While the idea of data collection is new for many library media specialists, traditional statistics such as circulation, age, value, total collection numbers, class use of the library media center, etc. have been gathered since the dawn of library time. Typically these statistics are gathered simply because it has always been done, but library…

In this paper, the author shares K-12 strategies for community outreach and describes what school library media specialists can do to expand resources and services beyond their student community. The author first suggests to use Book Fair and other school activities like Open House and Curriculum Night to promote one's library and recruit human…

Today's students have grown up in an information environment very different from the one that many people remember. They have been raised on the fast-paced edutainment of "Sesame Street" and have spent their adolescence watching 3-minute music videos on MTV. Their media environment specializes in short messages and multimedia, with news dispatched…

Many school library media specialists, especially in elementary schools, establish library clubs and library monitor programs. In most cases, these clubs and programs are limited to students assisting with clerical duties in the library such as shelving books and manning the circulation desk under supervision. The library media specialist assigns…

A librarian may be comfortable with the idea of using a blog, wiki, or other social application with students, but other stakeholders in his or her community may not be so sure. Any technology maverick looking to sell the use of Web-based applications will, at some point, have to make the case. This article presents some of the most common…

Since the earliest days of the profession, school libraries have been establishing standards and guidelines to guide and shape school library programs. For the most part, the standards have shaped what programs are and what they do. Rarely has a set of standards focused on the content and process of what school libraries teach students. The…

When Jim Chadwell, the former principal of Northwest High School in Texas, renovated his media center four years ago, he had two things in mind: Starbucks and Barnes & Noble. According to Media Specialist Naomi Bates, Chadwell wanted a place where students could read, do research, and work on classroom assignments, but also socialize. That is…

Lance Armstrong (2000) authored a book titled "It's Not About the Bike -- My Journey Back to Life," regarding his battle with testicular cancer. It became a "New York Times" Bestseller and was selected by the "School Library Journal" as one of the "Best Adult Books for High School Students for 2001." The goal of the project described in this…

Social networks are fundamental to all people. Their social network describes how they are connected to others: close relationships, peripheral relationships, and those relationships that help connect them to other people, events, or things. As information specialists, school librarians develop a multidimensional social network that enables them…

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner" were released just as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) was refreshing its National Educational Technology Standards for Students in late 2007. These standards outline what students will know and be able to do with educational…

Have you ever had a teacher say, "I'd love to bring my classes to the library more often, but we just don't have enough time because we have to prepare for our state standardized tests?" This response stems from a misconception about the role of library media centers and library media specialists. In some school environments, the library media…

This is Part 1 of a three part series of articles summarizing selected articles from the journals of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) over a period of thirty-five years from 1972 to 2007. Part 1 traces the evolution of the library media specialist to emphasize a greater student-centered approach to teaching and learning.…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains papers dealing…

The purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the ways faculty at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina, obtain information to support their teaching tasks. Information and Library Science faculty at the University of North Carolina were chosen as the population for this study. The study…

School library and youth services professionals must develop and display a strong sense of cultural competence to effectively serve their patrons. Cultural competence is defined here as one's ability to understand the needs of populations different from their own. This paper reports on the perceptions of school library and youth services students…