The Great Neck South Middle School Library program is designed to nurture students’ love of literature and to encourage their enthusiasm for investigating the existing body of knowledge on any given subject of interest. The program builds skills incrementally over the years, giving students the ability to independently use and enjoy library resources. Knowledge and skills gained through the program help to form a strong foundation for lifelong learning, and foster critical analysis of literature to encourage a deeper understanding of the written word.
An important component of the program is information literacy: finding, organizing, evaluating and synthesizing information in all of its formats. At each step of their encounter with library use, students are given instruction and support, and then they move to more independent and sophisticated uses of library resources. The library program coordinates with curriculum in each department, particularly in areas of language arts, social studies, science, and literature. Because of the intimate collaboration with faculty, the librarians are able to identify appropriate research instruction and resources for curriculum assignments. Most importantly, the skills and dispositions learned through library use allow students to explore the wide range of human experience through a variety of media.
