In this article, Jorge Arredondo begins by describing an experience he had in his Houston, Texas high school where his teacher and a librarian via a collaborative unit made literature come alive for him. His experience later influenced his English language arts (ELA) career in public education and inspired him to do the same for his students. Now…

Teachers do much more than instruct children in the classroom. They also play an important role in supporting learning across settings: at school, home, and throughout the community. The Families Learning Across Boundaries (FamLAB) Project surveyed 407 library professionals, 1,550 parents, and 600 pre-K through grade 8 teachers in the United…

In this article, two teachers describe their transition from pre-K-12 schools to higher education, where they teach college students to be school librarians. Both were at points in their pre-K-12 careers at which they were comfortable and felt good about their abilities, but both were ready for new challenges. While they no longer see the direct…

The creation and identification of high-yield practices for empowering students to think, wonder, and own their learning is a high priority for school librarians who value instructional leadership. Future-ready librarians are working to create flexible learning environments in which their students design solutions, consider possibilities, and…

There are many different job titles for this position around the country: school librarian, library media specialist, information technology specialist, research technology specialist, and library media coordinator. The position has changed from primarily a traditional librarian position to a balance of teaching and librarianship, and it's…

Access to quality educational materials is a challenge in many parts of the world, including in some developed countries. The emergence of open educational resources (OER) is a landmark development in the history of education. OER support the notion of knowledge as a social product and education for all as a human right. The Commonwealth of…

Building a culture of reading in a school requires the participation of the entire school community--students, teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and patrons. To be successful, the whole community must be on board with books--not just the helpful librarian in the school library. Implementing library programs to encourage students to read…

In this article, the author discusses the role of school librarians as teachers in our learning ecosystems. In the author's partnership as an embedded librarian with English teacher Susan Lester at Creekview High School, they have sought in their Media 21 learning initiative to engage student participation, creating and sustaining conversations…

Since teachers lack a certified reading specialist to guide their high school literacy efforts, they have never had a well-reasoned, research-based plan for addressing the growing needs of adolescent readers. According to a June 2009 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report, most U. S. secondary schools do have personnel who are…

This article reflects on trends in distance education (DE), as they relate to the needs of faculty and students who are teaching and learning through DE modalities. Reviews of changes in student use patterns, faculty expectations of library services, and recommendations for librarians and information specialists are provided.

If Google represents the first flicker of information technology, the development of additional tools has continued to enhance access to information but with the unfortunate downside of decreasing information literacy. Todd Gilman, librarian for literature in English at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library, decries the resulting disconnect…

Today's schools--and today's teachers--are looking for strategies that help them address challenges inherent in ensuring all students meet standards. A key is identifying and making maximum use of all possible resources available in the school. The media center is one of these, as is the media center specialist. Teachers can help ensure their…

Teenagers will freely give up personal information to join social networks on the Internet. However, a 2007 study by the Pew Internet and American Life project found that most of the 55 percent of teens who place their personal profiles online take steps to protect themselves from the most obvious areas of risk. Parents, teachers, and librarians…

There are multiple stages to developing critical skills when both the librarian and faculty member are partners in the process. One of the first actions is for both the librarian and the faculty member to be in the library class to help students with information literacy. A teaching dynamic becomes evident, and the students understand the…

In the need of teacher-librarians to organize, to categorize, to preserve, to select, to deselect, and to acquire, sometimes the other half of the job is easily overlooked. And yet, it is the most important piece. Who does not remember those late Sunday nights writing lesson plans for the week or maybe plans to just get through the next day?Oddly…