The Colorado Study (Lance, Wellborn, and Hamilton-Pennell 1993) and its many replications in other states have demonstrated that when educators and learners had access to a qualified school librarian in the context of a thoughtfully built, adequately resourced, technology rich, and widely accessible school library, learners tended to flourish on…

This article describes the author's (an elementary school librarian) journey as she researched various bike bookmobile programs in the United States. Though the three programs had different target audiences, all the bike bookmobiles that she observed generated excitement and interest in reading. Public interest for each program was high. People…

More than 60,000 students attend over seventy schools comprising the Douglas County School District (DCSD) in Colorado. It has been a consistently high-performing district, with a reputation for being among Colorado's elite. Douglas County Libraries (DCL) is a nationally recognized state-of-the-art public library system with seven branches serving…

Colorado school librarians are in the midst of a crisis. According to a 2009-2010 survey of public schools in Colorado, just 23% of elementary schools have an endorsed librarian, while 37% of middle schools and 32% of high schools report having an endorsed librarian. This report also shows how these percentages have dropped in just a two-year…

In this article St. Vrain Valley (CO) School District (SVVSD) librarian, Holli Buchter describes what took place in the school libraries in the district when the newest elementary school, Red Hawk, opened its doors. Red Hawk asked and answered the question: "Is the Dewey Decimal Classification system still the best way for students to locate…

The new "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner IN ACTION", presented like a colorful flowchart, was previewed without fanfare at the annual Midwinter meeting of the American Library Association in Denver, Colorado, in January (American Library Association 2009). This new publication does a good job in further defining the student…

In 2000, the Colorado State Library published "How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards: The Second Colorado Study." This follow-up study is the third Colorado study of the impact of school libraries and librarians on academic achievement, and the second study to examine their impact on student performance on the Colorado…

Issues 283 through 289 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2010 include the relationship between computer access in libraries and use of traditional services, analysis of the third year of data…

Issues 256 through 265 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2008 include computer usage by public library patrons, Colorado summer reading programs, children's' use of public libraries, and the…

Issues 248 through 255 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data gleaned from libraries in Colorado and across the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2007 include the library labor market, the benefits to libraries of using a statewide courier service, and the results of a patron survey at…

It's 10 a.m. in Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver, and the Grandview High School library is bursting with life. Its two classrooms, each equipped with state-of-the-art technology, are overflowing with kids. In one, Patricia Holloway, the library coordinator, is introducing a group of entering freshman to the library. In the other, media…

In this age of overwhelming information, a good school library program is more important than ever. Students must be taught how to evaluate the information they find on the Internet. Collaboration between teachers and teacher-librarians is the key, and studies prove that this collaboration improves student test scores. However, the principal's…

Presents a profile of Cherry Creek High School (Colorado) and its library media program and describes the following five elements of power that library media centers have to increase student achievement and love of learning: (1) access; (2) support for data driven decision making; (3) integration of technology; (4) connections between teaching and…

This document presents statistics and input-output measures for K-12 school libraries in Colorado for 2002. Data are presented by type and size of school, i.e., high schools (six categories ranging from 2,000 and over to under 300), junior high/middle schools (five categories ranging from 1,000-1,999 to under 300), elementary schools (four…

In 1993, the Colorado State Library published "The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement." This follow-up study focuses attention on the library media specialist and the services she or he provides throughout the building, rather than just the library media center as a specific place, and emphasizes the fact that…