Olympia's Learning Centers
Olympia's Libraries
by Michelle Bradshaw
September 11, 2008
Olympia’s libraries are no longer the just the quiet place to find books and to study. It is the place to research and have access to the latest information available through books, media, and the World Wide Web. We no longer refer to it as just a library but as a Learning Center and the hub of a school. Over the past several years, this change has taken place at Olympia and has recently filtered down to the elementary schools.
By next year, all of the elementary school learning centers will have computers labs. This is a necessity in order to teach our students to be information literate. Being information literate means “knowing when information is needed and having the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information,” according to the American Library Association. These are life skills students will need to be successful now and down the road, especially as technology continues to change with time. Students will need to know what information on the internet is accurate and what is not. They will need to know how to get information from both print and electronic sources. Students will also need to be taught to judge whether the information they come across is meaningful for their purpose. The Learning Centers will integrate what is being taught in the classroom with information skills students need to be successful.
All of the Olympia Learning Centers have fully automated circulation desks which can be viewed from the Olympia web page at “Find a Book.” The elementary libraries have over 6500 resources, the middle school has over 8,000 resources and the high school has over 15,000 resources available to students. These resources include books, magazines, DVDs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, Playaways, board games, and online databases. We hope to help students develop a love for reading and become life long learners.
