Check out the International Association of School Librarianship web review at
http://www.iasl-online.org/pubs/reviews/review215.htm ( )

Stop everything you are doing, get a copy of this book, an read it cover to covwer in one sitting. Kuhlthau joins forces with a curriculum expert an a museum professional to propose a solid initiative for teachers, teacher librarians, and administrators. What is that initiative? It is a constant stream of collaborative, constructivist, and information-centered learning experiences. They propose that a teacher librarian and two complementary subject area teachers join forces to build a learning experience using the best of curricular topics with a simple but powerful information literacy model: Locate; Evaluate; Use. This is to be one in a rich learning environment ranging from the traditional library resources and beyond to the community of museums and other public information spaces. The trio proposes assessments along the way that look at student motivation, responsibility, and learning all along the way. They see student sharing and collaborative learning as the building blocks to lifelong learning and forming the bedrock of what 21st century learning is all about. We wish every new teacher librarian would not only be able to consume, study, and think about this approach, but have an opportunity to practice this method before taking the helm of a library. There are a couple of drawbacks as the book’s authors did not have the new AASL learning standards, and Web 2.0 opportunities are not explored in depth, but this book will hold up under a variety of environmental changes. Of course, the book sits squarely in the center of constructivism, but we belive that many of its recommendations could be valuable in a school where direct teaching is the center of attention. So, for one of the best reads of 2007, our assignments stands: read this book, talk about it, and begin to understand why it is more important that teaching a few information literacy lessons on a schedule to students as they encounter teacher’s assignments.