In 2003 at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 11th National Conference in Kansas City, the AASL Task Force on Recruitment for the Profession noted that 68 percent of school librarians will retire by the year 2015. They also reported extremely severe shortages of school librarians in ten states and severe shortages in 30 states…

Carl Augusto, currently president and executive director of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), describes his personal and professional experience with the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and the talking books program. Topics discussed include AFB's history with its own talking book program founded…

An interview with the president of the American Montessori Society. (PF)

Education for librarians should be less task and book oriented, and more involved with the sociology of librarianship and the training of librarians as communicators of knowledge. (LS)

This paper examines the functions and services of public, academic, special, and school libraries; identifies similarities and differences that might exist among them; looks at basic functions and how they relate to the characteristics of the library's clientele; determines to what extent the services have been cost-effective; and explores…

Libraries may never reduce recidivism or increase resocialization all by themselves, but they certainly introduce the inmate to a more hospitable reality and create a climate conducive to learning. (Author)

Libraries in tropical Africa, their problems in serving patrons, and their attitudes towards readers are analyzed. (JAB)

Authentication and certification of documents should be established as a part of the selection process in archives. Introductory courses in document examination are advocated for archival training programs. (JPF)

The library in order to become a more serving, responsive, and vital institution, must incorporate processes and strategies which will help it respond to rapidly escalating change. Identified are new roles for the library that permit it to function in ways that facilitate human growth and development. (Author/AP)

This discussion presented at the 1987 convention of the Catholic Library Association traces the concept of library instruction from the early 1900's to the present, and discusses its place in modern society in terms of the economic, educational, and professional benefits involved. (Author/EM)

An imaginary discussion of library-college thought. (PF)

With equally rigorous, but different preparations, librarians and teachers must be part of a task in which both cognition and process are resultants. (Author/MM)

This discussion of the concept of knowledge reports findings about learning, particularly learning styles and strategies, and explores the potentials and limits of new technologies in the library. The library's role as a "convivial tool" which can enlarge the range of each person's competence is noted. Thirty-four references are…

Discusses the library's role in teaching users the skills that will help them learn from their reading. (FM)