Library media specialists understand better than anyone else that students must learn to engage with a wide variety of information types and formats to be efficient and effective learners in the 21st century. The I-LEARN Model--Identify, Locate, Evaluate, Apply, Reflect, kNow--both describes the process of learning with information and provides a…

Four decades of research indicates that well-staffed, well-stocked, and well-used school libraries are correlated with increases in student achievement. Well-staffed school libraries have qualified teacher-librarians with qualifications in librarianship, digital technologies, and inquiry-based pedagogies. Well-stocked school libraries include…

This study identifies developments relevant to new academic librarians' perceptions of librarianship. Through use of the long interview and document analysis, the researchers developed a grounded theory consisting of six categories that weigh upon novice librarians' perceptions of the profession: (1) deciding upon a career, (2) experiencing…

The decision for libraries to make print collections available in a digital format has already been made. The question is how to go digital in a way that is practical (e.g., considering funding, staff time) and useful for patrons (both local and remote). Though creating digital versions of paper maps has been standard practice for a decade or more…

The work of collection development in academic video game collections is at a crucial point of transformation--gaming librarians are ready to expand beyond console games collected in disc and cartridge format to the world of Internet games. At the same time, forms and genres of video games such as serious and independent games are increasingly…

More than 60,000 students attend over seventy schools comprising the Douglas County School District (DCSD) in Colorado. It has been a consistently high-performing district, with a reputation for being among Colorado's elite. Douglas County Libraries (DCL) is a nationally recognized state-of-the-art public library system with seven branches serving…

When VCRs became affordable, the film industry worried that people would stop going to the movies. Theaters have not gone away, but they have changed, with many now focused on delivering spectacles that can be seen only in a grand setting, with a big screen and booming sound. Traditional colleges now face a similar challenge, thanks to free or…

This study investigates the benefits of a community blogging platform for students in an online LIS program. Using a web survey and descriptive content analysis methods, this paper empirically addresses how student blogging communities can be effectively foster connections amongst instructors and students, and enhance perceptions of learning…

The majority of Americans think local libraries serve the educational needs of their communities and families pretty well and library users often outpace others in learning activities. But many do not know about key education services libraries provide. This report provides statistics on library usage and presents key education services provided…

Advances in technology, changes in demographics, and the increasingly global nature of the economy indicate that many jobs lost during the recent global recession will not be returning. Regardless of their major field of study, college students would benefit greatly from becoming more entrepreneurial in their thinking, yet opportunities for…

In this essay, we embrace a vision of the future of academic libraries where librarians confront and creatively address the lack of racial and ethnic diversity within our profession and actively pursue a social justice agenda within our libraries and in the communities we serve. This future requires that we acknowledge that many of our current…

Proud Readers Own What's Learned (PROWL) was developed out of the need to find an engaging, creative process for readers to express what they have read and, frankly, to let teachers see that the students actually read the books. In other more prescriptive reading programs students can go through the motions and actually pass tests without having…

Rurality is rarely considered or oftentimes completely neglected in conversations about culturally relevant pedagogy. Yet, without a relevant curriculum, students both in and out of rural communities are left with dominant and deficiently positioned narratives about rural people. School librarians must provide counter and critical narratives for…

A significant number of distance students report they "stray" from their home universities by using local libraries, despite the fact that distance education librarians work hard to provide customized resources and services tailored to their programs and needs. Are public libraries and special libraries able to meet the research needs of…

Research has established a connection between print exposure and reading skills. The authors examined the impact of book access on print exposure via a monthly book distribution program. At 10 months of implementation, 170 families enrolled in the Imagination Library Program in Syracuse, New York responded to a survey. Results indicated that…