In this article, the author examines how libraries have evolved and argues that they have not fundamentally changed. While the library spaces that students work in have changed, the lessons being learned fundamentally have not. Students still learn to find source materials, research, write, construct projects, create reference lists, and complete…

In the author's decade-long journey as a school library media specialist, they have witnessed an evolution in the role of education. In today's increasingly interconnected world, going beyond traditional literacy and nurturing informed, empathetic global citizens is becoming a fundamental aspect of our teaching and learning. The United Nations'…

According to the author, we are all creators and consumers of media. Technology has made it easy to copy, paste, and transfer anything educators might want to use in their classrooms. As educators, school librarians have an obligation to honor the law and be the role models that learners and other staff members need them to be. So many times the…

For a librarian with an innovator's mindset, inquiry can be a collaborative strategy for continual growth. When a librarian innovates with their community, radical, human-centered change is possible. According to the author, school librarians see the needs in the communities across grades, content areas, and demographics. The best advocacy is…

A few months ago, the largest school district in Texas announced plans to close twenty-eight elementary and middle school libraries, claiming it was part of an effort to combat low test scores and discipline problems. Unfortunately, this troubling trend seems to be spreading. According to the author, multiple studies have shown that effective…

In 1966 the photographer Martine Franck was commissioned by "Life International" to document the experiences of children in a new library in Paris. The visual essay she produced illuminated the materiality, the design and the children's use of the space. In Birmingham, a recent unconnected research project, 'Libraries in Women's Lives',…

This article details how reading and literacy fit into the "2019 ALA/AASL/CAEP School Librarian Preparation Standards." It outlines the differences between the 2010 and 2019 standards and discusses how other standards influenced the development of the school librarian preparation standards.

While the Philosophy for Children (P4C) method has been adopted within classrooms by individual teachers and into some school systems by schoolboards, public and school libraries, the ideal users of this sort of programming, have been slow to recognise the benefits of this didactic methodology. This is particularly surprising given that the P4C…

This article explores the process the Oklahoma State Department of Education went through to adopt the AASL Standards and the professional development opportunities the department and the Oklahoma School Librarians developed to teach their fellow school librarians about the National School Library Standards.

Critical representation in literature and curricula requires an emancipatory agenda and examination of the ways in which people of diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and other socially marginalized identities are portrayed, an assessment of how relevant, affirming, and accurate those representations are, and a consideration of the impact on a…

Author/illustrator school visits are literacy events that positively impact children's motivation to read and write. The emergence of COVID-19, however, made face-to-face visits impossible, forcing visits to use video conferencing platforms. The assumption is that these virtual visits are a "lesser version" of the face-to-face visit:…

Erika Long explores the lack of diversity in school librarianship and the delicate balance of standing firm in one's Blackness while building relationships with students and leveraging limited resources to provide rich experiences that prioritize #OwnVoices books.

In this article, the author examines the need of the Future Ready Librarians (FRL) initiative. The FRL Framework helps define how librarians might lead, teach, and support schools based on the core research-based components defined by Future Ready. The framework and initiative are intended to be ways to change the conversation about school…

In early 2023, 85.6% of parents reported being worried about the cost-of-living crisis, and, as a consequence, they cut back on energy, food, gas and electricity. While parents recognised the many benefits of reading for their children's learning and well-being, household budgets were under pressure: 1 in 5 (20.0%) were buying fewer books for…

J. Linda Williams was coordinator of school library services for Anne Arundel County Public Schools prior to her retirement. She served as AASL President 2005-2006 and is also a past president of the Maryland Association of School Librarians. Looking back on her 2005-2006 term as AASL President, Williams writes that she feels that particular year…