Tucked away on the cozy 10th floor balcony and bathed in warm natural light, the Middle School Library maintains an atmosphere of relative quietness, with occasional enthusiastic bursts of excitement over a group project or a beloved book. It is a place in which everyone feels simultaneously relaxed and energized. The Library's program and curriculum reflect the same duality: a balance of academic rigor and laid-back enjoyment and equal emphasis on fostering a love of reading and cultivating fluency in information skills.
Books! Books! Books!
Overheard in the Middle School Library: "What is the third book in the Redwall series?" "Oh, oh, oh... you got the advance reader's copy of The Lightening Thief? Would you please put me on the waiting list when it comes back?" "I'm going on a long plane ride and I need like 5 books. You know what I like... ." "You must get Drowned Maiden's Hair for the Library. It's a great book!"
The Middle School Library is the Grand Central Station of Books - always buzzing with action and excitement. Each year, hundreds of new books are added to the collection: from the hottest titles such as the latest Harry Potter series, to lesser known yet equally significant works such as Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food. We take great pleasure in matching readers with the perfect books. With more than a thousand titles in circulation each month, the Middle School community's love of reading is apparent.
We work closely with teachers to encourage students to read constantly, widely, and critically. The Seventh Grade English/Library "Genre of the Month" curriculum ensures that each 7th grader reads not only contemporary fiction for teens but also nonfiction and classics. Each genre study is accompanied by an assignment. For example, students analyze young adult fiction's thematic elements and examine their own literary responses. This year's entries are posted on the Middle School Literary Blog: The Reading Nook. And when sixth graders are asked to read banned books, they must step beyond their own life experience and personal convictions to contemplate the reasons for each case.
Wired! Wireless! We are well prepared!
Overheard at the Middle School Library: "What keywords should I use in WebCat to find books about Civil War weapons?" "How do I access an Ebook? I need it for my research paper." "Wow, this is so cool - you can read an old New York Times on the computer!" "I don't know how to cite a video interview that I did with my grandfather."You mean I can renew my books online?" "The Oxford English dictionary online you showed me yesterday is so useful!" "Do you think this is a good website for my project?"
Information literacy is a daily practice in the Middle School Library. Through designed units and one-on-one discussions, students obtain skills necessary to conduct successful researches. By the end of Middle School, students locate library materials with ease, familiar with both the online catalog and the Dewey classification scheme, know how to construct Boolean search strings (AND, OR, NO and Quotation Marks), are able to discern the differences between reliable and questionable websites, and navigate many of the 30-plus subscription databases with confidence.
One vital skill is the students' ability to evaluate web pages. In the "How a Book Is Made" unit, 4th Graders compare the complex book publishing process to their own instantly published online stories on the Library's website. They often note that the quality of their (silly) stories leaves ample room for improvement. The subsequent discussions invite children to make connections and consider the nature and reliability of some of the websites they encounter. A 5th grade "New York City Facts or Fakes" unit further brings the ideas of authorship, validity, and credibility of web sites home. During this unit, the 5th graders make up many "un-facts" about their own city. Using a search engine, such as Google, students can locate a link to this page. Every year, when the students find their made-up information so easily, they always protest, "But, but… the information is not true!" and "What if someone uses it for their report?" This is the perfect chance for an exploration of how they, themselves, have to serve as "human filters" to evaluate web pages.
Information skills are best enhanced when students apply these skills directly to their classroom projects. 4th graders learn how to effectively search and interpret the results from Google Images for the Oral History project. 5th graders use the Biography Resource Center Database to supplement their Biography Project. 6th graders consult the Middle School Library resources to glean information for their math/statistics project. 7th and 8th grade History curricula are tied closely to all kinds of print and electronic resources, including Student Resource Center and Ebooks. 8th graders find invaluable the ProQuest Historical New York Times database for their Civil War and Decades projects.
We enjoy working with students and teachers. We also love having fun and want to make the library experience a treasured memory for all. Graduates remember with relish the Middle School Library's Haunted House at Halloween, the fun-filled "Who Wants to be a Bookinaire" and "Friends or Foe: Classics Edition" literary games, as well as author visits or the friendly chats about anything and everything under the sun.
When did you last visit The Middle School Library? Maybe it's time to consider stopping by and checking out the newest that we have to offer?