SCHOOL MEDIA RESOURCE CENTRE: A TOOL FOR DEVELOPING GOOD READING HABITS IN CHILDREN BY NWOFOR, F.A. & ILORAH, H.C. Abstract This paper identifies the fact that reading is indispensable in the life of man; it is the most important of all subjects and the road to learning. The study surveyed the role of the “school library media centre” and the school library media specialist in facilitating the development of good reading habits in children in the present educational dispensation. Literature reviewed indicated that to actualize this, the media specialist and the teachers must collaborate in organizing the programme, selecting relevant resources and exposing the pupils/students to the required teaching/learning experiences uniquely suited to the personal needs and reading levels of pupils/students. It was recommended that the media specialist and the media resource centre must shift from the role of “book keeper” to “facilitator”. Introduction Nyam and Guraji (1999:59) noted that the establishment of school libraries is essential as the establishment of schools themselves. School libraries found in primary and secondary schools are established for the improvement of teaching-learning situations and the total upbringing of school children. Education is a societal instrument of change and consequently it is affected by social, political, economic, scientific and technological changes. These changes invariably affect the school which in turn is undergoing drastic changes. These changes have made greater demands on the school library. It has overhauled the school library from the peripheral position in the teaching-learning programmes into the mainstream of the instructional process itself. The new educational role of the school library has prompted a proliferation of named changes such as instructional material centre, learning resource center, instructional resource centre, educational resource centre, audio-visual resource centre and communications resources centre. These are some of the common substitutes for the traditional term ‘school libraries. Presently, the terms school library media centre, school library media specialists and school media library programme have been adopted as new terminologies for discussing primary/secondary school library programmes (Davies: 1974). Fayose (1995) has described the school library resource centre as that part of school where a collection of books, periodicals, magazines and newspapers, films and filmstrips, video-tapes, recording of all types, slides, computers, kits, realia and other information bearing resources are housed for use by teachers and pupils for learning, recreational activities, personal interest and interpersonal relationships of children in the school manned by a media The Nigerian Library Link, Vol.4, Nos. 1&2, October, 2006, pp. 87-95. 2 specialist. The educational programme of the schools and the media resource centre are