Compares standards for school libraries and librarians in practice in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. Cooperation between librarians and teachers is discussed. A bibliography including sources in French and English is provided. (EJS)

Reports on a case study of three rural Georgia elementary school media specialists that examined the tasks performed and their perception of the importance of these tasks compared to responsibilities and tasks in "Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning", by the American Association of School Librarians. (LRW)

Describes how libraries can use statistics to make useful comparisons with similar types of libraries. Discusses public libraries, academic libraries, and school library media centers; considers print and electronic sources; and lists acronyms and applicable Web sites where statistics can be found. (LRW)

Using decision points from Esther Piercy's "Commonsense Cataloging" as a framework for analysis, this paper compares the opinions of experts on cataloging, classification, and shelf arrangement of audiovisual materials in school libraries, public libraries, and media centers with actual practices in four school and community libraries in…

Describes metasearch tools and explains their value in helping library media centers improve students' Web searches. Discusses Boolean queries and the emphasis on speed at the expense of comprehensiveness; and compares four metasearch tools, including the number of search engines consulted, user control, and databases included. (LRW)

Looks at 141 high-performing library media centers, providing statistics on grade levels and regions served, services offered, collection size and local expenditures, expenditures from all sources, librarian/teacher instructional planning by grade and service level, principal communication and service level, program services and communication, and…

Discusses the importance of fostering learning communities in today's school reform movement and the potential role of the school library media specialist as a leader in building collaborative networks with classroom teachers. Highlights include a comparison of traditional and collaborative models; linking collaboration and leadership; and…

Discusses national standardized testing versus testing reform and provides an overview of the alternative assessment movement and its relationship to the school library media specialist. Highlights include criticisms of standardized testing; theoretical assumptions for alternative assessment; research and practice related to specific alternative…

Describes qualitative evaluation of library holdings in a high school science collection that involved two methods: impressionistic method (relies on professional judgement of subject specialists, librarians, or scholars to evaluate collection); list-checking (compared holdings with "American Association for the Advancement of Science Book…

Describes the use of Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I) and Commodore Dynamic Total Vision (CDTV) technology in school library media center reference services. CD-I and CDTV are compared to CD-ROM regarding hardware, editing, and software; and to videodisks regarding hardware, analog/digital, standardization, audio/video, and cost. (Contains 12…

Discusses how to help students apply thinking skills to library research and provides examples of techniques for teaching comparing and contrasting, sequencing, classifying, cause and effect, problem solving, and decision making. Examples were effective with middle schoolers but could also be adapted for high school or older elementary school…

Describes a publication from the U.S. Department of Education that reports the results of a national survey on the status of library media resources and services in elementary and secondary public and private schools in 1985 and compares the findings with statistics gathered in 1975. (CLB)

Examines how the holiday of Thanksgiving is treated in primary books and offers comparisons of 28 popular titles in print. Innovative classroom and media center projects are described, including discussions, drawings, bulletin boards, problem-solving activities, and cooking. (LRW)

Comparing 1994 and 1996, the eighth biennial survey of school libraries found median expenditures for books unchanged; audiovisuals, periodicals, microforms, and CD-ROM expenditures down; and software, local area network, and Internet expenditures up. The report also examines the extent of collaboration between library media specialists and…

Traces history of pilot projects (including state aid) and describes new projects, both pilot projects that were continued and new projects mandated by 1984 legislation. New projects are compared to permanent systems in terms of interlibrary loans, union catalogs, delivery systems, collection standards, and other areas. (CLB)