With school budgets shrinking every year, tough decisions are made by those powers that be, and you very well may be the next RIF (reduction in force) waiting to happen. Sadly, those school librarians who have stopped learning, who have become stale in their role as librarian, or who feel the newer tools and ways of doing the job are not necessary…

In a world where the Florida Department of Education is in the process of committing to providing all K-12 content digitally by 2015, and where online education is increasing exponentially, schools are changing and so must school libraries and school librarians. Clearly, these are interesting times for all aspects of education. A variety of…

Rural schools in high-poverty areas are often understaffed. This descriptive phenomenological study examined fourth-grade state research projects in high-poverty rural Iowa schools to reveal the influence of school librarians' staffing levels on student learning of research skills. To determine evidence of students' critical literacy, ethical use…

Despite rapid and continued adoption of mobile devices, few learning modes integrate with mobile technologies and libraries' environments as innovative learning modes that emphasize the key roles of libraries in facilitating learning. In addition, some education experts have claimed that transmitting knowledge to learners is not the only…

The paper explores important issues in today's education, not by analyses and statistics, but by projecting readers into the future and then asking them to look back on today's schools and to act like archaeologists--to surmise from all sorts of things they can observe, what was really important to us, what we really valued, how we treated kids,…

School impact media studies indicate that a well-staffed and funded school library media program with a certified school library media specialist (SLMS) positively correlates with increased student achievement. SLMS must have a shared understanding of their roles and responsibilities to positively impact student success. In an effort to determine…

Data and information are important components of school improvement. They show how schools are changing and how students are progressing. Providing and interpreting data is one of the critical functions of the Iowa Department of Education. The annual Condition of Education report provides valuable data about students, educators and school…

The teacher-librarian should be the most effective weapon for collaborative teaching and learning within a school. Teacher-librarians do struggle to find time to effectively plan for the cooperative teaching and learning activities. Often school libraries run their own website as they struggle to offer a digital 24/7 library service for its users.…

Turning students into lifelong learners is not easily accomplished. How do school librarians ensure that students have a zeal for learning? How do they encourage, cajole, or entice students to want to learn? The answer lies in empowering students with the skills they need to enjoy researching as well as reading for information and pleasure. This…

Over breakfast at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, this author was asked, "What is authority? What does one know about the ways in which he/she determines credibility? Whom do you trust?" In this article, the author focuses on these questions in terms of administrators who have control over libraries. She provides a…

Web 2.0 applications are changing how educators interact both with each other and with their students. Educators can use these new Web tools daily to create, share, socialize, and collaborate with students, colleagues, and newly developed network contacts. School librarians are finding that Web 2.0 tools are bringing them more ways to embrace and…

A study of 148 primary school teachers and 4867 Grade 4 pupils in Hong Kong found no support for the proposal that boys learn to read better when taught by men teachers. In fact, it was found that both boys and girls learnt better when taught by women. Responses to a teacher questionnaire indicate significant differences in the preferred patterns…

This report describes a course in Church Librarianship (LIB 220) that is offered by Northland Pioneer College's (NPC) Department of Library/Media Technology Program. The college has been able to promote unity in an area which is culturally and religiously diverse by offering a 3-credit course that provides an introduction to church librarianship.…

Created in response to requests from library science faculty for a student edition with a focus on the planning and policy issues germane to all academic libraries, this new text is a revised and abridged version of the fifth edition of "Lyle's Administration of the College Library (1992). The ten chapters of this edition include six chapters from…

Some 25 contributors share their expertise on various aspects of the administration of library education programs. Subjects covered include the history of library education; accreditation standards; goals and objectives; curriculum; faculty; student characteristics, admissions, training, and evaluation; governance, administration, and financial…