The library media specialists are a critical factor in a school's survival, especially as the staff works to strengthen reading comprehension across all classrooms and disciplines. Brief summaries to clarify what is involved in each strategy of the six prime strategies of library media specialists are described, which can help the school to…

The strategies to be followed by a Library Media Specialist when his or her position is reduced due to budget reductions or reorganizations in the school district are discussed. The strategies include, learning the timeline for district budget adjustment project, distribution and discussion of library advocacy information with building…

In this article, the influence of timesaving and inspiring reference technologies on the field of reference services is assessed. Library media specialists are advised to be aware of and embrace such emerging technologies, as these will enable them to make information gathering effective and efficient and create information-literate students.

The process of retrieving information from reference sources can be a problem for young students due to differences in terminology. Pointers on how library media specialists can assist young children to acquire information from sources are provided.

Collaboration between classroom teachers and library media specialists will help overcome problems of increasing workload faced by teachers, students and parents in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind program. One such experiment resulted in transforming a tedious assignment into an exciting and memorable project.

Not all volunteers respond the same way to the same stimuli. The purpose of this article is to suggest several ways to nurture volunteers in a library media center setting. Some might respond best to a printed word of appreciation or recognition in a district newsletter, while others would value a book or pin as a gift. Perks, like allowing…

There are plenty of reasons why teaching students to set up their own blogs should not be taught by school librarians. But the truth is, not all students have access to that out-of-school technology world. ELL students and kids from lower-income homes are unlikely to have the Internet at home. As much as school librarians promote and encourage…

Most facilities renovation projects occur because someone at the executive or board level has lobbied successfully for them. Often in public schools, the voters have agreed to the project as well via a building referendum. Therefore, facilities projects are highly visible to the community. Unlike many other issues in schools, facilities projects…

The author relates how his school has a very active English Language Learner (ELL) program. ELL students typically have varying levels of social and academic language, but almost always have some English proficiency. Recently, his school established a Newcomer Program that drastically changed the school system. They acquired students lacking any…

Adding graphic novels to a school's library collection is an effective way to foster students' love reading. Graphic novels can also help improve language and literacy development, including second language learners, the illustrations provide valuable contextual clues to the meaning of the written narrative.

One of the main goals as a secondary librarian has been to get every teacher to use the high school library. For years, various public relations activities, includes quarterly newsletters, distribution of lists of new books, handing out various lists of library materials asking teachers to provide displays in the library and sending lists of…

The library media center is hosting an all-school team challenge, designed to celebrate reading and library skills. Students could choose from the contest categories like "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", Author Facts Challenge and Opening Lines Challenge for the competition and those students who read more challenging books show their…

A Time Travel project in the library gives enthusiasm to students to connect with the past and reinforces their research skills while instilling respect for the past years. The librarian should choose one specific decade to highlight in the library and create an extravaganza that would allow memorabilia from that time period to be located without…

E-Books are books or other forms of text in digital form, an enhanced book without paper and at little or no cost, technologies that are already available at most schools can be used to expand the library media center's collection of books, at the same time making many books more accessible to students. Many tools are available for free to convert…

The library is a welcoming space for students and hence has to be met with certain requirements. Some of the tips that are presented to keep students comfortable include meeting students' need with humor and compassion, keeping signs and handouts simple, overdues be met with a Zen approach, finding out and giving what the patron needs.