Providing rich supply of high-interest story books is more feasible policy for literacy education than urgent exhortations to improve teacher quality. Free reading profoundly improves students' reading and writing ability, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. The quality of a country s or state's school libraries significantly predicts its reading…

Benefits for including popular culture resources in the school library resource center and classroom are that they provide entrees for communication and teaching; baselines of student knowledge; abundant and popular resources; opportunities for teaching critical thinking skills; and diversity. Discusses how teacher librarians can choose the most…

Presents leadership tips for school library media specialists. Highlights include public speaking, developing goals and objectives, media/curriculum coordination techniques, negotiating skills, stress management techniques, and time management techniques. (AEF)

Presents tips and suggestions for installing computer hardware and related equipment in school libraries. Highlights include cabling and wiring set-up; temperature control and lighting; hardware placement that allows for safety and supervision; spatial and furniture considerations for hardware stations; equipment storage; and security. (AEF)

Families need to become involved with their children's development of information literacy skills. Statistics on television and home computer ownership and online access for families and schools are presented, and resources that school library media specialists can use to promote family involvement are described. (AEF)

With teaching, shelving books, and ordering and processing materials, one media specialist found it increasingly hard to meet the hardware and software needs of staff and students. Describes how she implemented a program for employing students in grades 4-6 to provide simple maintenance for educational technology. Discusses task determination,…

Includes seven lists of cooperative library organizations; national libraries and information industry associations in the United States and Canada; state, provincial, and regional library associations in the United States and Canada; state and provincial library agencies; state school library media associations; international library…

Discussion of the mission and roles of library media programs and teacher-librarians focuses on promoting books and reading, through which students become effective users of ideas. Highlights include reading proficiency; reading advocacy options; motivation approaches, including the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) model;…

Includes 15 articles that relate to Canadian children's literature, including the power of literature; using Canadian literature in Canada; the principal's role in promoting literacy; Canadian Children's Book Centre; the National Library of Canada's children's literature collection; book promotion; selection guide; publisher's perspective; and…

Explains the use of Web-based software for communication between classroom teachers and school library media specialists. Discusses threaded discussion forums; experiences using that forum by the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) at the American Library Association (ALA) preconference; and forum software. (LRW)

Discusses results of a survey of school media specialists and their budgets in a group of 81 participants in Western North Carolina. Findings included: virtually all participants had site-based management teams or school improvement teams in their schools, however, only a third of the media specialists were on these teams, and there was much…

Describes a study that asked undergraduates to list three personally memorable incidents concerning library use in order to understand the human experience of libraries and implications this understanding has for library use and service, education, and design. Discusses results of content analysis, phenomenological analysis, and grade levels at…

Discusses strategies that teachers and school librarians can use for building student understanding of content and the research process. Topics include the interdependence of information skills; being aware of students' prior knowledge and experience; comparing data; and building the research process with information processing skills. (LRW)

Discusses the use of electronic portfolios by school library media specialists for professional development as a resume, an evaluation instrument, or other types of credential documentation. Includes guidelines for building a successful portfolio, including appropriate software selection; audience considerations; and technology skill…

Describes the winner of the AASL (American Association of School Libraries) Information Technology Pathfinder Award for 2002 in the secondary category, the "Article Finder," a Web-based hyperguide to finding articles in the Lovett School (Georgia) library media center, a customized information portal highlighting the library's resources…