The American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) Causality: School Libraries and Student Success II (CLASS II) project was the first step in developing a long-term, three-phase school library research agenda to investigate causal relationships between school libraries staffed by professionally prepared school librarians and student learning.…

Futurists and foresight professionals offer several guiding principles for thinking about the future. These principles can help people to think about the future and become more powerful players in shaping the preferred futures they want for themselves and their communities. The principles also fit in well as strategies to support the Future Ready…

This paper reports findings of a qualitative collective case study and single case study that explored student reading motivation. This research focused on school librarians' perceived value of one children's choice award--the Bluestem Award--and its effect on school librarians' promotions and student behavior in the school library. Data were…

Students are looking more and more to social media for their daily news. They must learn how to verify this news and how to cite the information. From a very early age, they need to understand how to interact with networked, digital technologies. They need to learn how to use social media and learn how not to be used by it. It is important to…

Advocacy is an ongoing imperative for school librarians. This article examines the role of inquiry in empowering students to learn critical skills in literacy and inquiry and develop their own agency. It also outlines advocacy strategies to share the impact of inquiry-based learning.

With the nationwide school closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, districts are seeking more technology support to connect every student online and continue teaching and learning with the help of digital devices. This data brief provides school leaders with a national picture of the E-rate program, which can help schools to decrease by as…

How do we define a high-quality school librarian? Decades of educational researchers have attempted to link teacher characteristics--such as how teachers are prepared, which credentials they carry, and years of experience--to student outcomes. These researchers have contended that individual educator attributes may have a direct effect on what and…

School administrators face a plenitude of issues throughout the course of a career, many of which necessitate some working knowledge of school law. Administrators are not lawyers, after all, and do not possess anywhere near their level of expertise. Parental and community concerns are often a source of frustration and make for problematic…

In Maryland, national standards in any discipline are reviewed and revised with student and educator needs in mind. The approval process for all standards includes stakeholder review and revision followed by a public comment period. Comments are then considered and used to inform further revisions. Finally, guidance, supporting documents,…

What are ways to draw attention to the need for an annual library budget? How can school library leaders advocate for equitable library budgets across a school district? These are questions the library services team of three district librarians researched before taking the first steps toward making transformational change in the Beaverton School…

To aid school librarians in nurturing inclusive learning communities, AASL [American Association of School Librarians] tasked a 2019 ALA [American Library Association] Emerging Leaders team with developing a guide of reflection activities and resources based on the Include Shared Foundation in the National School Library Standards. The…

The advent and ubiquity of mobile technologies, the Internet, and broadband have allowed people to access, use, and create a seemingly endless amount of information in unprecedented ways. This has led to an information world that is more connected, more complex, and more overwhelming than ever before. For children, learning how to use these 21st…

To guide school librarians in their work of inspiring future generations of explorers, AASL tasked a 2020 ALA Emerging Leaders team with developing a guide of activities, resources, and professional development based on the Explore Shared Foundation in the "National School Library Standards." As learners prepare for college, career, and…

In January 2021 the author read "Hey, Kiddo" by Jarrett Krosoczka. The author connected on so many levels with this graphic novel memoir, and knew that it would speak to their students, as well. Krosoczka not only wrote "Hey, Kiddo," but he illustrated it, as well. The author states they knew the healing impact a book could…

On the margins of El Paso, Texas, a teacher-librarian communicates daily to her students the following bilingual mantra: "'Esta biblioteca les pertenece a ustedes.' This is your very own library." Lisa M. López-Williamson is the teacher-librarian and literacy activist and advocate at William "Guillermo" C. Herrera Elementary…