School librarians play a vital role in curating instructional resources to match the needs of their targeted school audiences. They have long been the experts in how to find resources and make them discoverable by others, and in understanding copyright and its pitfalls. These skills are especially useful when OER are part of a school system’s curriculum development process—as openly licensed materials necessitate selection based on careful evaluation of use permissions, and where the outputs of curation are often adapted and shared for discovery by future users.
A powerful shift is in progress where, increasingly, librarian expertise in inquiry, 21st learning skills, and information literacy is becoming critical to STEM learning and classrooms and to the development of cultures of inquiry that extend beyond the boundaries of their schools.
What we’re seeing is the role of school librarians being transformed radically: from reference experts who answer questions and build collections to dynamic advocates and leaders in STEM education whose expertise and influence are sought after and transcend the boundaries of their schools.
An anchor text is the central text around which a lesson or unit is built. This may be, for example, a narrative piece, a data set, or an image. Students across disciplines engage with this anchor text throughout a lesson or unit, using it as base upon which to build skills and knowledge.
Four Criteria Offered by Subject Expert Joanna Schimizzi
