Teaching in urban school settings is an experience filled with challenges and rewards. For library media specialists serving in urban schools, additional roles of information specialist and instructional partner (AASL/AECT, 1998) increase those challenges. In this article, the authors describe factors that differentiate work in urban schools and…

These days it seems like school librarians are under attack, if not already an endangered species. After eight years of the No Child Left Behind Act--which, paradoxically, chipped away at many library positions--recent state and local budget shortfalls have led to rounds and rounds of layoffs for school librarians. While things are tough in the…

Some of the author's most valuable experiences as a library media specialist (LMS) were not in a school library. Rather, they were on the streets of Chicago, in community gardens, and on the rooftops of buildings in Humboldt Park, where she was hired by the University of Illinois Community Informatics Initiative as a graduate assistant and LMS in…

This is a summary of the procedures and outcomes of a study undertaken to develop alternative strategies for evaluating the competencies of library media personnel in competency-based programs. The study was prompted by a realization that, although competency-based programs for school library media specialists are increasingly being adopted by…

Discusses how media educators can improve instruction in the college classroom by being aware of differences in students' learning styles. Addresses two major learning-style elements, hemisphericity and perceptual preferences, and suggests a structure with corresponding methodology for addressing various learning-style needs in a media classroom.…

Reviews the current state of assessment of competencies for school media programs, describes a procedure for categorizing assessment strategies, and presents an approach to determine which competencies and assessment strategies are used in professional courses. A case study of a program at Syracuse University and 11 references are included. (EJS)

Although more media specialists are working outside public school systems, they share many basic competency areas with their school-based counterparts. Teacher education can accommodate diverse requirements if it focuses on: (1) audience; (2) objectives; (3) content; (4) media selection; (5) media production; (6) media presentation; (7)…

Describes the management of computer resources at Northern Illinois University's College of Business through collaboration with university organizations, including the computer network department, academic computing, office machine repair department, and media services department, as well as organizations and individuals outside the university.…

This paper describes the Early Childhood Library Specialist Program developed by the School of Library Science at North Carolina Central University, an area of concentration within the Masters of Library Science degree program intended to develop specialists in this area who have the ability to (1) establish rapport with children and their…

Discusses media directors' knowledge of copyright law at higher education institutions. The results of two surveys about copyright are presented showing that only 10-15% of media directors could reach a 75% competency level of the law. Some guidelines for correcting this situation are presented. (JLB)

This paper considers various ways in which InfoPower, the recently instituted library/media technology program at Northland Pioneer College in Arizona, can assist in the training of professional librarians and paraprofessional library staff, particularly those in rural, isolated areas who may not be able to attend traditional classes. The need for…

This report presents a summary of the findings and recommendations of a review conducted by the Research Committee of the Kentucky Association for Communications and Technology to investigate the status of teacher preparation in the area of educational media and technology in the state of Kentucky. It was found that there are three different…

The slow process for accrediting training programs for school media specialists and the speed of technological change have created serious problems. Accreditation agencies, their difficulties, and attempts by the American Association of School Librarians and other groups to establish professional standards for school media specialists are…

Describes an innovative dual degree program at the master's level to meet a nationally recognized need for trained specialists in learning resources given at the University of Oklahoma. Effective programs to train people to be both information handlers and instructional technologists are seen as rare. (MLW)

Describes a collaborative project between a young adult literature course for prospective school library media specialists and a ninth-grade literature class. Describes how the students corresponded weekly, writing about young adult books they had chosen from a list. Notes their reflections on this collaborative effort, and reports that it was…