Inquiry in the School Library: A 21st Century Solution?

Abstract

As we turn the corner on the first decade of the 21st century, debates about the future of the book and the library abound. While these are compelling questions, they are part of a larger phenomenon: technology is changing our information and reading behaviour. Literacy is no longer confined to the printed page; it is multi-modal. Learning in an electronic age presumes visual literacy, media literacy, and technological literacy. The electronic landscape challenges the conventions of traditional reading and what it means to be information literate. Academic subjects are targeting literacies that are specific to disciplinary knowledge that evoke deep understanding rather than superficial familiarity. Re-conceptualizing how we learn to read and write in print and electronic places and how we learn how to learn in new environments is the primary educational challenge.