Research clearly demonstrates that a robust, high-quality classroom library impacts student achievement. Students who have access to an extensive, exemplary classroom library read more, read more widely for a variety of purposes, demonstrate more positive attitudes toward reading, and score higher on standardized tests of reading achievement. 

Successful skill-building classroom libraries do the following:

• Support literacy instruction.
• Help students learn about books.
• Provide a central location for classroom resources.
• Provide opportunities for independent reading and curricular extensions.
• Serve as a place for students to talk about and interact with books. 

Here are 11 essentials to help ensure your library is as effective as it possibly can be: 

1. Your library should offer a wide collection of books in good condition

2. Around 20-30 books per student, if possible

3. 30% of the books in your classroom library should have been published in the last 3–5 years

4. Add new books to your classroom library each year

5. 50–70% of your classroom library should consist of nonfiction books

6. 10% of your classroom library should consist of reference books 

7. 25% of your classroom library should consist of multicultural books 

8. The reading level of your classroom library expands to cover two to three years above and below grade level

9. Ideally, multiple copies of popular titles and text sets appear in your classroom library so multiple students can read these at the same time

10. A rich variety of genres should be included in your classroom library so children are exposed to: realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction, biography and autobiography, stories, classics, myths and legends, picture books, reference, poetry, comic books and graphic novels, and more

11. If you can, provide digital texts, ebooks, and multimedia such as interactive whiteboard technology