Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada – 2014

Presents a model for the development and implementation of the school library as a library learning commons. It provides educators with a common set of standards of practice for moving forward.

Together for Learning: School Libraries and the Emergence of the Learning Commons. A Vision for the 21st Century – 2010

• English – pdf
• French – pdf

Canadian School Libraries

Canadian School Libraries (CSL) is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to professional research and education in the field of the school library learning commons in Canada. CSL connects school library practitioners and educators across Canada in the collaborative pursuit of delivering exemplary practices reflective of current professional school library learning commons standards.

• Excellent School Libraries
• School Library Learning Commons Program Guidelines
• Learning Commons in Action
• Culturally Relevant and Responsive School Library Learning Commons
• Canadian School Libraries Collection Diversity Toolkit

Canadian School Libraries Research Archive

• Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us (2018)

CSL’s Treasure Mountain Canada Symposium

A school library learning commons research symposium and think tank, collaboratively exploring ideas to build collective knowledge of the learning commons approach as sustainable school improvement.

A Guide to the Selection and Deselection of School Library Resources (2023)

This resource is for school library professionals, educators, staff, administrators, school boards, students, and families. The guide was developed with the general public in mind, for anyone interested in understanding how resources are curated for a School Library Learning Commons (SLLC).

Sample Selection Policy (2019) 

This documentation is intended as a resource to support school libraries in the development of selection policies which affirm the principles of intellectual freedom.

The Teaching Librarian

The Teaching Librarian is the official magazine of the Ontario School Library Association (OSLA). It is published three times a year (January, May, September) to support OSLA members in providing significant and effective library programs and services.

The Teaching Librarian also promotes library programs and curriculum development that furthers exemplary educational objectives. It fosters effective collaboration within the school library community and provides a forum to share experience and expertise. 

Winner of the 2015 Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) Communication Award of Excellence for Best Publication.

• Read the Latest Issue

The following two online tutorials contain templates, event ideas, helpful websites and other resources to make planning a school event fun and easy. Thank you to tutorial creators Barbara Baillargeon and Stacey Carcao, two parents championing literacy events at their children’s schools, and founders of Engage literacy, Inc., with generous support from a Parents Reaching Out Grant, Ontario Ministry of Education.

21st Century School Libraries, Parent Engagement and Student Achievement
This tutorial is designed to help parents launch an event.

Snowed In: Family Literacy Event Planning Toolkit
This tutorial is designed to help school library staff work with parents to launch an event.

This joint project between The Association of Library Coordinators of Ontario (TALCO) and OSLA was created to augment the Ontario’s ‘Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat’ (LNS) Monograph #24: Getting Started with Student Inquiry, October 2011, to include a third set of examples about the role of the teacher-librarian in supporting the student and classroom educator in the curriculum-based student inquiry process.

The finished project, which includes a print poster and online graphic with hyperlinks to supporting online resources, is appropriate for classroom teachers and teacher-librarians working with students in grades 1-8. The poster is both available in both English and French and is cross-curricular with an emphasis on Social Studies, History & Geography. 

TALCO and OSLA would like to thank the Ontario Ministry of Education for their support of this project.

Note: Actual printing size of posters is 32″ x 24″. Additional print copies of the poster may need to be made using professional printing technology and/or services. 

• Download The Interactive Student Inquiry Learning Process (ENGLISH)
• Download The Interactive Student Inquiry Learning Process (FRENCH)
• Download The Interactive Student Inquiry Learning Process (ENGLISH – Accessible)
• Download The Interactive Student Inquiry Learning Process (FRENCH – Accessible) 

Ministry of Education Documents:

• Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12 (2010)
• Ontario First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education policy framework (2007)
• Capacity Building Series (2007-2018)
  • The Capacity Building Series was produced by Ontario’s ‘Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat’ to support leadership and instructional effectiveness in Ontario schools.
• Considerations for Program Planning: The Role of the School Library
• Effective Early Reading Instruction: A Guide for Teachers
• Cross-Curricular and Integrated Learning
  • Literacy
  • STEM Education
  • Critical Thinking and Critical Literacy

Right to Read Inquiry Report (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2019)

The Right to Read inquiry report highlights how learning to read is not a privilege but a basic and essential human right. The report includes 157 recommendations to the Ministry of Education, school boards and faculties of education on how to address systemic issues that affect the right to learn to read.