Teaching in urban school settings is an experience filled with challenges and rewards. For library media specialists serving in urban schools, additional roles of information specialist and instructional partner (AASL/AECT, 1998) increase those challenges. In this article, the authors describe factors that differentiate work in urban schools and how those factors relate to library resources and services. They share the story of an academic program, Preparing Librarians for Urban Schools (PLUS), specially designed to prepare librarians for service in the elementary schools of New York City as told through the voices of the international team of faculty, advisors, and students who made it happen!