Establishment and Use of Classroom Libraries
Written by Faye Bolton for Western Metropolitan Region, 2009
(Note In secondary schools ‘classroom’ may also be in special areas throughout the school and in
rooms where special collections may exist, such as a science room, art room, etc)
Establishment and Use of Classroom Library
Achieved
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DESIGN AND POSITION OF CLASSROOM LIBRARY
The classroom library is clearly visible and attractive.
There is a comfortable area for several students to sit and read.
It is not essential for this to be part of the area where books etc
are located.
Library shelves, rugs, or other furniture define the reading
area/s (if more than one reading area in the classroom).
Bookshelves are both traditional and open-faced. The openfaced shelves display the covers of books, magazines, etc to
attract students to the library (compared with a row of spines).
Literacy displays include class charts reflecting those found in
public libraries: charts about the borrowing system, students’
personal interests, students’ recommendations, wish lists,
author information, etc.
NATURE OF COLLECTION
High quality, physically attractive books, magazines, digital etc.
A wide variety of texts that are personally interesting and
appropriate for students’ age ranges and personally relevant to
individual students.
Engaging texts representing a wide variety of genres and types
(books, magazines, catalogues, books-on-tape/CDs/DVDs)
topics, authors, and materials that cater for a wide range of
levels of difficulty to accommodate all students’ individual
reading needs, thus ensuring each student the opportunity to
experience success.
A balance between those where difficulty is indicated in some
way and those where it is not.
Note: For beginning and inexperienced readers, an indication of difficulty assists students in
selecting texts that are ‘just right’. HOWEVER, when students choose only levelled texts they
become eager to reach the next level rather than being eager to learn from and enjoy reading. It
is essential that if ALL students are to develop skills needed to become life-long readers they
must be taught strategies necessary for selecting texts that match their reading purposes.
Guides may be used where titles have been levelled e.g. Reading Recovery book lists, but it is
important for teachers to know about text features that help determine such levels, such as
picture support, number of lines of text, language patterns with repeated phrases, etc. and to
discuss these with their students as features that support their reading. Teachers and students
can also use such features to help determine difficulty of a text but also need to discuss how
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difficulty is affected by the reader's knowledge of the content. So a text may be more difficult for
some people because they have little knowledge of the content to help them predict or know the
meaning of the vocabulary. More precise levelling helps beginning readers progress but precise
levelling is much more difficult to do as texts become longer and more complex.
Students should select a number of resources to read – some that are ‘just right’, some that are
easy and some that are challenging, with students knowing the category of each resource and
understanding why it has been chosen.
A balance between fiction and factual texts. (About half the
collection should be devoted to factual texts.)
Small specialised sets of books related to a topic being studied,
current events, or an area of great interest to individual or
groups of students.
Reference books such as dictionaries (both traditional and
visual), dual language dictionaries, CD-ROM encyclopedias,
specialised visual encyclopedias, atlases and thesauruses.
Note: These references should be up-to-date. Also it’s better to
have a number of different dictionaries rather than multiples of
one, most being paperback, plus access to digital versions of all
kinds of references.
Enlarged texts such as big books, including class-made big
books, plus copies of small versions.
Access to digital texts of various genres.
A special section for texts teacher has read aloud.
Multiple copies of popular titles for students to read together.
Texts that reflect cultural and linguistic diversity; acknowledging
the background experiences of culturally diverse students.
Student-published texts in English and other community
languages.
A ‘core’ collection available throughout the year (e.g.
references) and a ‘revolving’ collection that changes every few
weeks, based on the topics being studied, author studies, and
the students’ current interests and reading development.
Popular series and books by popular children’s authors as well
as award winning books so that students can be introduced to a
wider range of authors and text types.
SIZE OF COLLECTION
NOTE: There is no readily agreed-upon formula for an adequate number of classroom library
books. Some experts recommend at least eight per student, while others suggest 10-12 titles per
student or recommend 700-750 books for Prep to Year 2 classrooms and 400 for Year 3-6 rooms.
