Books and Periodicals

• Obviously, the school library will have books; probably quite a few of them. But how many it has in your own subject area is another matter. Spend an hour or so after school early in the school year to familiarize yourself with the books related to your subject, and how many of them you and your students can use. Also take note of what magazines, newspapers and journals your school has subscriptions to. For example, your library may not have any books on America in the 1980s, but a backlog of old issues of Newsweek could work just as well.
  
  

Movies, Music and Electronic Media

• Another lifesaving resource for a classroom teacher is the school's catalog of movies and documentaries available to teachers only. Like books, it's best to know what is there well before you plan on using it in the classroom. This includes watching the movie in advance to make sure that it is something your students will enjoy. This applies for your school's collection of music and for other electronic media such as computer software.
  
  

General Internet Research

• The library is also the perfect venue to teach students the basics of how to conduct online research. By middle and high school, most students will already have a great deal of experience conducting online research. This does not mean that they know how to tell the difference between a good source and a bad one. Explicitly teaching these skills at the beginning of the school year can save you and your students from countless headaches later.
  
  

Electronic Databases

• Aside from public online resources, most public school systems have subscriptions to online databases such as JSTOR, EBSCOhost, ERIC and others. These databases have thousands of articles from credible, peer-reviewed journals. The majority of the articles are written at a college or professional level, making their usefulness limited to older or advanced students. That said, a college freshman that has practiced using these databases in high school has a distinct advantage over her peers.