Nick Lane - Libraries And School Sucess

   Confession time: I didn't use the library much when I was going to school as a youngster. It wasn't something that was driven home to me as important, and on top of that, I thought libraries were boring (I was a dumb kid, what can I say). But thankfully, age, experience, and marrying a librarian have shown me the error of my ways. I now believe that libraries are an essential part of the learning experience, and frankly, one that I wish I went through when I was younger; I think it would have made me a better student. 

  Using libraries to study teaches you certain skills and habits that set you up better for advanced grades, right into college. As this article from librarian Jim Neal states, school libraries, and i think this goes for public libraries too, help you develop useful skills that you carry for life:

"We all want students who know how to look for information, evaluate sources, organize research results, present ideas and conclusions, and document their work. These are lifelong skills."

 Indeed, libraries teach you how to independently search for information, be it books, articles, magazines, online resources, etc, and you can learn how to evaluate sources to determine its' credibility. Through online resources provided by libraries, a whole new world of valuable resources and research tools become open to you, elevating the quality of not only your own ability to research, but of the material you use itself. Speaking from personal experience in this course, I have used online databases a lot this semester, not only for this course, but also for personal research on topics that interest me. For example, I host a weekly radio show about blues music; I have started using primary resources such as the Library Of Congress to prep for recent shows, because the material and information therein is just better than what I had been using previously, and theres a lot of it. I think another added benefit of using a library to study, and one that I could've used when I was younger, is that it provides you with a clean, quiet study area, devoid of distractions. That's very important, especially when you're young. 

  These are are skills you can learn if you study at a library, and I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. These skills help sharpen you as a student, but they're also skills that you can take with you into adulthood when, for example, reading internet articles, watching the news, helping your child with homework, and more. You can also take these skills with you into the work force. It just makes you a smarter, better, more thoughtful person. And while I didn't take advantage of it as a kid, I have as an adult, and thank goodness for it. 

Neal J. Fight for School Libraries: Student success depends on them. American Libraries. 2018;49(3/4):4. Accessed April 26, 2021. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.palomar.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=128247716&site=ehost-live&scope=site