Eight articles discuss ways for school libraries to promote themselves, including innovative uses of bulletin boards and newsletters; ways of coping with budget cuts; maintaining good relationships with administrators, students, and teachers; use of electronic publishing to create newsletters; and capitalizing on the controversy surrounding…

Five articles on the evaluation of school librarians focus on the development of evaluation instruments, evaluation portfolios as evidence of effectiveness, evaluation from the student aide's point of view, and the use of planning and reporting to build program support. Sample evaluation criteria are included together with explanations. (LAE)

Describes the experiences of school librarians with organizing volunteers, assessing the destruction, and recovery and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Andrew. Information gathering, record keeping, public relations, public service, communication, and organization are highlighted; and the value of storytelling in coping with disaster is…

Reports on the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), including an overview of organizational history; a review of the 1993 annual conference in Adelaide (Australia); descriptions of professional awards; lists of 1994-97 conference sites and board members; an address to contact for more information about the organization and its…

Establishing a partnership between the early childhood educator and the school librarian could ensure that materials appropriate for every child's physical, emotional, social, and cognitive abilities were provided. By cooperating, these two professionals could easily identify learning activities and materials that could be matched to individual…

Describes a research finding about the impact of free voluntary reading in schools (i.e., time set aside for young people to read what they want to read) on reading comprehension, vocabulary development, spelling, written style, oral/aural language, and control of grammar. (KRN)

Eleven tips to teachers of hearing-impaired students wanting to build a classroom library include seeking community donations; joining book clubs; borrowing from the school library; involving the parent/teacher association; calling on the deaf community; contacting local service organizations; and asking for discounts. (DB)

Describes the CLIC (Connecting the Library with Instruction in the Classroom) program in the Henrico County (Virginia) Public Schools, a pilot program designed to investigate the concept of flexible scheduling in school library media centers. The discussion covers the areas of planning (selection of participants, literature review, and teacher…

Describes a two-year plan for a library instruction program for teaching research skills to junior high school students. An annotated bibliography is presented that includes 14 books and 15 journal articles on instruction in library use, and a pre- and posttest for students is provided. (LRW)

Briefly discusses the six National Goals for Education and America 2000 and presents a paper prepared by the American Association of School Librarians called "Implementing the National Goals for Education through School Library Media Programs." Suggestions for library media specialists are included, and materials prepared by the…

Discussion of the development of educational standards and the impact on school library media programs focuses on what constitutes information skills, or information literacy. Documents for 27 states are listed that outline the information skills actually taught in the various states. (LRW)

Reviews the history of school libraries and librarians and changes that have occurred; discusses present conditions, including the need for collaboration, leadership, and greater visibility; and considers future possibilities, including strategies for successful change. (LRW)

Discusses computer vendors who position themselves as value-added resellers to benefit school library media specialists by assisting them in purchasing effective and appropriate technology products and services. Explains the benefits of developing a good relationship with a vendor, even if the cost is higher than purchasing through a catalog. (LRW)

Offers ideas for activities that elementary school library media specialists can use in the beginning of the year to welcome students back and reacquaint them with library rules and procedures. Describes songs, group activities, treasure hunts, games, and poster design for older students. (LRW)

Describes the value of an electronic database to record information for school library materials being considered for addition to the collection. Discusses marking titles from journals, entering the information into the database, sorting options, fields to include, and transferring records to other databases when materials are received and…