Discusses the lack of communication between school principals and school library media specialists, the lack of information principals have regarding media specialists' roles and responsibilities, and the use of the executive briefing to open up effective channels of communication. Explains correlations between "Information Power"…

Describes advantages for school library media specialists to be school board members. Highlights include budget allocations for media centers in new schools; meeting with various lawmakers to advocate for school library interests; explaining the rationale for new technology; working with administrators; and being a change agent. (LRW)

In this age of overwhelming information, a good school library program is more important than ever. Students must be taught how to evaluate the information they find on the Internet. Collaboration between teachers and teacher-librarians is the key, and studies prove that this collaboration improves student test scores. However, the principal's…

An interesting and effective way to showcase the wide variety of fields to which differential equations can be applied is to have students give short oral presentations on a specific application. These talks, which have been presented by 30-40 students per year in our differential equations classes, provide exposure to a diverse array of topics…

In this article, the author states that the answer to the question--"How do we respond to the dreams of teachers?''--can be found in school libraries, where professional librarians are prepared to build supportive alliances with teachers. Although school library programs around the nation vary, they all share core values of service to their users,…

Library media specialists in Hawaii, like many of their colleagues elsewhere in the nation, are exploring ways to design and implement a type of student-oriented assessment that focuses on student performance. To tackle the issue of assessment in Hawaii's school library media centers, twenty-four K-12 library media specialists are currently…

Personal computers (PCs) have transformed the way teachers teach, students learn, and school operations are conducted. However, the addition of PCs is not the only technological advancement that can help education institutions run more productively. The progress that has made computers smaller, faster and cheaper also has led to the availability…

Every dollar counts in today's school libraries, where a resource is evaluated not just by the cost, but also by how many students will utilize it. A recent survey shows that many school librarians rely on their state to help provide (and pay for) databases that their students can access from the school media center or at their public library.…

During the last 10 years, many libraries have transformed their young adult areas into more efficient, innovative, and inspirational spaces. Many teens have suddenly found the library warm and inviting--a place that encouraged independence, learning, socialization, and creativity. As more people learn about the positive impact of dynamic teen…

This article presents findings from the School Library Journal's 2006 national technology survey that investigated the trend in today's library media centers. As this study demonstrates, technology continues to be a significant aspect of K-12 media centers. Despite restricted funding and schedules stretched to the limit, media specialists have…

In this article, the author talks about the changing role of the elementary library media specialist. Unfortunately, library media specialists (LMSs) are too often left out of the literacy loop. Traditionally, their roles in literacy were to be the support team, the purveyors of books, the sometimes nearly invisible element in literacy, but this…

This paper investigates aspects of the management of independent secondary school libraries in England and Wales. It is based on a survey of 150 independent school library managers, with a response rate of 68.7 percent, which was carried out as part of an ongoing PhD research project. The paper considers a range of issues important to school…

In this article, the author shares her experience during her practicum for her master's in library science wherein she had the opportunity to work in a school library that was moving toward combining with a local branch of a public library. Combining the public and school libraries meant integrating these two related yet distinct missions, or at…

This article describes Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (TRAILS), a freely available, online tool designed to measure the information literacy skills of high school students. It is based on information literacy competencies for ninth-graders found in the "Ohio Academic Content Standards" (Ohio Department of Education…

This article profiles Nate Greenberg, a superintendent of the Londonderry (NH) School District who viewed action research as a means for supporting libraries, which he sees as central to education. During the past six years, Londonderry's cascade of action-research projects (led by librarians) has tackled challenges such as how to get high school…