Gov. Rick Scott has proclaimed April as School Library Month. Katrina Figgett, Director of School Libraries and Information Service, Florida Department of Education, stated in a memorandum anouncing School Library Month that ”(r)esearch studies… found that school library programs make a measurable difference in student academic achievement. School library programs prepare students for lifelong learning and enhance their reading enjoyment.”
Many think of school libraries as “just for kids.” I can tell you with assurance that WTI’s media center is not “just for kids” - it’s for everyone. It’s for the adults who attend WTI to take advantage of career and technical education training opportunities but who also enjoy reading good fiction in their limited spare time. It’s for the high school students who attend WTI for part of the day and who live, eat, breathe, and want to learn more about their chosen technical education program by accessing WTI’s large technical section. It’s for any student who needs to conduct research, type a resume, or needs a quiet place to study. It is for the children of the daycare who visit every Thursday for Storytime. It’s also for our teachers, many of whom come directly from industry into teaching (accordingly, our professional section has grown and developed significantly in the past five years.) To put it simply, WTI’s media center is for any student who is interested in learning – anything.
