Interacting with History: Teaching with Primary Sources

edited by Katharine Lehman

ISBN-13: 9780838912058

136 pages 
 8½ x 11 
 2014

With nearly 142 million items and one of the largest bodies of high-quality, digitized content available, the Library of Congress (LOC) is an enormously useful resource for librarians and teachers. Yet it remains a mystery to many. Exploring the wealth of materials freely available for free from LOC, Lehman and a stellar roundup of contributors offer an up-to-date survey of teacher resources to help teachers and librarian educators shake the dust off state-mandated history and literature curricula. Beginning with an introduction by Barbara Stripling, 2013-14 ALA President, this book

• Presents a tour of LOC, with an overview of its primary sources, including digital resources such as maps, diaries, and songbooks
• Details LOC Teacher Page resources, which provide easy access to the most relevant primary sources from the collections
• Offers a selection of lessons from teacher-librarians across the county, with guidance on how librarians and teachers and can use the library's resources in their local communities
• Features numerous sidebars, tables, and illustrations, showing how LOC’s resources can illuminate the past while also providing a backdrop for discussing contemporary issues

This book persuasively demonstrates how the online resources of the Library of Congress can be used not only to enhance a sense of history but also to teach information literacy, online searching, and critical thinking skills to elementary, middle, and high school students.