Hang around any school, and the word curriculum is one you’ll hear a lot. It’s the roadmap teachers follow, the planned sequence of knowledge and skills that shape what students learn and how they grow. But step into the school library, and the question might be asked: does the school library have a curriculum?
What is a Curriculum?
Let’s start by defining curriculum. It’s a syllabus that outlines the course of studies, subjects or modules in an educational program. Curriculum is more than just content. It is the structured set of experiences, knowledge, and skills intentionally taught to students. It is both what is taught, when and how it is taught. While often tied to specific subjects – mathematics, science, history – curriculum also extends to the broader capabilities, skills, and literacies that underpin all learning.
Supporting the Whole School Curriculum
School libraries are uniquely positioned to support the entire curriculum. School libraries don’t just fit into one subject. Instead, they support all of them. And yes, that is a big job. Libraries strengthen and extend the curriculum by aligning resources to subject units, teaching research and referencing skills, modelling critical evaluation of information, supporting literacy and reading skills, and teaching digital and practical skills needed for completion of tasks, which might include report writing structures or multimodal presentation skills. From science to technologies, English to health and physical education, every subject relies on the ability to locate, interpret, and communicate knowledge, and that is where the library steps in.
The Library’s Own Curriculum
Yet, the library is not merely a service, though it certainly is that as well. The school library does, in fact, have a curriculum of our own. It is one that runs parallel to and in partnership with classroom programs, and it is essential to students’ success both in school and beyond. This library curriculum encompasses:
- Information Literacy: teaching students to find, evaluate, and use information ethically and effectively.
- Digital Literacy: equipping students with the skills to navigate online platforms, assess digital content, and act safely and responsibly.
- Critical and Creative Thinking: fostering inquiry, curiosity, and problem-solving.
- Reading for Pleasure: nurturing a lifelong love of reading and developing the skill and will to read, which research shows improves vocabulary, empathy, and academic outcomes.
I’ve been researching library curriculums lately, keen to be able to articulate the role the library plays in supporting the broader curriculum and how teacher librarians have their own curriculum to deliver.
One model that I’ve come across that I absolutely love is Mail Jorm’s Three Spheres of Library Skills. I love how she has included the three big components taught in libraries that support the curriculum and positions it through the lens of students and the roles they need to undertake in schooling and in life. The Three Spheres are Readers, Thinkers and Researchers. This highlights the key skills the library supports across all areas of the curriculum and the skills that are explicitly taught by teacher librarians.
Why does It Matter?
Does it really matter if we refer to library skills as a curriculum? I believe that yes, it does, for a number of reasons. When referred to as a curriculum, the work of teacher librarians becomes visible, intentional, and accountable. Not something that can be so easily dismissed or reduced or even removed altogether. It highlights the role of a teacher librarian as someone who leads and teaches curriculum, as all teachers do. It also highlights the skills every student needs, skills not restricted to one subject or year level, but vital across all contexts and ages of learning. Referring to the library curriculum helps support the time needed to teach these skills and the experts needed to teach them. Referring to the library teaching as a curriculum gives time and space for it, which can otherwise be hard to fight for.
While the library curriculum is not usually graded by the teacher librarian (and thank goodness, because I really do not want to report on every single student (or staff member for that matter) across the whole school. Instead, the skills are graded and assess in assessment pieces across every other subject. Think about the inclusions on rubrics for referencing, research, ethical and academic integrity and digital skills, often never explicitly taught by anyone other than a teacher librarian.
Beyond Students
The school library curriculum extends beyond the learning of students to that of staff. The school library’s curriculum of literacies and critical thinking is also relevant to staff and many school library staff are key in helping teachers to improve their digital, information and technological literacies.
So, does the school library have a curriculum? Absolutely. It is a curriculum that underpins all others, ensuring students are not only consumers of information but critical researchers, creative thinkers, and joyful readers. What do you think? Would you call the school library’s teaching and programs a curriculum?
Explore more about how school libraries support learning and literacies.