The Library as an Expansion of a Classroom

THE LIBRARY AS AN EXPANSION OF A CLASSROOM

By

Tim Cuttings AGBER

Psychospiritualist

TimeXperts, Abuja - NIGERIA

E-Mail: timcuttingss@gmail.com

Tel: +2347065 777 888 

And

Matthew A. ANKWA

Clinical Psychologist

Benue State University, Makurdi

E-Mail: ankwamatthew@gmail.com

Tel: +2348065646952

© Tim Cuttings AGBER & Matthew ANKWA, 2014

How to cite this article:

Agber, T.C. & Ankwa, M.A. (2014). The library as an expansion of a classroom. Retrieved from               http://timcuttings.wordpress.com

INTRODUCTION
It is a nobbling reason to ostensibly agreeable with the idea that the library is an expansion of a classroom. Essentially, in order to discuss this subject matter well, it will do us good to look into what is the library and classroom.
The Library
Aguolu and Aguolu (2002) observed that libraries are social institutions, created to conserve knowledge; preserve the cultural heritage; provide information; undergird and underpin education and research; and to serve as fountains of recreation.
Adelaja (1977) views a library as a media resource, information and cultural center. It constitutes a social institution which exists for the collection, preservation and transmission of human intellectual experience and culture. Libraries are information banks. The word “information” connotes different things to different people in different situations and at different times.
Wikipedia (2014) defines library as a collection of information, sources, resources, and services: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. Similarly, Britannica (2010) holds that library is a collection of information resources in print or in other forms that is organized and made accessible for reading or study. The word derives from the Latin liber "book".
In the eyes of vendors of literati of antiquity, the concept of library and librarians was seen as “a house of books” and “a man who keeps books in a house”; but apparently, libraries have strove in scenes and science to extend beyond the physical monastic walls of buildings and librarians who are mere caretakers of books.
Libraries have been identified as one of the key elements for open access to information, which is crucial to democratic information society development.

Essentially, in all societies, every human activity is organized through institutions. Particularly, every major social task whether economic performance or health care, education or research and business or industry are institutionalized. The protection of the environment or defense is today customarily assigned to institutions and organizations. Therefore, Libraries – and other similar types of institutions – are those that collect, stock, process, organize, disseminate and distribute information or knowledge recorded in documents. Moreover, knowledge and information are so vital for the entire human development in so much that libraries and other institutions that handle and manage knowledge and information are indeed irreplaceable.
Assoh (2012) observed that the more complex the society becomes in its bureaucratic and educational requirements, the greater its dependence upon library for information services.
Though, library plays a role in people’s lives as a source of information, it is observed that its important role appeared to be as a place for knowledge creation. People studied to create knowledge about their school subjects, and people created information documents to help them find employment. The library provided a quiet space to think and the tools, photocopier and computer, to make employment documents.
Libraries have been grouped into various types depending on the purpose for which they are built and to whom they should serve. There are therefore, five basic types of libraries and Ugbagir (2013) enumerates these as academic, school, public, national and special or research libraries.
The Classroom
Classroom may be viewed in the light of a place – whether in a building or any accepted location – where a body of students (learners) with their teacher meeting regularly to study the same regulated subjects or take lessons. In addition, lesson is a period of time in which school students are taught a particular subject for its knowledge. On the other hand, classroom may be defined as a room where people are taught or a room, especially in a school or college, where classes are held involving learners and teachers.
Barr & Tagg (1995) reported that for well over a decade, the focus of the classroom has steadily shifted from a teaching-centric approach to a learning-centric approach. Invariably, this shift calls for a rethinking of the traditional classroom, replacing the standard lecture with a blend of pedagogical approaches that more regularly involve the student in the learning process. Under a learning-centered approach, the instructor retains “control” of the classroom, but thought is regularly given to how well students will learn the material presented, and the variety of pedagogically sound methods that may be employed to help the students better understand the core information to be learned, which is accrued to classroom management.
Classroom management refers to all of the things that a teacher does to organize students, space, time, and materials so that learning can take place. This management includes fostering student involvement and cooperation in all classroom activities and establishing a productive working environment.
Dike (nd) examines that a central role for the library is inextricably tied to certain ideas of educational reform and that if classroom instruction is characterized by a teacher lecturing before a class, writing notes to be copied and memorized, requiring set answers from a single text, there will be a limited role for the school library. She further explained that if, on the other hand, learning takes place through interaction with a variety of resources, with individual or small groups carrying out inquiries or projects under the guidance of the teacher, then the role of the library will be central.

