Impact of School Libraries on Students' Life Skills

The main aim of this paper is to examine the importance, implications, and opportunities of the school library in providing information and ideas that are fundamental to functioning successfully in today’s information and knowledge-based society. The school library equips students with life-long learning skills and develops their imagination, enabling them to live as responsible citizens. This paper will explore how school libraries enable all members of the school community to become critical thinkers and effective users of information in all formats and media. Further, it will stress the need to link school libraries to the wider library and information network in accordance with the principles in the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto. More specifically, this paper will examine the link between life skills and the school libraries in building cognitive, personal, and interpersonal skills in the background of a developing country like Kenya. It will endeavour to corroborate Douglas (2000) statement that ‘every child must become fully competent in reading so as to succeed in school and discharge responsibilities as a dependable citizen of a democratic society’. Students in every field must read in order to keep abreast of what is happening around them. What better way can there be than having well equipped school libraries that are effortlessly accessible? This paper is based on the premise that life skills which represent the psycho-social skills that determine valued behaviour and include for example reflective skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking, personal skills such as self-awareness, and interpersonal skills can be developed through exposure to a variety of media. Reference will be made to a range of research which suggest that practicing life skills leads to qualities such as self-esteem, critical thinking, decision making, sociability and tolerance among others. For purposes of this paper, it is worth noting that UNICEF defines life skills as “a behaviour change or behaviour development approach designed to address a balance of three areas: knowledge, attitude and skills”. In Kenya today, the citizens are grappling with a myriad of problems including illiteracy, poverty, HIV/AIDS, displacement, hunger, high inflation levels, domestic violence, and terrorism. This paper will investigate how the school library can, by and large, be used to stem the challenges, and be employed to develop and grow the nation. Indeed, if young people are empowered with life skills, they will be able to make the right choices through situational analysis, critical thinking and informed decision making. Consequently, they avoid risky behaviour, reduce their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other vices since life skills are essentially those abilities that help promote mental well-being and competence in young people as they face the realities of life.