The role of the school librarian is evolving from keeper of library materials to leader in school reform. The digital age has elevated  information literacy from the mechanics of searching and finding to thinking and inquiry. To meet this challenge the library facility is reconceptualized as a learning environment and the collection as a dynamic process of curation and access. Library staff, including paraprofessionals, student peers, and parent volunteers are viewed as instructional support. Allocated budgets are supplemented by funding sources such as grants and donations. The school librarian, trained in Action Research, can realize the library as learning center as she systematically collects evidence, sets priorities, and constructs a Strategic Plan. This module brings together the processes of action research, including identifying a problem in practice, formulating a research question, collecting and analyzing data to conduct a Community Scan and School Library Needs Assessment. She will apply her findings to building a Strategic Plan that will transform the school library into a learning center, or improve its existing functions.

Library resources can be one way to lower textbook costs for students. They are high-quality resources that students already pay to access through their tuition and fees. This post explores several strategies that libraries can pursue to encourage the use of library content as course materials. There are three different audiences that are interested in this information: librarians, faculty, and students.

The OER Toolkit aims to improve equitable access to open learning resources and services to college students by providing a province-wide academic support platform for faculty to use while designing courses and assignments. The Toolkit is a one-stop guide to open educational resources, providing faculty and library staff with tools and information to understand, engage with, create, and sustain OER in their work and practice.

The Toolkit is designed to be used by anyone involved with OER at an academic institution, whether you are part of a team that is collaborating to create OER, a library staff member who is supporting OER development and use, an advocate for OER at your institution, or an instructor seeking to incorporate OER and open pedagogy in the classroom. The primary purpose of this Toolkit is to support faculty and library staff at Ontario colleges; however, it is openly available for use beyond the Ontario college community.

This document is an evidence-based guide that outlines the practical and policy supports needed to enable K-12 school librarians to take on leadership roles around OER, and to support OER curation efforts by librarians and all educators.

This guide is based on a study led by ISKME (iskme.org) in collaboration with Florida State University's School of Information. The study is titled “Exploring OER Curation and the Role of School Librarians". ISKME designs guides and toolkits that help educators navigate and implement new teaching and learning practices. Grounded in research, our evidence-based guides and toolkits help articulate what actually works in real education settings—and are tailored to the unique professional learning needs of our clients and their stakeholders.

The study was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (www.imls.gov), under grant number LG-86-17-0035-17. The findings and recommendations expressed in this document do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

This module is part of the Foundations of School Librarianship on using web resources to enhance collaboration between STEM classroom teachers and school librarians, with special emphasis on STEM subjects. The module is built around the understanding and use of data to support classroom projects. The module describes a process by which the school librarian and teacher will collaborate on a high school-level project to explore how to find, evaluate, and use data to produce an infographic. Infographics are increasingly important as a vehicle for explaining complex subjects. They are a wonderful blend of data and information to create meaning and new knowledge. This module is intended as a 'stretching' exercise for school librarians who often have scant background in STEM. The skills learned by school librarian students revolve around identifying data sources, developing evaluative skills, translating data into an infographic, and working with classroom teachers in STEM subject to match resources with teacher identified learning goals.