Describes the jail library program of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office (ACSO), Englewood, Colorado. Discusses the regular jail library services and the new "Choose Freedom Read" program in which librarians from the local public library give book talks describing some 20 titles to groups of 10 to 20 prisoners. (AEF)

Explains the leadership roles that technology-related organizations play in creating an environment to nurture a successful transition of libraries into the new roles they will play as the result of new technology. Discusses the evolving role of technology providers; levels of leadership; and leadership for the future. (Author/LRW)

A United Kingdom public library is making open-learning collections accessible via the Internet and training self-directed learners in their use. Librarians have an important role in raising awareness and providing support for essential information skills. (SK)

This final column by Herbert White addresses his concerns with the professional objectives of librarians and how librarians are perceived and treated. Highlights include the users' need for librarians; the role of the American Library Association in supporting libraries more often than librarians; and stressing institutions rather than people.…

Uses accreditation and Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) sectional standards/criteria, higher education outcomes-assessment research findings, and recent performance-effectiveness studies to identify institutional outcomes to which academic libraries contribute, describe specific performance indicators whose measures of impacts…

Explores the role of the librarian and of the service perspective in the digital library environment. The focus of the article is limited to the topic of librarian/user collaboration when the user is in a remote location, including video-based reference services and the use of electronic mail. (Author/LRW)

In 1999, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the United States Department of Education charged the RAND Reading Study Group (RRSG) with developing a research agenda to address pressing literacy issues. Published in 2002 after much investigation, the RRSG concluded that evidence-based practices in the teaching of reading…

Many teachers think too little about the role of the library media specialist in their professional lives, and because of this oversight they underutilize this great resource. This article explains the top ten reasons why teachers should work with their library media specialists: (1) Improving test scores and enhancing student academic…

In this article, the author discusses her personal experience of coming up with a mission statement for her library. A significant part of that goal was to identify what a best-practice library looked like so that she could emulate the model in her library. The entire process is described in this article.

What have librarians got to do with brain research? Much more than most librarians realize, says Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Children's Programming Specialist at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore. Her original plan was to be a social worker, but it was suggested that she could be equally effective in improving lives as a librarian--while having a…

Kimberly Martin is just 30, but she's been reinventing the Bonner Springs City Library since late 1998, even before she earned her library degree. Some 20 minutes west of Kansas City, Bonner Springs is a small town (service population around 10,000) in a bustling metropolitan area. Martin's goal is to provide service on a par with the larger…

When Kim Taney is not tending 80 workstations on the Webster Public Library's local area network, supervising the pages, working the reference desk, and advising libraries on how to improve teen services, she teaches ballet and choreographs her dance studio's productions. Choreography is a useful skill for someone with such a multifaceted life. As…

Every democratic society relies on deliberation and dialogue between social groups with varying perspectives to provide for the representation of the diverse members of the society. Meaningful deliberation is based on open access to information by individuals and free exchange of information between different social groups. Policy developments in…

Caroline Ward's energetic enthusiasm for books and children is contagious. In 36 years of library service to children, no librarian, student, or child who has heard her tell a story, give a booktalk, lead a discussion group, or teach a children's literature class is likely to have forgotten the experience. While Ward is cheerfully offhand about…

The "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook" is dedicated to theoretical, empirical, and practical approaches to educational media development. All chapters are invited and selected based on a variety of strategies to determine current trends and issues in the field. The 2011 edition highlights innovative Trends and Issues in Learning…