October 2024
Contents:
The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Information Literacy (OAS-IL) have been published in the Oklahoma Administrative Code, making them the official academic standards that guide student learning in the library (210:15-3-173).
The 2024 Information Literacy standards are an update to the 2007 Information Literacy standards.
OAS-IL were approved by the State Board of Education at the February 2024 meeting, and then they were sent to the legislature for approval. Having not received a vote from the floor, the standards automatically passed legislative approval.
Download a copy of the standards from the Library Media page. Read on to learn more about the five overarching standards and the grade band organization of the OAS-IL.
The 5 Standards of Oklahoma Academic Standards for Information Literacy
The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Information Literacy are divided into five standards. An overview of each standard is provided below.
Standard 1: Read & Grow
Consume a variety of texts and resources, and plan for future reading.
Standard 2: Question & Plan
Set research goals, form research plans, and compose questions.
Standard 3: Research & Explore
Use resources to search for and evaluate information in context.
Standard 4: Collect & Organize
Record, classify, and use information and resources in meaningful and ethical ways.
Standard 5: Share & Reflect
Create and distribute information with others. Reflect on the inquiry process.
Grade Band Organization
Whereas the previous information literacy standards applied to all grades, the 2024 OAS-IL are broken down into grade band objectives for grades PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
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The library of the month is Mustang Central Middle School in Mustang Public Schools. The nomination came from Lauren Hunt, the 8th grade assistant principal:
"Mrs. Christi Walters creates a safe, welcoming environment in her library where learning truly flourishes! She has been the Media Center Director at Mustang Central Middle School since the opening of our school in 2019. At our brand new school, Christi was essential in developing our catalog of library books and connecting students to apps such as Sora and Libby for online/audio reading. During our initial year, Christi also directed the use of hundreds of Chromebooks and Chromebook carts throughout the building."
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"Beyond the regular duties of a traditional librarian, Mrs. Walters also uses her background as a classroom teacher to provide teachers in the building with academic resources, engaging lesson materials, and technology tools to enhance classroom learning. She is our go-to for technology support with student devices, SmartPanels, and teacher laptops. Christi provides testing support for beginning, middle, and end of year benchmark testing in math and reading. She supports our ELA, science, & social studies departments by hosting research lessons regarding the skills of lateral reading when viewing internet sources and also how to use texts in the library to support their research. She pulls books by genre, topic, or author to support student studies in any given classroom. She hosts book tastings to foster independent reading and help students to learn about what all is available to them. "
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 In her nomination email, Lauren Hunt described one of Christi's special library projects:
"One of the most amazing things that she has done is partnered with our functional skills classrooms for the past few years to support their individual reading goals. She has added reading level appropriate texts to our catalog and conducted reading lessons with each individual student. Last year, this culminated with an amazing book launch party, in which students from those classrooms had written their own 'myths' and created accompanying images to develop their very own book! At the book launch, every student stood and read their story for their parents and other special guests—a testament to the reading progress made in their time and partnership with Christi. The book was published and added to the library. This will now be a capstone event for those classes each year."
"Some stories were a few sentences, some were several chapters, but the courage the students demonstrated with their public speaking was amazing. I was so proud of them!" added Christi.
Q & A with Christi
Mrs. Walters answered some questions about the programming at the Mustang Central Middle School library.
What do you believe are important components of an effective library program—especially at the middle school level?
For MCMS, I believe there are two important components:
- Support to students by providing books that support/enrich classroom content and titles that will hopefully ignite a lifelong love of reading.
- Support to staff - I have purchased titles that support the curriculum in the classroom, allowing teachers to choose books that connect to their lessons. Throughout the year, I also work with different teachers to provide literacy lessons that support their objectives. As a former classroom teacher, I am always looking for ways to support the teachers in my building!
 What is an accomplishment in your library you would like to brag about?
I am really proud of the weekly classes we have for our Functional Skills students. This is the third year of providing a library time for these students with books for them to check out on their interest levels. While students are checking out books, I am working one-on-one with students. My literacy lessons with these students are varied, depending on where each student is in their reading journey. Lessons include leveled stories, sight word practice, or fun read alouds. The growth their teachers and I see with their social interaction and reading skills is very rewarding.
What advice would you give to yourself the first year you were a librarian?
Learn from those around you. Discuss books with your students, so you can learn what interests them. Talk to the teachers in your building to find out how you can best support their lessons. You also want to attend team meetings to keep up with what topics are being taught and be prepared with book titles and lessons that support those topics. Sometimes, you have to be your own advocate. Show teachers how you can support them with engaging lessons, specific book titles, or fun literacy games that use their specific subject's objectives.
What encouragement can you provide to Oklahoma school librarians?
As Oklahoma school librarians, we can provide a safe place for students to come and find books to help them as they form their own opinions. We are librarians for every student in our building, so create those one-to-one relationships and work to foster a culture of reading.
Thank you, Christi, for everything that you do to make the Mustang Central Middle School a place where students can learn and grow!
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Would you like to have your library featured in an upcoming newsletter? Or would you like to nominate a colleague's library?
Please email me if you would like to share a success story about programming, circulation numbers, a book display, or anything exciting in the library. In your message, please describe the reasons the library should be featured and attach at least one photograph.
Every effort is made to feature school libraries from around the state that serve elementary, middle, and high school students.
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