The Massachusetts School Library Association has selected the ARHS Social Studies Department for its 2012 School Library Advocate award. In announcing the honor, the association described the ARHS Social Studies Department as "outstanding in utilizing and promoting the value of school libraries."
ARHS Librarian Leslie Lomasson nominated the department for the award. Her letter of nomination follows.
I would like to nominate the Amherst Regional High School Social Studies Department for MSLA’s School Library Advocate award. This department has made it a priority to integrate library research and information literacy skills into its curriculum in all classes. On average, our Social Studies teachers bring more than 600 classes per year into the library. In the school year of 2010-11, they brought in 628 classes, or more than half of the 1,000+ classes from all departments that meet in the library each year.
The department’s many benchmark assignments for courses in World Civilizations and United States History require library research. Because these courses are mandatory, this then means that all students in our school have multiple opportunities to use the library and learn information literacy skills. In addition, most Social Studies electives require library research. These classes include European Studies, Consumer Economics, Anthropology, International Relations, Current Global Issues, Asian History, Constitutional Law, World Religions, Criminology, The Holocaust, and more.
The department’s teachers frequently consult with the librarian in order to maximize best use of the resources. Special collections are developed for specific units; pathfinders are created for projects, and the librarian is frequently asked to introduce database searching techniques to individual classes.
The Social Studies department supports the concept of information literacy on a school-wide basis. The department provided two representatives to an interdepartmental committee charged with developing a school-wide information literacy rubric to correspond with one of our learning expectations, "ARHS students select, access, evaluate, and use information critically and ethically."
Because of the strong investment and commitment to library research skills and resources, the Social Studies department has made the library relevant for all of our students. Our students’ comfort in using the library for classes has spilled over into a comfort to use the library frequently and for a variety of other services. Students cross our threshold more than 55,000 times a year. They come before and after school, during lunch and directed studies, as well as for classes. They meet for group projects, and spread out their posters and other projects across the tables. They come to read the newspaper, do homework assignments, print papers, check out books, ask for help on databases and technology, and for a myriad of other reasons and tasks. Students have made the library their space and take full advantage of all a library can offer. I believe that we can attribute a big part of ARHS’s success in making every student a strong library user to our Social Studies department.