This article outlines the Knowledge Lens--a way of seeing more clearly the opportunities for knowledge creation within organizations and society. It is proposed as a model for schools of Library and Information Science (LIS) to follow when considering curriculum changes. Instead of producing two sets of graduates--those in information and those in…

Data science employment opportunities of varied complexity and environment are in growing demand across the globe. Data science as a discipline potentially offers a wealth of jobs to prospective employees, while traditional information science-based roles continue to decrease as budgets get cut across the U.S. Since data is related closely to…

Books for and in schools are commodities. They form a central part of the political economy of publishing. They are also, profoundly, sites of cultural and ideological conflict. While always there, there are periods when these economic and ideological conflicts are even more powerful. This is just such a time. This reality asks us to also examine…

Teachers want their students to have access to the books they need to fall in love with reading, which means having classroom and school libraries stocked with a wide variety of books. But as English teachers are well aware, Texas leads the nation in book challenges and bans. This article defines and describes the different forms of censorship and…

The last decade has seen decline in the fortunes of the Library and Information Science (LIS) sector in the United Kingdom (UK), both in professional practice and in higher education. This paper sets out to assess the health and wellbeing of LIS teaching and research and to identify key strategies for its future survival. Over the past decade many…

This article presents an overview of the popular rankings (US News and World Report, QS World Rankings) of U.S.-based library and information science (LIS) education programs and the shortcomings of each ranking. It calls for a new, more objective ranking of LIS programs that will more accurately assess quality and sustainability of these programs…

This paper aims to identify the current state of knowledge management (KM) diffusion in LIS schools. In terms of content, we have identified two principal approaches to the perception of KM in the LIS community: an active approach, seeing KM as an opportunity for the LIS community to change; and a passive approach, seeing KM merely as a topic of…

School librarians have always connected learners' life experiences, cultures, and communities to materials, projects, and processes. As schools look to make these connections within the classroom and to the curriculum, school librarians are perfectly poised to lead and model meaningful steps toward a culturally responsive mindset. "Embracing…

This activity guide provides scenarios, questions for further discussion, and sample activities for each of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards Frameworks--Learner, School Librarian, and School Library--across the four Domains--Think, Create, Share, and Grow. These engaging activities will support school librarians in…

This research explores faculty management of the tensions between academia and practice. Using a mixed methods design, it consists of three separate studies with a focus on Library and Information Science (LIS) faculty. Using an exploratory sequential design, the studies are intended to identify the ways faculty connect with practitioners, to…

In the United States, the occupation of law librarianship has existed longer than the American Library Association, and law librarians have their own professional organization that is now more than 100 years old. Throughout this history, however, the related issues of degree requirements and education standards for law librarians have been…

School librarians--also called school media specialists or teacher librarians--play a powerful and essential role: promoting school-wide cultures of literacy, partnering with teachers to enhance learning, propelling students toward lifelong reading habits, and establishing transformative learning spaces rich with print and digital resources.…

Before the 2023 AASL National Conference in Tampa, the National Conference committee shares "why" teacher librarians and school library staff working at every grade level should attend, "what" they can expect while attending, and "how" they can make the most of their conference experience.

Have you ever wondered about the people teaching the next generation of school library professionals? You probably know that they prepare course outlines, set assignments, and mark papers. They might present at your local or state conferences, or perhaps you know them from their work on committees that promote the new AASL Standards. Maybe you…

Over the past 30 years, the nation has experienced a decline in the number of public school library programs. New York City has been trying to combat this trend by implementing several innovative programs. One of them is the VITAL Libraries program. VITAL stands for Vital, Instructional, Transformative, Accessible, Learning Libraries. It is a…