School Libraries Supporting Literacy and Wellbeing

Merga draws on her own research, as well as recent work on libraries, literacy, and student well-being in a variety of global contexts for this professional text. Although the author is positioned within the Australian education system, she integrates studies on school librarianship that support a broad readership for this work. Readers in a North American context may have to extrapolate from Merga’s findings and the information presented here, but the core idea of this book, that school library professionals provide support for students’ literacy and mental health, remains transferable across contexts. Each chapter can be read as a stand-alone and in any order, rather than reading the text straight through. The book is designed to serve as a multifaceted resource that school library professionals can turn to in specific circumstances to gather support for advocacy, budget negotiations, and program review or development. The appendices offer information about Merga’s various research projects that led to the information in this book, as well as five core points distilled from the research, which can be presented to school or district administrators to make a case for funding and support. While a robust, contemporary resource, it is worth noting that the scope of the text focuses solely on student well-being without addressing the well-being of other members of the school community. In all, this text is a solid resource for school library professionals interested in cultivating spaces for student engagement and well-being, providing a strong foundation of global research that can be used to advocate for resources on the local level.