Describes a library media management staff development course to focus on best practices in time management for the school year. Highlights include goal setting and planning; access to information; leadership and advocacy; and customizing ready reference files for useful media management information. (LRW)

Numerous state impact studies show that school libraries improve student achievement and standardized test scores, yet that fact is insufficient to keep financially strapped districts from closing their libraries. Teacher-librarians must be proactive and gather data at the school-site level to demonstrate how valuable they are to students and…

The number of state virtual libraries is rapidly expanding. These virtual libraries might include collections of subscription databases; state weblinks and resources; digital collections of primary source documents; and a state union catalog or links to school, public, and academic library catalogs. Most of these virtual libraries include an…

Information skills instruction is a fundamental and vital part of K-12 education in the 21st century. "The Handy 5", a proven effective model for planning, teaching, and assessing information skills instruction, was written to help library media specialists and teachers to collaborate more effectively in the teaching of information skills. This…

Encouraging literacy and academic success among English language learners (ELLs) is becoming an increasingly common challenge for educators. In the course of the authors work of training teachers or providing training for implementation of materials, they have found that the resources of the school library media center are invaluable for helping…

Library media specialists have been collaborating with classroom teachers for years and have long been advocates for tying the classroom curriculum to the library media center in real-world ways. Current reading research focuses on the many aspects of learning to read, including phonics and alphabet recognition, vocabulary building, fluency, and…

Language arts teachers and library media specialists bear the responsibility of teaching students how to properly feed their brains. In this article, the author describes how she teaches her students to make wise choices when selecting books. Furthermore, she presents the "Brain Food Pyramid" model that looks similar to the food pyramid but it…

In this article, the author describes a day in the life of Sandy Meagher, a librarian for 22 years at the Honesdale, Pennsylvania, elementary school. On a normal day in the library, Meagher's activities include conducting sessions of read-aloud time, assisting children in selecting research materials for a class project, and guiding Internet…

Better understanding the attitude and behaviors of students using the Internet for school work can provide valuable insight for today's school librarian. The Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted a qualitative study of Internet-using public middle and high school students drawn from across the country ranging from 12 to 17 years of age.…

Coming up with interesting information literacy lessons can be challenging for the high school librarian. If school librarians have taught their upper class students well, most are prepared to navigate their way successfully through libraries and Internet resources. In this article, the author explores a unique high school project that resulted in…

The mission of this library media program is to ensure that students are effective users of ideas and information. This makes meaningful, ongoing collaboration with teachers essential. Creating opportunities for teamwork is a challenge for all school librarians. Online research investigations are an example of systematic, districtwide…

Today, federal laws often seem like an alphabet soup with acronyms like CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act), CTEA (Copyright Term Extension Act), ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), YMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and NC LB (No Child Left Behind). These letters stand for federal…

This article presents the findings of the 2006 School Library Journal-San Jose State University Automation Survey. The study takes a close look at the systems that media specialists are using, how they are using them, and what librarians want from their future automation programs. The findings reveal that while respondents were satisfied with…

According to the 2003 National School Climate Survey, a biannual study by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, an organization which ensures safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) students, only 50 percent of students say they have access to community LGBT Web sites, such as Parents, Families, and Friends of…

As a result of an Iowa state mandate for budgeting of school library media centers, the publication "Planning the School Library Media Center Budget" was updated in 1991. Since that time, the Uniform Financial Accounting's document has phased in a management information system which includes different numbers and dimensions from those…