Bringing a "real live" author into the school can be a great fun for both kids and staff. However, it can also be a disaster. In this article, the author offers ideas on how to host a school visit. Library media specialists can help ensure a successful visit by preparing in advance: define the goals, communicate the expectations, provide…

Donna Walters remembers her twenty-five years of service as a library media specialist and compares her last twenty-five years to an open book that she would like to call "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in the Media Center". The book would carry dedications to two groups, the students, as each student is a gift from God and teachers, as they…

The Golden Rule which combines the two bodies of ethics namely Codes of Ethics (Gerhardt 1990) and Association for Educational Communications and Technology code (AECT) plays an important rule in analyzing the two codes of ethics that affect school librarianship, which is aimed to keep the patrons safe and secure. Some of the ways in which library…

Library media centers need to present the data they collect in a way that attracts funding from sources that increasingly look to quantifiable measures rather than qualitative reports before parting with money. Tips on how to compile numbers through Automatic Data Generation as well as Manual Data Generation are offered.

First Class Education, an organization based in Washington D.C., is trying to persuade the voting public to pass a law that could eliminate school libraries and many other educational support services. First Class Education promotes the idea that sixty-five percent of instructional money should be spent in the classroom. At first blush, this…

Reading was, is, and always must come first in the early school years. Without a firm basis in reading, children are going to have a tough time in school and, later, in the world beyond the elementary school doors. Children need math and all the other wonderful things they are exposed to in school, but without some degree of success in reading,…

Library media specialists have been collaborating with classroom teachers for years and have long been advocates for tying the classroom curriculum to the library media center in real-world ways. Current reading research focuses on the many aspects of learning to read, including phonics and alphabet recognition, vocabulary building, fluency, and…

History teaches that a lack of disaster awareness and preparation are common threads among all major weather-related disasters. Weather hazards come in many forms: storm surge, high winds, blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, or a combination of these. It is important for both family and work colleagues to have an action plan…

An accessible library media center (LMC) offers many benefits for the school community. Library media specialists can support their education colleagues in delivering inclusive learning opportunities to a wide range of students. Assistive technology (AT) deployment in the LMC can benefit students and teachers by spotlighting low-, mid-, and…

An important tool for communication and collaboration is the library newsletter, which the library media specialist writes to the staff, teachers and library media specialist from other schools. The newsletter includes upcoming events teachers can sign up for, information on web sites to be used for projects, curriculum ideas, introduction of a…

Library programming documents can help to keep organized in the midst of ever-changing plans and can give teachers the guidance they need to fulfill their role in collaborative units. A list of programming documents that are suitable for handouts or e-mails is presented.

Together administration and the library media center form a team that can make a difference in student learning and, in turn, in student achievement. The library media center can contribute to improve student learning, and there is an amazingly small cost that administration must pay for this powerful support. This article addresses…

As one natural disaster after another seemed to define the year 2005, library workers across the nation generously donated money, materials, and labor to help victims and damaged institutions recover. Some librarians donated to specific institutions, while others donated to more general charities. Many worried about media reports of fraudulent…

Every class needs at least one certified Fact Finder. Most classes have at least one student who is years ahead of the class in reading ability and intellectual curiosity. The teacher and the library media specialist can identify one or more of these students in each class who might be delighted to become a certified Fact Finder. Fact Finders…

The ways to proceed with the summer reading list, which will be able to locate some of the books at the public library during the summer months, are presented. The task of creating a reading list is considered to be difficult as there are thousands of books on the market based on reading for pleasure.