This report presents selected findings from the school library media center data files of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education-funded (BIE) K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The public…

A qualitative case study highlighting one rural Iowa elementary school provided insight into the issue of small schools without library programs as they are preparing to meet the Iowa reinstatement of the requirement for school library programs. The site was purposefully chosen because it has been operating without a school library program or…

Whether it is high school, middle school, or elementary school, the library media specialist hits the ground running each day. For many, their background is the classroom, and, as media specialists, they have taken on the largest classroom in the school. Leadership is the ability to influence or inspire others to achieve shared goals. The media…

In this article, the author provides one solution for librarians on how to choose what books to share with primary students when there are more than 15,000 children's books published each year and only 185 days of school. At Mt. Lebanon School, they devote the month of March to sharing some of the best books ever printed for children: Caldecott…

Little research has investigated the treatment of school libraries in OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) reports. This paper is devoted to a recent study that has examined the conclusions reached by inspectors visiting first and primary schools in a metropolitan borough in northern England. Forty-four reports relating to schools of these…

In this article, the author talks about the concept of school library as a place of learning for students. He contends that a school library must be conceived in terms of three aspects. First, it should have a creative school library media specialist to lead the principal through a meaningful vision of what the library could be in terms of…

The school librarian focuses on process rather than product, which makes her a useful contributor to institutional change and improvement. She has three main roles: that of information specialist, developer of reading enthusiasts and manager of a resource centre. This article demonstrates ways in which these roles contribute to the enabling…

The national guidelines for school library media programs clearly establish that the goal of the school library media specialist is to provide an instructional program that helps students and faculty become efficient and effective users of information. Along with running the library at a technical level as the program administrator, the school…

Using data on libraries collected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), as well as fall-to-fall retention rates obtained from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this study employs statistical…

This article describes ways that physical educators and librarians can team up to improve student learning in both content areas. The authors worked together at Trevilians Elementary School in Louisa County, Virginia for nine years. The suggestions included in this article are based on techniques they used and on the contents of a typical…

Getting kids excited about the library isn't as difficult as media librarians think. All it takes is giving them some control. They'll be surprised at how quickly their attitudes change once they let them play a role in everything from programming and technology to book selection and design. It may take some getting used to, but listening to what…

In the spring of 2005, the author created a short, online questionnaire to capture data about middle schoolers and book covers, and after several pilot studies she posted it to SurveyMonkey.com. The study includes the fiction books for middle school from the 2005 Quick Picks list. Over the course of a week, participants reported to the school…

The primary role of any library is to provide resources and services for its patrons, and school library media centers are no exception. Most of the time, library media specialists think of patrons only in terms of students and faculty. However, there are a variety of ways library media specialists can expand influence and increase support from…

A little imagination, a little drama, a little mystery. Using the guided inquiry model in this updated, second edition, students become detectives at Information Headquarters. They solve a mystery-and enhance their problem-solving and literacy skills. Middle school is a crucial time in the development of problem-solving, critical-thinking, and…

Teenagers' innate interest with the justice system is one of the reasons that so many high school literary classics teem with criminals, controversial issues, and trials. Novels such as "To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Separate Peace," "The Crucible," and "Twelve Angry Men" feature high-impact trials. In the author's desire to tap into this interest,…