Building a Learning Commons

Carol Koechlin, Esther Rosenfeld, and David V. Loertscher; Hi Willow Research and Publishing; ISBN: 978-1-933170-59-6; 2010; $28.00

As a companion to The New School Learning Commons Where Learners Win, this book is a planning guide for administrators and those interested in establishing a Learning Commons that reinvents the role of the school library and computer labs in the school. Chock full of checklists, planning forms, an organizational suggestions, this guide is a handy tool. It begins with a brief explanation of what a Learning Commons is and its role in total school improvement and then step by step goes through the aspects of program, physical facilities, changing technologies and ends with a variety of assessment tools to guage progress. The appendices provide a number of handouts and other resources for planning teams. Teacher librarians and teacher technologists contemplating the development of the Learning Commons should read the guide together and see that administrators have a copy as a prelude to assembling the leadership team of the Commons. As an additional help, take a look at another book linked to these two books: Learning Commons Treasury edited by Loertscher and Marcoux available from LMC Source. All three publications provide a wealth of information for the leadership team. Indispensable.

ebook version: $28.00