How About a New Information Literacy Skills Model?

Who would have believed how many Information Literacy Skills Models exist? The choices are overwhelming!  Should I use "The Seven Pillars" or the "The 8 W's" or "The Big 6" or perhaps the "Super 3"? Then, I could also look at the four step PLUS Model or the ten step Stripling and Pitts Research Process Model, or if none of those suit there is still a plethora of others from which I could choose.  But why stop there when I could invent my own, based on my own name?  HERE IT IS:

C - Choose your topic

H - Hunt down your information

A - Arrange the information to suit your purpose

R - Round up the information and write a report

M - Mark your work honestly (or give it to the teacher to bring down the verdict).

I somehow doubt that the CHARM Method will bring me any recognition, but it was fun to write.  Guess I'd better get serious and investigate the methods that actually have some credence.

Concrete evidence to support a positive verdict

School libraries are great places for children to come and find a book to read, do a bit of research on the upcoming assignment or find a peaceful place when the world seems too noisy or complicated.  Hmmmm.... Well, all of the above is true, but there will be no way the school library will continue to operate if those are its prime purposes.

The modern school library is a place of active learning and with schooling becoming more and more based on inquiry-based and project-based learning, the school library needs to be a hub where this style of learning can take place.  It should not only provide the computers with reliable data-bases, books and magazines that are up to date, but it needs a teacher-librarian that can help both students and teachers to navigate new styles of learning.  It also needs a school principal that is fully on board and committed to letting the school library become all it can be.

How does this happen - EVIDENCE.  In many schools, the jury is still out on whether a school library is even necessary, which leaves the teacher-librarian feeling totally unappreciated.  Sitting down and feeling sorry for oneself is hardly the answer.  It is time to equip with evidence in the form of research already done and start gathering evidence of what is being done in the local school.  Start student and teacher surveys, make sure you collaborate with teachers on certain units of work and get positive testimonial remarks recorded. Compile firm figures on library usage and run promotions to increase this.  It's time to get active and convince the jury that the library is not an antiquated icon, but rather a vibrant, exciting, relevant and totally necessary part of today's schools!