Instead of being tested after reading, children share opinions about books, both orally and in writing. This change of focus draws readers to genre studies and studies of literary elements, again making demands upon the librarian and the collection. Librarians can help teachers use children's comments to lead them to other good books, encouraging children to read and to respond at higher levels to what they are reading. Workshops, where children select books based on personal interest and link their reading to prior experience. Silent Reading, where children use some time every day to read books for pleasure with no interruptions and no testing at the end of the reading.
Children learn how to select books they enjoy and to sustain their reading.
The programs described above create an enormous demand for books. In addition, in many whole language schools each child leaves school every day with a book to read with his or her family. Many librarians also provide a box of books from the media center for each classroom to support buddy reading, sustained silent reading, and home reading programs. Librarians can also expect changes in circulation patterns when a school moves to whole language. In today's technological age, classroom teachers do not rely solely upon books for their instructional programs.