One lousy starred review. That was all, initially, that Susan Patron had to show for the 10 years she spent writing "The Higher Power of Lucky," her funny, tender story of a little girl struggling to gain control over her life. One star, from "Kirkus Reviews," for the heart and soul Patron poured into her second novel. Positive notices had…

Although science has provided empirical evidence for centuries, it's only as recently as the 1940s that a scientific method called randomized controlled trials (RCT) emerged as a technique to test the efficacy of drugs and medical procedures. Since RCT is unique in that it can claim causality, it's considered the "gold standard" of research…

The publishing gods must be crazy. How else can one explain the cruel fate of so many deserving children's books? While mediocre works abound among annual best sellers, scores of perfectly wonderful kids' books have vanished faster than Tony Soprano's henchmen. To address this injustice, a select group of librarian reviewers, booksellers, and…

The purpose of this article is to retrace the steps that led to the development of a philosophy statement for the Simsbury, Connecticut School District as well as to focus on the Simsbury Public Schools' library media department's satisfaction with the process. From the initiation of the school district's curriculum rewriting effort to the…

In this article, the author describes how the role of school librarians has transformed. Today's school librarians do much more than stock shelves with books. They may do any or all of the following: (1) facilitate "library" classes that help students understand how to use technology to conduct research, doling out homework and…

To produce professionals trained to use new technology, library schools are reworking programs to include instruction on computers and telecommunications systems, hiring information-system specialists rather than traditional library educators, recruiting technically oriented students, obtaining funding to restructure programs, and submitting to…

In comparing one public school to another, discussions frequently include talk concerning the socio economics of a school or district, which then leads to talk about the advantages that one socioeconomic setting has over another. Educators tend to agree that low academic achievement frequently associated with a low socioeconomic status is a…

Issues 283 through 289 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2010 include the relationship between computer access in libraries and use of traditional services, analysis of the third year of data…

Many scholarly studies investigating school library services provided to students with special needs primarily address aspects of collaboration with special education (SPED) teachers in an immersed school environment. Scarcely studied are ways that school library programs (SLPs) empower students in schools serving only students with a specific…

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that impacted the level of self-perceived transformational leadership potential in pre-service school library media specialists who participated in a master's degree program in library and information studies focusing on leadership development. The participants of the study were a cohort of 30…

The purpose of this study is to unfold the perceptions of school teachers about the importance of school libraries in developing academic attitude among students. It is an attempt to know the opinion of teachers, what they perceive about the effect of the sue of libraries. For this purpose, 560 school teachers (male= 280 and female=280) were…

Introduction: We aim to create an in-depth understanding of how pupils in upper secondary school negotiate the credibility and authority of information as part of their practices of learning. Particular focus is on the use of user-created resources, such as "Wikipedia", where authorship is collective and/or hard to determine. Method: An…

Among the five roles--leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and, program administrator--identified for the school librarian in "Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs" (AASL, 2009), the role of teacher is critical for improving student achievement. The school librarian is uniquely positioned in…

In January 2009, the American Library Association (ALA) completed a ten-year reexamination of the core competences needed by professional librarians graduating from ALA-accredited institutions. The ALA's "Core Competences of Librarianship" encompass the basic knowledge expected of all graduates in all specializations. The core beliefs and policies…

School library websites enhance and explain the services provided by the library. Most schools have a library website. Jurkowski (2004) reviewed thirty-four school library websites and ranked the most common features: website links, databases, policies, Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), and websites by subject. These features give patrons a…