In April 2010, the New York State Board of Regents challenged the library community to rethink the State's vast array of library services to ensure that they are aligned with modern expectations and the expanded functions needed in today's society, operate with improved efficiency, and are prepared for the future as an essential and vibrant part…

AASL's new integrated standards are designed to empower leaders to transform teaching and learning. The new "National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries" reflect an evolution of AASL Standards, building on philosophical foundations and familiar elements of previous standards while featuring the…

The author reveals in this article that her action research journey in the land of evidence-based practice was not her own idea. She writes that she was lured by the profession's finest scholars who advocated for reflective dispositions for practitioners to improve their practice and demonstrate the school librarian's critical role in teaching and…

School librarians, professional library literature, and scholarly library literature tout the benefits of schools staffed with certified school librarians. However, recent reductions in library funding and elimination of school library positions suggest stakeholders do not connect the school library program to positive student learning outcomes.…

This article describes a collaborative project designed to use action research to assess and advocate for innovative design changes in a school library. The high school library was in its fifth year of service, and yet the layout of the library was not meeting the learning and technological needs of 21st-century high school students. The purpose…

To understand and share the feelings of students one must see the world through their lens. Empathic design includes aspects of empathy and offers a means for a practical application of the concept by encouraging organizations to put themselves into the shoes or situation of their users so as to better understand users' needs. Program evaluation…

Supporting the "Infrastructure Needs of 21st Century School Library Programs," also known as the Pennsylvania School Library Project, was a one-year project conducted in Pennsylvania to better identify and understand what stakeholders--teachers, administrators, parents, school and community leaders, and education associations--expect…

It was early March 2008, and the author was only a few months from finishing her third year as an elementary school librarian. During the morning recess the school library was humming with the sounds of students. Suddenly, three students rushed in asking the author to help them find a silent-reading book for class. Looking at the clock and seeing…

The late rapper Tupac Shakur wrote a poem called "The Rose that Grew from Concrete" that serves as a good metaphor for helping educators, including school librarians, to disrupt stereotypical metanarratives they might have about urban youth and replace them with new narratives of hope, compassion, and high expectations for all students. Tupac's…

This paper draws on the "accidental" results of a UK national survey of school libraries to explore how school librarians can contribute to student pastoral care. Although the survey did not ask specific questions about student social development, responding librarians identified three key aspects of their contribution: support for…

In an effort to address the lack of empirical knowledge about the school librarians' role in technology, the Institute for Museum and Library Services funded Project Leadership-in-Action (LIA) to study leadership practices of school librarians. This current grant project includes a survey of the technology integration practices of school…

This five-year plan for the administration of Utah's Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) program contains the following sections: (1) principles; (2) assumptions; (3) the current scene of Utah libraries, including public libraries, academic libraries, school library media centers, and private and research libraries; (4) establishment of…

Since the organization of the United States Bureau of Education in 1867 statistics of public libraries have appeared periodically in the annual reports. It has been the purpose to gather such statistics every five years, but it has not been possible to carry out the plan with perfect regularity. For forty years every annual report of the bureau…

Laura Bush hosted a White House Conference on School Libraries on June 4, 2002, to discuss the latest research on libraries, student achievement and successful local programs. Mrs. Bush's cohost was Dr. Robert Martin, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and education, library, government and philanthropic leaders from across…

Summarizes three Ph.D. dissertations that concern school libraries: the first examines patterns of acquisition and use of microcomputer software in high school media centers; the second reviews the development of public school library programs in Puerto Rico; and the third identifies librarians who have significantly influenced library work with…