In the twenty-first century, academic libraries and librarians have recast the narrative by turning outward, engaging more deeply across the university. No longer solely focused on collecting, libraries now embrace connecting with their campus communities to foster consumption, production, curation, preservation, collaboration, and inquiry around…

To gather, contribute, connect, be a creative force, defend, and guide are demanding dispositions that make an excellent school library professional. School librarians use these dispositions like poles of support as they glide down the slopes of student learning and curriculum. They leverage their roles of teacher and librarian like skis giving…

Makerspaces provide an opportunity for libraries to build upon services they already offer while reaching out to students and faculty who do not frequent the library on a daily basis. By implementing a makerspace in the campus library, the space is seen as more neutral and approachable by students and staff from all academic departments. Broadly…

In this article, Summer Creek High School (Harris County, Texas) librarian, Louise Lankau shares a formula for successfully integrating technology via the school library and reaching every department and teacher in a school of 2,500 students and 170 teachers. The challenge is that the teaching staff at Summer Creek increases each year to…

The Quality Matters™ (QM) Program is utilized by over 700 colleges and universities to ensure that online course design meets standards imperative to student success in a Web-based classroom. Although a faculty-driven peer-review process, QM provides assessment from a student perspective, thereby identifying opportunities for improvement that may…

Fixed scheduling is well-researched in the school library literature. We know from this research that information skills taught in isolation from curriculum content are not as relevant to students as skills taught in the context of what they already know (McGregor 2006). Constructivism is an approach to learning that posits individuals construct…

Middle school librarian Susan Grigsby believes strongly in teaching independence in book selection, and has been able to back up her belief by putting programs in place that provide evidence to show her administrators how fostering independence works. She spends time creating personal bibliographies for her students based on an interest survey.…

In this article, the authors describe how they created a school library that is the center of learning in their school community with the collaborative vision of the principal (Mat McRae) and the school librarian (Kay Wejrowski) and the support of their entire staff. For eight years, McRae and Wejrowski have worked together as principal and school…

Libraries are critical learning spaces and may play a significant role in intercultural education initiatives, particularly in Sweden where the national curriculum ascribes central functions to libraries for learning activities. Unfortunately, the ways in which teachers and librarians may collaborate to leverage mutual resources is not fully…

What is the common goal of our school? Why is this important? How does this build community? What are Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and where does the library media program fit in? All these questions swirled in the author's head during the first few months they were opening their new middle school. She had been hired as the school…

The explosion of technology and information has resulted in major changes in education in the twenty-first century. School librarians have a vital role to play in efforts to ensure that students are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed and participate in the digital society of the twenty-first century. This role presents an…

Eleanor (Edwards) Ledbetter, who served immigrant populations in Cleveland throughout most of the Progressive Era and the Great Depression, was one of the first librarians to advocate for multiculturalism (then called cultural pluralism) as opposed to Americanism. In providing multicultural and multilingual library services for immigrants,…

Library teachers can no longer do business as usual--their students' deep learning is at risk! Expanding current collection of books, CDs, and DVDs is progress, but library teachers cannot allow their facilities to become warehouses for information resources. Their library learning commons should be a place buzzing with the hustle and bustle of…

Embedded librarians are attempting assimilation into a new pedagogical collective outside the library, often with a mission to improve the quality of service to that collective. But like the Borg, embedded librarians may not be achieving the results they envision. This article documents the varied experiences of five reference librarians at Murray…

School librarians know the importance of collaboration. They cannot run effective school library programs unless they work closely with classroom teachers. They have learned that deep collaboration is a fluid process that evolves over time. Only as connections are made and relationships are forged can real instructional progress occur. Yet it…