Library+Standards

This first take at identifying Library Standards for the 21st century learner are abstracted from //21st-century learning in School Libraries,// Kristin Fontichiaro, editor (see resources page).

The current standards are based on a right-brain approach to learning (read Daniel Pink's //A// //Whole New Mind//), and emphasizes the reading component as an uncompromising facet of all four standards. (20). The four standards rise from eight common beliefs:


 * 1) Reading is a window to the world.
 * 2) Inquiry provides a framework for learning
 * 3) Enthical behavior in the use of information must be taught
 * 4) Techonology skills are crucial for future employment needs
 * 5) Equitable access is a key component for education
 * 6) The definition of information literacy has become more complex as resources and technologies have changed
 * 7) The continuing expansion of information demands that all individuals acquire the thinking skills tht will enable them to learn on their own.
 * 8) Pursure personal and aesthetic growth.

These new standards seem to embrace more that the rote world of the information-literate skilled, and move to the world of the information explorer (Marcoun in 21st century 22)

The standards require the development of:
 * 1) inquiry
 * 2) critical thinking, synthesis and the ability to make decisions.
 * 3) democratic and ethical behavior
 * 4) personal growth and creativity

Each of these four standards have then been divided into these four substandards:


 * 1) skills: such as gathering information, synthesizing, using technology to disseminate information
 * 2) dispositions: perserverence, creative thinking, adaptability, emotional resilience, divergent and convergent thinking and unlearning the "whatever syndrome".
 * 3) responsibilities: shift of focus from teacher to student
 * 4) self assessment: student's ability to judge his/her own project. metacognitiion.