What is the value of a graduate degree? It is a calculation: time plus tuition minus the chance of getting the right job after graduation. When the costs far outweigh the return, a new question might occur to graduates: Can I have my money back? Most prospective graduate students run the math before applying to a program, but it is next to…

This study compares the perspectives of academic library administrators, library school educators, and academic librarians with respect to academic instructional librarianship. A nine-item questionnaire was administered to 14 educators, 10 library administrators, and 13 instructional librarians. The survey included items related to important…

Academic librarians have long been responsible for teaching information literacy competencies on college campuses, even as many are hesitant to accept the title of teacher. With inadequate instructional design preparation and one-shot sessions serving as a popular, if limited, instructional medium, librarians' design processes are often developed…

The literature on academic librarians' teaching experience consistently reflects a disconnect between the education Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates receive and the knowledge and skills they need to perform their jobs. The goal of this study is to assess the current state of instruction and user education courses in graduate…

In this article, the author examines how libraries have evolved and argues that they have not fundamentally changed. While the library spaces that students work in have changed, the lessons being learned fundamentally have not. Students still learn to find source materials, research, write, construct projects, create reference lists, and complete…

In this article, the author examines how school librarianship has changed, but also remained the same over time. School librarians consistently hold to core values of collaboration, learning, equity and inclusion, access and literacy amidst changes in the landscape--technology, materials, school expectations, and student needs.

To support school librarians as they strive to develop learners who critically curate their own resources and include multiple perspectives, American Association of School Librarians (AASL) tasked a 2022 American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leaders team with developing a guide for school librarians based on the Curate Shared Foundation in…

After many years working as a public school educator and school librarian, it is evident to the author that the relationships librarians cultivate with school library stakeholders--students, teachers, staff members, administrators, families, and community members--are the most critical ingredient to creating and maintaining vibrant modern-day…

Instructional leadership from the school library happens when school librarians make known their areas of expertise, proactively pursue opportunities to teach, and continue to learn new technologies and strategies for student success. Knowledge of grade level curriculum is essential for offering meaningful collaboration to K-12 instructors and…

Computational thinking (CT) has emerged as an important method in the United States for helping children learn to solve complex problems and develop skills necessary for coding and other computer science-related endeavors. Research has revealed that CT can be encouraged with children as young as 3-4 years of age. While some preschools and schools…

The pandemic prompted Courtney Lewis and her fellow school librarians to dig deep and acknowledge that their information literacy instruction followed a just-in-time philosophy. Essentially, limited just-in-time information literacy instruction is like teaching a kid how to play soccer for seven days out of each year and expecting them to be a…

The actions of a single librarian can bring about district support aimed at increasing students' equitable access to a strong school library. This article shares a success story from a sole school librarian who showed evidence of the school library's value and was able to double her contracted presence as the school's librarian.

According to the author, we are all creators and consumers of media. Technology has made it easy to copy, paste, and transfer anything educators might want to use in their classrooms. As educators, school librarians have an obligation to honor the law and be the role models that learners and other staff members need them to be. So many times the…

To meet the challenges of a data-driven society, high school students need new arrays of literacy skills. In the United States, school librarians, who work across disciplines, are well-positioned to help students improve their data practice, but they first need new domain knowledge. This article presents findings from an evaluating survey and…

At-risk students are at risk of falling behind in contributing to tomorrow's 21st-century technological workforce unless educators address deficits early on. Scholars have indicated school librarians can raise at-risk students' self-efficacy levels and address inequity through access to technology and instruction. Nonetheless, there are…