a veritable compendium of practical strategies and applicable methods for achieving school library goals. All of the contemporary issues relevant to school library and media center operations are addressed including new formats in collections, reading, the Web, information literacy standards, state-mandated tests, data collection and analysis, benchmarking, and so much more. Ideal as a classroom text for Library Science students, and as a field guide for practicing school librarians and media center specialists, Enhancing Teaching And Learning is an indispensable addition to academic library reference collections and professional resource reading lists.

Enhancing Teaching and Learning is a terrific guide for media specialists, teachers and school principals. Donham gives excellent, practical advice covering all aspects of managing a school library media center and attaining the level of a top-notch library media program that is integrated into the school's instructional program. The message is ably conveyed to the reader that one of the ultimate goals as media specialists and teachers is to enhance students learning. Donham expresses throughout the book the importance of leadership from the media specialist and collaboration between the media specialist and the teachers in order to attain this ultimate goal. Donham writes in a clear, concise, practical manner. Each chapter contains realistic examples to further enhance points being made. Also, each chapter culminates with "Action Strategies" that are broken into three components: learning and teaching, information access and delivery, and program administration. In addition to the impressive lists of references contained in each chapter, there is a "Further Reading" section at the end of the book that contains very pertinent resources divided into topic areas "for enriching the professional collection of the school library media center." As a current MLS student, I have found this book to be invaluable in my preparation to become a media specialist. I would recommend this book to new media specialists entering the field, to "seasoned" media specialists, and to teachers and principals alike. With numerous research citations to support her premise, Donham does an outstanding job of communicating the value and the impact in having a fully integrated library media program within the school's curriculum.