What Are the Reference Needs of Whole Language Teachers?

Closely related to resouce-based teaching is the whole language concept. Naylor, Emdad, and Ward relate whole language to the refernce process in the school media center as they present their view or model of a whole language librarian. In so doing, they discuss three related proposals or propositions to contemplate: selection as part of the larger process of inquiry; books as the basis for discussion and meaning making; and the media center serving as a model of a democratic community. They pose numerous thought-provoking questions related to this new model. And then they conclude that becoming a whole langugage librarian requires not only rejecting uniformity in learning and testing, but the acceptance of a total paradigm shift, as well as a need for constantly recreating the librarian's role.