The collection in a school library should reflect the community it serves. When curating information and ideas for new books and materials in the school library, the school librarian should communicate with students, faculty, parents, and administration through a variety of digital tools and resources. Input from your school community is crucial…

The use of text mining tools can help librarians improve the precision of searches, increase search sensitivity, and translate search strategies across multiple research databases. When combined with the intuitive approaches that librarians commonly use, text mining tools help reduce biases by improving the objectivity, transparency, and…

Students who are visually impaired but receive adequate support at an early stage have a greater chance of progressing in their academics and future careers. In this research article, the author identified various practice guidelines that can help students with visual impairments achieve a successful transition into the world of work. To discuss…

The Internet and the advent of e-books have launched school libraries beyond brick and mortar, allowing patrons 24/7 access to the resources they seek. With these technological advancements, an often-iterated question arises as to the relevance of libraries and librarians now that access to information previously available through print,…

This article explores all the actions and opportunities school librarians take to reinforce reading instruction and reinforce learners' growing reading skills. It also details ways to enhance reading instruction through technology and makerspaces.

Collection development is the core of every school library, and successful school librarians know that meeting all learner needs can contribute to their success. When curating their collections school librarians must consider learners with visual, hearing, physical, and cognitive impairments. The school librarian should work with a team (other…

Due to the development of new 21st-century technologies, the world of children's and young adult literature is continually changing. For example, one of the fastest-growing multimodal formats that today's visually literate youth embrace is the digital graphic novel. Digital graphic novels are graphic novels produced on and/or accessed on some form…

This article explores the historical relationships between libraries, policy, and politics in the United States. Far too often, policy and political discussions related to libraries have little historical context. While libraries have long viewed themselves as a pillar of democracy by supporting informed, educated, and engaged citizenry, political…

Building a personal learning network (PLN) for intellectual freedom has long been an important role of a school librarian; however, in the steadily increasing onslaught of digital information that librarians face today, and in the future, the task has become mission-critical. Personal learning, it stands to reason, requires an appropriate dialogue…

With information technologies' pervasive use within all departments and by all staff, libraries and library staff get their fair share of mandated projects. Knowing how to successfully operate in this kind of environment is important to the overall success of the library as a whole. What is meant by mandated project? A mandated project is a…

Collaboration and coteaching with classroom teachers and campus specialists are the cornerstones of a successful school library program. Whereas collaboration is the process of planning a lesson or unit of instruction, coteaching suggests a much deeper level of collaboration--one in which both the teacher and campus specialist (be it school…

Academic, government, and corporate librarians organize and leverage internal resources and content through institutional repositories and library catalogs. Getting more value and usage from the content they license is a key goal. However, the ever-growing amount of content and shifting user demands for new materials or features has made the…

To assume the role of technology leaders and information literacy specialists in their schools, librarians need access to the most current information. And, they do this by helping each other. There are many definitions, but professional learning networks (PLNs) involve sharing work-related ideas with a network of colleagues via various digital…

Technologists may find themselves alone on the bleachers trying to find supporters for the next "it" technology. Despite their enthusiasm, many times "it" ends up unused because a thorough evaluation was not performed prior to purchase. Before technologists lobby for approval or support of a new project, the author presents five questions for them…

The technology of the 21st century has had no shortage of challenges for libraries, but it has also brought opportunities. Operating systems, databases, and application environments that can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware to scale and handle hundreds of millions of transactions were not developed for libraries. However, libraries have taken…