When budgets are especially tight, librarians often do not have the spare time for innovation, yet these conditions require the most creativity. This article describes how to set up a once-a-week Library Club that meets during the lunch hour. Since many schools have multiple lunch hours, materials can be set up for two or three lunch times at…

Every class needs at least one certified Fact Finder. Most classes have at least one student who is years ahead of the class in reading ability and intellectual curiosity. The teacher and the library media specialist can identify one or more of these students in each class who might be delighted to become a certified Fact Finder. Fact Finders…

With the new state requirements, many library media specialist students will be required to complete an internship that is more like the traditional student-teaching program. To obtain certification, in addition to their coursework, they may have to complete over 300 hours in a library media center classroom setting. For many students, especially…

Library media specialists should gain the basic understanding of the primary sources like old letters, photographs, and artifacts, which would encourage students to explore and widen their understanding of history, culture and human experiences. The library media specialists constantly matches the resources with the informational needs of the…

A book sitting out on a shelf for display is worth 10 book jackets hanging on a bulletin board. Circulation increases when students can actually handle the book and look inside its covers.

New library media specialists (LMS) are special people, who are eager for the world of library science. Stepping into a job of LMS requires courage and tenacity, and most of the librarians state that the most difficult in the first year are time and relationship.

Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Some of the few strategies that could be adopted for instilling the school's information literacy programming with killer applications such as Public…

Engaging students and teachers in middle school media center programs is often challenging. By the time students enter middle school, they often feel that they are "too old" for media center activities. The challenge for media specialists is to find meaningful ways to make lifelong readers out of kids who would rather do anything but read. A good…

Although more commonly associated with elementary school rather than high school students, "Read Across America" celebrations can cater to any age group and generate enthusiasm for reading long after the festivities have ended. In this article, the authors, library media specialists at Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey, share …

Citing the website "43 Things" (http://www.43things.com/) and derivatives Learning 2.0 (http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/) and California's School Library Learning 2.0 (http://www.schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com/), the author suggests other activities to help librarians and teacher-librarians train themselves for leadership in new information…

Eighth graders offer librarians and language arts teachers the greatest challenge of matching the student with just the right book. These duplicitous creatures have a foot in two worlds. They are both children and young adults. While sixth graders may be emotionally immature, three years later, they are usually prepared for the young adult world.…

In this article, the author discusses the new "AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner"--a map for student learning. The new standards focus on the learner. They outline the content and process that students need to learn now and will need in the future, a process taught through the school library program by a school library teacher. The…

Materials challenges and censorship occur often in public and private educational settings. Private schools and their library media centers are not subject to the First Amendment but research reported in this article examines the state of challenges to materials held in private schools media centers in the southeast United States as a way to gauge…

Teaching today is a challenge. It is tough to design and build instruction every day. It is tough to find the balance between standardized tests, state standards, and best practices. It is tough to help students who think they are information literate understand that they are not. One of the best ways for educators to meet these tough challenges…

Access to information is an essential art of the educational system. The reality is, however, that there are laws and policies in effect that can restrict what information is available to students and teachers in K-12 schools. Selection policies, Acceptable Use Policies, Circulation Policies, as well as federal laws and acts, all place…