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…

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) as an American Library Association division is sixty-five years young in 2016. This article describes the AASL as a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The author presents: (1) Early Days in ALA; (2) AASL as a Division; (3) AASL's Future; and (4) Commemorating the Past by Paying…

In this article, the author reflects on some cuts that were presented during her term as the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) President. The author developed a plan to showcase what an excellent school library program looks like so that school libraries and school librarians could escape the cuts. She asked each AASL state…

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Michigan School Libraries for the 21st Century Measurement Benchmarks (SL21). The instrument consists of 19 items with three subscales: Building the 21st Century Learning Environment Subscale, Teaching for 21st Century Learning Subscale, and Leading the Way to 21st Century…

The goal of this study was to understand how school librarians and classroom teachers co-teach to facilitate learner-centered instruction, including inquiry and maker learning. Research was conducted through interviews and field observations over three years. In this study, the participating school librarians and teachers worked together…

In 2005, Dale Dougherty and O'Reilly Media founded "Make Magazine," and coined the term Makerspace, which is broadly defined as a community workspace where people come together to solve problems using materials and tools they might otherwise not have access to (Dougherty, 2012). Recently, schools have allocated funding and resources into…

In the first tier of a multi-tier research project, U.S. faculty from the School of Teacher Education and the School of Library and Information Studies seek to create synergies between teacher education and library initiatives in order to understand the best ways to encourage collaboration between teachers and librarians. This article discusses…

School librarians are in a time of great change. Their positions, across the United States of America, have been cut in recent years. School librarians must find a way to gain the support of school library stakeholders in order to survive library attrition. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore school library…

In today's world of technological revolution, children need to be encouraged to be ready to acquire lifelong knowledge and skills in the 21st century. This paper presents an overview of the application of technologies in children's learning environment which apparently will give them the opportunity of making use of their thinking skills in order…