The American Association for School Librarians suggests an important mission for school librarians is to ensure personal growth through ongoing exposure to conferences, journal articles, webinars, presentations, and membership in professional organizations. As professional educators, School Librarians should exemplify the vision for being…

Communities of practice offer reference librarians a conceptual model through which to develop and maintain general and subject specific knowledge. Reference librarians acquire general and subject-specific knowledge in many ways, sometimes independently and sometimes collaboratively. Applying the concept of the "community of practice" to reference…

Discusses the value of professional development for media specialists, conditions which bring about a positive attitude toward professional development, and the role of college and university preparation programs. Obstacles to professional development are also discussed, and six recommendations for library media educators in the move toward…

Many programs for mentoring of librarians exist within organizations, for specific areas of librarianship, or for particular groups of librarians. These programs generally depend on face-to-face contact and some organizational commonalities or similarity in positions. With the advent of online communication, could a more general program matching…

Discusses the value of continuing education for staff members of special libraries as reported by information professionals in a study of excellence in corporate libraries. Background on the Special Libraries Association's Professional Development Program is also provided, and the importance of keeping current with the literature is emphasized.…

Although appropriate for all librarians, this primer is aimed at beginning librarians and students pursuing library science degrees, and covers 150 terms used in most libraries. The purpose of the primer is to encourage its readers to analyze their use of the defined business terms and to expose them to new and applicable terminology. The work…

This article explores the future trajectory of librarianship and its status as a profession in the context of the contested terrain of the information professions and particularly the development of a differentiated information technology workforce. Andrew Abbott's theory of the system of professions informs the historical comparison and future…

The 20 articles in this issue of Illinois Libraries were written by practicing technical services librarians, library educators, and former librarians now involved in commercial enterprise. The articles are: (1) "The Development of Library Education in Illinois" (Anne V. J. Wendler); (2) "Financial Management in Acquisitions: Things…

Looks at the historical development of school librarian training in Canada and Great Britain; examines types of institutions with training programs and program content; compares the librarian's role in the two countries and isolates factors that determined those roles; and highlights recent difficulties, developments, and movement toward consensus…

Several online vendors discuss the educational and training requirements needed by professional librarians to manage the automation process effectively, including communication and management skills, a commitment to ongoing education, and the ability to evaluate capacities of future systems rather than expert knowledge of current systems.…

This book is a compilation of 14 articles that present a wide range of perspectives on providing access to vast networks of information resources and enabling students to learn in an information-rich environment. The articles, arranged in four parts--overview of important technologies comprising the virtual library, learning in the electronic…