The Library as an Extension of a Classroom
As an extension of the classroom, library space needs to embody new pedagogies, including collaborative and interactive learning modalities. Significantly, the library must serve as the principal building on campus where one can truly experience and benefit from the centrality of an institution’s intellectual community, (Freeman, 2005).
Demas (2005) noted that student focus groups and anecdotal evidence portray individual study as both a private and a communal act. Students associate the library with the privilege of being part of a scholarly community; in this respect, it ranks second only to the classroom. The library is perceived as a comfortable, ecumenical, and welcoming place of serious academic purpose. Everyone is there primarily to do academic work; to enter the library is to be motivated to study. Most students identify a favorite place to study and develop a strong behavioral response of immediately getting to work when they go to that place. Dorms, by contrast, are messy, noisy, and full of distractions.
Teaching and learning spaces are at the heart of many academic libraries. Group study areas are collaborative environments that buzz with students working together; library classrooms afford a place for learning and experiential development of critical thinking; and public-service desks provide the opportunity for one-to-one teaching and learning. Public libraries share this commitment to teaching and learning by offering space for tutoring, literacy activities, training in Internet usage and resources, and homework help. King Library has four computer labs, where librarians offer information-competence education to students, the public, and colleagues, (Peterson, 2005).
The use of electronic databases, digitized formats, and interactive media has also fostered a major shift from the dominance of independent study to more collaborative and interactive learning. A student can go to this place called the “library” and see it as a logical extension of the classroom. It is a place to access and explore with fellow students information in a variety of formats, analyze the information in group discussion, and produce a publication or a presentation for the next day’s seminar.
Krolak (2006) presaged that if literacy is not placed within a functional framework of relevance and if newly acquired literacy skills are not constantly used and improved, there is a real danger that those who have acquired literacy skills will relapse into illiteracy and the huge investment in school education and adult literacy classes will be wasted.
Essentially, all over the world libraries are dedicated to providing free and equitable access to information for all, be it in written, electronic or audiovisual form. They play a key role in creating literate environments and promoting literacy by offering relevant and attractive reading material for all ages and all literacy levels and by offering adult and family literacy classes. They embrace the social responsibility to offer services that bridge social, political and economic barriers, and traditionally make a special effort to extend their services to marginalized people.
Professionals, schools or faculties see the library as an extension of the classroom, as a place in which students engage in a collaborative learning process, a place where they will, it is hoped, develop or refine their critical thinking.
Conclusion
The idea of library as an extension or expansion of a classroom is a connotation of the resource-based learning, which represents an attempt to expand learning materials beyond talk and chalk, teacher and textbook in this present dispensation of ICT-inevitable generation.
Essentially, the classroom is an embodiment of students and teachers or learners and educators and the library in turn has its users or clientele who are teachers and students therefore, it can so comfortably be noted and agreed that library is an extension of the classroom.

References
Adelaja, O.E. (1977) Nigeria and the Internet. Lagos: Eket Brothers Publishing House.
Aguolu, C.C. and Aguolu, I.E. (2002) Libraries and information management in Nigeria. Maiduguri: Ed-Linform Services
Assoh, D. (2012). The library and its place in the educational process. In Ape (Ed) Modern library instruction for higher education (peer reviewed). Makurdi: Midan Enterprises
Barr, R. B., & Tagg, J. (1995). From teaching to learning: a new paradigm for undergraduate education. Change, 27(6), 12–25.
Demas, S. (2005). From the ashes of Alexandria: what’s happening in the college library? In CLRI (ed) Library as place: rethinking roles, rethinking space. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources
Dike, V.W. (nd). Library resources in education. Enugu: ABIC Publishers
Freeman, G.T. (2005). The library as place: changes in learning patterns, collections, technology, and use. In CLRI (ed) Library as place: rethinking roles, rethinking space. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources
History. (2010). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Student and Home Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.
Krolak, L. (2006). The role of libraries in the creation of literate environments. Being a paper commissioned for the EFA global monitoring report, 2006 literacy for life. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education
Peterson, C.A. (2005). Space design for lifelong learning: the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joint-user library. In CLRI (ed) Library as place: rethinking roles, rethinking space. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources

Ugbagir, N.N. (2013). DLS 106 – Types of libraries (Definition of different types of libraries): Lecture 1. Makurdi: Benue State University.
Wikipedia, (2014). Library. 2014.02.22 pg1 retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/library