In the classroom library there is a minimum of ten titles
available for each student in younger grades, with fewer titles
available for older students.
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Most of the books, magazines, etc are arranged with their
covers facing outwards, in boxes or tubs of some kind.
The students developed a borrowing system, published and
displayed the procedures involved.
The organisation and signage invites borrowing and browsing.
There is a display area to highlight books and other materials
and students change the displays frequently.
Trained library monitors are responsible for managing the
borrowing system and displays.
Students are trained to be able to select their own appropriate
texts for Independent Reading.
There is a routine for students reviewing/exchanging their
personal collections and students are trained in this process.
USE OF THE CLASSROOM LIBRARY DURING THE LITERACY BLOCK
Reading Aloud to Students
Books from the classroom library are selected by students and
the teacher to be read during Read Aloud sessions, thus
providing students access to an increasing number and type of
books.
Shared Reading
Multiple copies of the small format of enlarged texts used for
Shared Reading are in the classroom library for students to
select to read independently or with buddies. (The enlarged
texts used for SR should also be available in classroom library.)
Guided Reading
Sometimes copies of texts read in Guided Reading sessions are
kept in the classroom library for students to select to read
independently.
Independent Reading
To optimise time spent reading during Independent Reading,
each student has pre-selected a variety of texts from the
classroom library and placed them in their personal book
bag/box/folder. Most texts selected are at their independent
Reading level: 95%+ accuracy, with an understanding of what
they read.
NB However, students may have also selected some ‘easy’
material and some more challenging material that they are
interested in reading.
Students have time to read texts selected from the classroom
library for sustained independent reading every day. (Students
need time to read independently every day. Most authorities
recommend a minimum of about 20 minutes of uninterrupted
time is necessary to ‘get lost in a book’.)
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Students are provided with opportunities for engaged, sustained
reading of texts from the classroom library across curriculum
areas (beyond the Reading Block) throughout the school day:
for pleasure, for information, to perform a task.
During the time allocated for sustained independent reading of
texts from the classroom library, teachers monitor students’
reading and provide explicit feedback to students about their
strengths and needs during reading conferences.
Take-Home Reading Program
Teachers promote Independent Reading beyond school;
students continue reading texts selected from classroom library
outside school hours.
Conversations About Books
Students have multiple opportunities to respond to their reading
and interact with their peers about books, articles, etc they have
read, through a variety of activities such as book clubs, whole
class, group and partner discussions.
BUDGET
Money is allocated in the school’s budget to add to materials
available for classroom library collections.
A variety of means is used to find alternative funding for reading
materials for classroom collections, e.g. unsold magazines from
newsagents, and ‘wish lists’ that parents who wish to purchase
classroom-reading materials can consult.
School library collection is kept up-to-date and poor quality
material is removed. Bulk borrowing is available for classroom
libraries. Bulk borrowing is also arranged from public libraries
when possible.
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REFERENCES
Allington, R. L., & Cunningham, P.M. (1996). Schools that work: Where all children read and write.
New York: HarperCollins.
Fractor, J. S., Woodruff, M. C., Martinez, M. G., & Teale, W. H. (1993). Let's not miss opportunities to
promote voluntary reading: Classroom libraries in the elementary school. Reading Teacher, 46, 476484.
Gambrell, Linda. (2008) Cover of Classroom Books Compendium of Research Scholastic.
Moss, B. (2003). Exploring the literature of fact: Children's nonfiction trade books in the elementary
classroom. New York Guilford Press.
Moss, B., Leone, S., & DiPillo, M.L. (1997). Exploring the literature of fact: Linking reading and writing
through information trade books. Language Arts, 74(6), 418-429.
Reutzel, D. R., & Fawson, P. C. (2002). Your classroom library: New ways to give it more teaching
power. New York: Scholastic Professional Books. Note: this book has some useful ideas but as it was
written for US schools there are references to items such as basal readers that are not suitable for the
Australian context.
Szymusiak, K., Sibberson, F & Koch, L. (2008) Beyond Leveled Books. Second Edition. Stenhouse.
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