Prior to this year, the National Library Legislative Day never really held much importance for the author as a school library media specialist. However, this feeling changed after she attended her first National Library Legislative Day in May of 2008. The goal of this day is to allow everyday practicing professionals to speak with their national…

Reading advocacy is an essential aspect of school librarians' role. Using their knowledge of students, school librarians provide reader's advisory, matching books to individuals based on their interests, aptitudes, and abilities. They know that reading skills are an integral part of academic achievement and work to accelerate this important…

One never gets a second chance to make a first impression. During these tough economic times it's important to promote the school library media center's program and collection as integral parts of the learning process. The changing landscape of librarianship demands a wide selection of approaches to promote library resources. Ideas, strategies,…

One calls people on the street strangers if he or she doesn't know who they are, so students whom the librarian has never dealt with are just that, strangers. When the school librarian gets involved in collaboration, most of the time they don't see the student's Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), language barriers, or anything else that…

Girls today have never known a time of athletic inequality. That is why it is so important to build a strong collection for this particular patron base so the voices of the past can encourage the goals of present and future athletes. The young girls of today have grown up with a wide range of athletic opportunities and most do not know of the…

The author's current position had an established program of using high school seniors as library aides. She was comfortable with such a program, and knew the students could do a good job if taught correctly. She didn't count on the variety of memorable moments that would occur with these student workers. In this article, the author shares some of…

In 2003 the Public Education Network developed the pilot Revitalizing High School Libraries (RHSL) initiative, funded by The New York Life Foundation. Based on the Library Power Program, it included many of the same features--collaborative planning, flexible scheduling, collection development, and facility renovation--with a focus on how this…

Many U.S. elementary and middle schools celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd via the National Education Association's (NEA) Read Across America Day (RAAD). Not as many high schools participate in this joyous ode to reading. In this article, the authors describe how they, as media specialists at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia,…

Generating excitement about poetry is often a challenge with high school patrons. While some teens have discovered the cathartic and aesthetic qualities of poetry, many have never experienced the joy of poetry. A course the author took in 2003 at The University of Georgia with Dr. JoBeth Allen, "Poetry in the Classroom," ignited a…

Though few students realize it, many things in today's culture exist because of mythology. This article argues that library media specialists and teachers can teach mythology but it must be applied to the 21st century and shown its relevance in today's world. The article demonstrates that mythology studies are alive and well when the new AASL…

In this article, the author shares her experience in assisting seniors and two teachers at Kalamazoo (Michigan) Central High School when they joined a national contest to have the President of the United States deliver the commencement address to the class of 2010. One of the author's favorite memories surrounds the distribution of commencement…

In high school students get tied up in extracurricular activities and have little time for pleasure reading. It is true that with rigorous academic schedules they have little time for pleasure reading. Thus began a conversation with a sophomore English teacher at the author's high school. As they were discussing the plight of free reading he was…

This article presents the Louisa County High School Library's annual Thanks-a-Latte Day, an event that introduces the American political process to LCHS seniors in a real way. Thanks-a-Latte Day was born from an idea found in a "School Library Journal" article by Charli O'Dell published in 1999. Her basic idea was to promote the school library by…

In this article, the authors present the outcomes of a project they implemented to increase library use by their adolescent males, a population at their school that avoided the library like the plague. They conducted a survey to know what their male students wished they would find in their media center. Their students suggested manga as a genre,…

In this lighthearted essay, the author, a library media specialist at Bowie High School in Texas, shares the lessons she learned from her experience dressing up as "the Bookinator" for her school's superhero day.