The Elementary Library is a learning hub that serves to inspire and guide students on their personal learning pathways. Our mission is to foster a love of reading and support the development of skills needed to access and evaluate information for academic and personal needs. The Elementary Library offers a wide variety of resources for research and recreational reading for students, parents and staff. The collection includes over 25,000+ books, 8,000 ebooks, over a dozen electronic databases for students, 18 monthly student magazines and a class set of MacBook Airs and iPads. Elementary students visit the library on a regular schedule. Parents are encouraged to visit the library with their children frequently.
The Libraries at the American School of Dubai are centers of research, innovation, and learning. They serve to ensure students and staff are effective users of information and have access to a wide range of materials.
ASD embraces a model of teaching and learning which integrates information and technology literacy. ASD’s two libraries—one with a focus on elementary students and the other serving middle and high school students—function as information hubs where students, teachers, parents, and staff are invited to use a variety of materials, from books (in English, Arabic, French, and Spanish) to digital resources, eBooks, magazines, databases, and more.
The work of the Libraries is aligned with the technology vision of ASD to embrace the power of technology to reimagine the learning environment, personalized learning pathways, and cultivate collaboration, communication, and innovation.
Elementary Library
Unique Programs
Each year, students are encouraged to read the work of visiting authors who travel to Dubai with funding in part from the Annual Giving Program. This is a school-wide, PreK-12 initiative and integrated into the curriculum at all levels. The authors conduct readings, workshops, classroom visits, and parent talks—all highly anticipated events.
Visiting Author: William Kamkwamba, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. William's workshops gave students the opportunity to build side-by-side with him. Students were asked to consider a local problem in the UAE and to design a prototype to help solve the problem. Some of the students ideas included litter management, stray pet solutions, water conservation, and ocean cleaning. Many students also wanted to build prototypes of windmills, just like William.
Visiting Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger. With Laura, many students created cut-out books inspired by the books The Hidden Alphabet and First the Egg. Laura challenged our students to think differently, to think about the "empty space" and design a letter hidden within a picture. Some students drew portraits using the letters in their names just like Laura did in her book Walter Was Worried. Students were all thrilled to learn more about Laura's creative process, intentional design and the meaning behind many of her beautiful picture books.
Reading Dog Program. ASD’s Elementary School Library organized the first Reading Dogs sessions in partnership with The Animal Agency in January. Students welcomed reading dogs Tess, Millie, and Ginger that are specially chosen, child-friendly, and extremely calm reading companions. Research supports that reading to a dog helps children relax into reading, open up, try harder, and have fun.
Middle School / High School Library
The Middle and High School Library media center offers a variety of resources for research and recreational reading. The Library seeks to encourage students to become life-long learners by promoting a love of reading and by teaching the skills necessary to effectively access and evaluate resources in order to meet academic and personal needs.
The Library has a 22,000+ volume collection of books to include fiction and nonfiction, reference resources and a variety of magazines and newspapers. Serving as a media center, the library also has available resources in non-print media including DVDs and audio and eBooks. The facility is a spacious, two- level, bright and an inviting space in the center of campus architecturally designed to meet a variety of learning needs. Students have access to group study rooms as well as spaces for collaboration and reflective reading.
Everyday Learning
