Have you ever had a teacher say, "I'd love to bring my classes to the library more often, but we just don't have enough time because we have to prepare for our state standardized tests?" This response stems from a misconception about the role of library media centers and library media specialists. In some school environments, the library media…

This is Part 1 of a three part series of articles summarizing selected articles from the journals of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) over a period of thirty-five years from 1972 to 2007. Part 1 traces the evolution of the library media specialist to emphasize a greater student-centered approach to teaching and learning.…

Despite lower attendance than in the past and blustery, cold weather, the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Denver in January offered lots of news from industry vendors and lots of opportunities to discuss important issues and trends. In this report, the author highlights some of the most important product announcements with a…

Among public institutions, the library has great potential for helping the poor and disenfranchised. For many, the library is the only refuge for information, literacy, entertainment, language skills, employment help, free computer use and even safety and shelter. Experts Glen and Leslie Holt, with decades of service to inner city communities…

A survey of community college librarians in California reveals that the nature of reference service required of them, limitations on budget, staffing, technical support, resources, decision-making ability, and professional development opportunities, affect their professional attitudes. Librarians see reference service as primarily a teaching role.…

What impact does the academic library have on student persistence? This study explores the relationship between traditional library input and output measures of staff, collections, use, and services with fall-to-fall retention and six-year graduation rates at Association of Research Libraries member libraries. When controlling for race/ethnicity…

The intent of this study was to aid academic librarians in examining their perceptions of the future of higher education, engaging disciplinary faculty members to understand their views, and determining actions to take to shape the future. In this mixed methods study, scenarios about the future of higher education served as the basis for…

The job of the contemporary reference librarian has a virtual component unimaginable a generation ago. Today's library professional can obtain an MLS (or equivalent) online with a minimal residency requirement. Not only the degree, but also library sources, and indeed patrons, have become virtual. Both books and periodicals can be consulted by…

Library pathfinders are a time-tested method of leading library users to important resources. However, paper-based pathfinders suffer from space limitations, and both paper-based and Web-based pathfinders require frequent updates to keep up with new library acquisitions. This article details a step-by-step method to create an online dynamic…

Library schools may be teaching some of the theoretical framework necessary to perform the duties of electronic resource librarianship. However, a gap remains "between practical needs, as expressed in position descriptions, and the theoretical way in which library school courses address those needs." To fill this gap, professional associations…

Research libraries traditionally have focused their efforts on building local collections to support the research needs of their organizations and providing for the discovery and use of resources within these collections. The emergence in recent years of disciplinary and institutional digital repositories presents new challenges for research…

As the use of the Internet and time spent on the Internet by individuals grows, and the use of virtual worlds like Active Worlds and Second Life increases, the library needs to have an interactive place and role in these worlds as well as a bricks and mortar space. This article provides an overview of what some libraries are doing in these worlds,…

This article is based on services to library users in the area of chemistry at the Science and Engineering (S&E) Library of the University of Southern California (USC), to which I applied various new technologies as outreach approaches. Various Web 2.0 technologies such as a blog, tags, YouTube, RSS feeds, Instant Messaging, online…

The appeal of children's literature is large, encompassing college students and adults in addition to children, young adults, and literary scholars. The genre's literary sophistication and cultural significance is becoming more apparent to a wide variety of readers. Children's literature, however, is still often overlooked and underappreciated in…

When a person walks into any library media center, he or she will, no doubt, see lots of students busily working on classroom assignments. While these students may be focused and industrious, the real question is what drives their work, and are they learning? Student learning comes from active efforts to construct knowledge that requires them to…