Discusses the role of special librarians as leaders in the information management profession and suggests ways that librarians can empower themselves. Suggestions include valuing and promoting their work, understanding organizational roles, staying abreast of new technology, focusing on career planning, insisting on proper remuneration, and…

Provides a brief history and overview of current projects in distance education and describes potential roles for the library media specialist in this area as school coordinator or information consultant. Addresses of several distance education projects are listed. (12 references) (MES)

Urges library media specialists to broaden their vision to include resource-based teaching and information literacy in their daily regimen. Discusses the role of library media centers in developing positive reading attitudes in students. Bases the discussion on the work of Stephen Krashen. (RS)

Describes the results of a study that investigated career decision making by adolescents. Discusses theoretical frameworks for this study, describes information sources used by questionnaire respondents, and suggests ways in which the public library's role could be expanded. (Author/LRW)

Contains 67 annotated references in the following categories: lifelong learning policy--international perspectives, lifelong learning policy--national perspectives, and lifelong learning and library services/role. (SK)

British librarians working as bibliotherapists developed linkages with community service and health care agencies. The project influenced emotional and mental well-being of participants, increased the use of social and cultural facilities, and may eventually affect family literacy. (SK)

Discusses how the library vendor's role is expanding to encompass a more active coaching component in a digitized environment. Topics include centrality of the reader; professional expectations for librarians; and coaching in the areas of bibliography information, licensing, networking, product/service awareness, and industry/market advice. (LRW)

Discusses whether the American Library Association (ALA) should adopt a set of core values for the profession, and if so, what these core values would be. Includes background, charge, and membership; process, content, format, and explication; the draft statement; dissemination/response to input; and objections to the draft core values statement.…

There are many chasms in the library profession: among different libraries and between public services and technology staff, users and librarians, and research and practice. Susan Gibbons bridges all of them. As director of digital library initiatives at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries, Gibbons was an early adopter of MIT's…

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 author argues that there is a need to reassess the direction of the academic library and the working practices of the staff within it to reclaim our libraries for their users and to examine the epistemology of library and information services. He argues that in order for academic libraries to find their place in the tertiary education culture…

For the past several years, many in the library profession have questioned the relevance of reference librarians in the digital age. With so much information available online, are reference librarians even still needed? The author believes they are--probably even more so today than ever. It is precisely the vast proliferation of electronic…

The public library is a product of modernity that follows in the wake of industrialization, urbanization, and popular movements, while at the same time the public library itself supports the building up and development of the modern. This article will examine the arrival of modernity and the prerequisites for the rise of public libraries, as well…

The idea of the information commons as a space for students to gather and work with technology is over a decade now. Carving out these areas has allowed many university libraries to remain relevant in the academic lives of students. Just as libraries have historically provided reading rooms for users to access and work with print collections, they…

This paper describes a project that underscores the critical role of this nation's museums and libraries in helping citizens build such 21st century skills as information, communications and technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, civic literacy, and global awareness. Recognizing that every individual requires these…