Just four months ago, a class of 20 first graders at Monarch Academy, a K-5 charter school in Oakland, California, couldn't operate a mouse, much less log in to and operate a digital program. By February, the kids had become capable computer users, able to tackle a range of activities and the Web and ready for the next new thing their…

The library, as we once knew it, may no longer be relevant. And, yet, this is undoubtedly the most exciting time in history to be a librarian. The future of the school library as a relevant and viable institution is largely dependent on librarians and how quickly they respond to change. They worry about their field and their practice. They worry…

Today's teens face an endless barrage of media--television, movies, radio, the Internet, magazines, and electronic games, not to mention those advertising slogans that shout out at them from billboards, bumper stickers, and even T-shirts. The sheer amount of time that teens spend with media is mind-boggling. Over the course of a year, young adults…

To have an impact on student achievement, librarians must first find ways to educate kids who are steeped in an information-rich world--and then use research to show other educators how libraries make a difference in learning. Today's students live in an information-rich "cocoon" that most librarians did not grow up in, said David Loertscher,…

Presents findings from surveys of 226 7th- to 10th-graders who spent the 1998 summer at Duke University. Results are discussed as answers to questions: What do students really do online? How much do they use the Web? How do they find things? How do they judge sites? What do students want from librarians? (AEF)