Technology has changed the school yard or neighborhood bully. It no longer requires physical intimidation to be a bully. In fact, bullying can be done anonymously, on or off campus, and physical size does not enter into the scenario. Every year headlines identify children who take their own lives as a result of being victims of various forms of…

Going green is now a national issue, and patrons expect their library to respond in the same way many corporations have. Libraries are going green with logos on their Web sites, programs for the public, and a host of other initiatives. This is the first book to focus strictly on the library's role in going green, helping you with: (1) Collection…

The topic of academic/research librarians with subject doctorates remains largely unexplored. Based on survey data gathered from subject-doctorate holders (excluding those with doctorates in LIS) currently working in U.S. and Canadian academic/research libraries, this article extends the analysis published by the authors in the January 2008 issue…

Roser discusses how both teachers and librarians, whom she calls the preservers of children's reading, should cling tightly to three essential practices to ensure that our children read more, read better, and read more widely. She argues we should: a) keep the classroom library viable; b) preserve, protect, and defend time for self-selected…

Effective school libraries are no longer quiet, staid places--and the inclusion of preschoolers adds even more joy and active learning to the mix. As more and more elementary schools include preschool children in their school communities, school librarians can respond with programs that emphasize essential early literacy experiences for the very…

Among issues that library managers need to consider is work suitability involving older or impaired workers or employees with disabilities. This can involve factors needing consideration when hiring or retaining these workers. Disabilities or impairments can range from visual or auditory, to physical or mental, to learning or age-related. They can…

As we approach the second decade of the twenty-first century, school library media programs continue to undergo momentous changes that have heightened the importance of technology and evidence-based learning. The focus has moved from the library as a confined place to one with fluid boundaries that is layered by diverse needs and influenced by an…

Gone are the days of tiptoeing to the dumpsters with boxes of weeded books in tow. Lots of libraries are now taking advantage of the many low-cost services and solutions that promise to help extend the lives of collection discards. Some of these options can be very profitable. Some create goodwill within the local community. Some may seem more…

Most school libraries have little funding for books, much less for redecorating. So what can a librarian do to give his or her library a makeover? This article presents a few cost-effective ways to renovate in just a few weeks. These tips include the use of colors, rearrangement of furnitures, signages, and more.

People and organizations are inherently political. Library workplace environments have zones of tension and dynamics just like any corporation, often leading to the formation of political camps. These different cliques influence productivity and work-related issues and, at worst, give meetings the feel of the Camp David negotiations. Politics are…

This article provides a critical analysis of some of the key theories and assumptions that underpin prevailing approaches to the concept of "information user" in contemporary information research and professional practice, suggesting that they continue to reflect a tacitly systems-oriented focus. The author draws on the Sense-Making…

Although increasingly recognized as a future skills issue, the use of information in the workplace is a little studied area within library and information research. A substantial "pedagogic" literature of learning in the workplace exists, however, and this was critically reviewed to generate a repertoire of issues which could in turn be…

Tutorials and digital learning objects provide librarians a quick, concise mechanism for delivering information and training on a wide range of library topics. The semiotic theory promoted by Charles Sanders Peirce (Wiener, 1958) and Howard Smith (2005) contains implications for enhancing the effectiveness of library tutorials through the…

The paper presents findings from 560 interviews with undergraduates on 10 campuses distributed across the US, as part of Project Information Literacy (PIL). Overall, the findings suggest that students use a "less is more" approach to manage and control all of the IT devices and information systems available to them while they are in the…

Over seventy percent of students who are deaf or hard of hearing will attend a public school and enroll in a classroom with their hearing peers or in a self-contained classroom with other deaf and hard of hearing students. Teacher-librarians who work in these schools can improve their instruction by understanding not only what it means to be…