2016 marks an important milestone for the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Despite the ever-changing and always-challenging economic, political, and societal landscape, for nearly sixty-five years the association has grown and prospered within the structure of the American Library Association (ALA) and remains "the only…

The College Libraries Section (CLS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is the only section specifically for college librarians. In response to a 1989 conference panel of directors' recommendation that there be program for developing college librarians as leaders for the next century, CLS sponsored activities to…

In this article, the authors talk about the AASL 15th National Conference and Exhibition in Minneapolis. The wide range of topics and presenters guarantees that all school library professionals will find something helpful, useful, thought-provoking, and just plain fun--whether new to the profession or a seasoned veteran like the conference…

In 1999, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) convened a national task force to draft Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. ACRL has recently launched a revision to those standards. The original standards were influential because they helped advance a national need in higher education at the time: a…

This paper is based on two studies conducted in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2008 and in Kampala, Uganda, in 2014. The basic research question addressed in both studies was: "What are the experiences in the lives of upper elementary-aged children that foster an intrinsic motivation to seek information?" The secondary question was:…

School librarians throughout the country struggle to determine how to enact meaningful change that will strengthen their programs. They seek ways to increase collaboration with classroom teachers, to prepare their collections to meet the needs of the new Common Core State Standards, and to offer highly effective programs that prepare students to…

Mission statements are expected elements of business plans and corporate communications. Yet, practice in creating them and monitoring their impact varies and skeptics wonder about their usefulness. A survey of business literature provides a context for school library mission statements. Mission statements define the nature, purpose, and role of…

New Orleans's collective memory is often long and surprisingly detailed, and it can surface at unexpected moments. In the last few years, a taxi driver taking a fare to the airport has more than once fondly recalled "the librarians" or those "book people" as the first ones to hold a convention in New Orleans after Hurricane…

Thirteen years after being adopted, the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL's) "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" are due for a retrofit. The current "Standards" do not account for the post-Google information landscape in which a blizzard of emerging technologies and unprecedented…

The first PA Forward Information Literacy Summit was held in State College at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. This summit brought together K-12 and academic librarians from Pennsylvania to discuss current issues in information literacy. This text is a transcript of a discussion between Ellysa…

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) released new guidelines for school library programs in the summer of 2009. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs (AASL 2009a), hereafter referred to as EL, spells out the five roles that school librarians must practice to empower library users. The purpose of this…

This study presents and analyzes the findings of a 2012 survey of member libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) about publishers' large journal bundles and compares the results to earlier surveys. The data illuminate five research questions: market penetration, journal bundle construction, collection format shifts,…

Thirty-six ethical codes from national professional associations were studied, the aim to test whether librarians have global shared values or if political and cultural contexts have significantly influenced the codes' content. Gorman's eight core values of stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, rationalism, literacy and learning, equity of…

Thomas et al. have defined transliteracy as "the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks" (Transliteracy Research Group). The learner who is transliterate builds knowledge, communicates, and interacts across…

Why do students join student chapters? What do they hope to gain from joining them? The Louisiana State University (LSU) chapter of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) conducted a research project that addresses these questions. The SAA-LSU chapter surveyed LIS students and recent graduates from the 61 ALA accredited LIS programs in the…