Focuses on evaluating the school library media collection. Discusses how to figure the age of the collection; comparing the collection to a professional selection source; and how to estimate the cost of upgrading the collection. Includes a sample letter to principal and supporting fact sheet. (AEF)

Describes a publication from the U.S. Department of Education that reports the results of a national survey on the status of library media resources and services in elementary and secondary public and private schools in 1985 and compares the findings with statistics gathered in 1975. (CLB)

Discusses the maintenance of vertical files in the school library. Topics covered include circulation, weeding, using materials for special displays, acquiring materials, policies on advertising and controversial issues, cross-references, subject headings, introducing students to vertical files, beginning a collection, and preservation. (MES)

Offers guidelines for weeding as part of school library collection development. Highlights include developing a weeding policy; and the CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation and Weeding) method, including reasons for weeding, scheduling, and guidelines for fiction and for nonfiction. (LRW)

Discusses the link between adequately developed, current school library collections and better student achievement and highlights the importance of having students become successful critical readers. Offers suggestions for encouraging reading, including knowing the materials in the collection, knowing the students to meet their needs, building on…

Giving students a chance to associate numbers with subjects can be useful in speeding their location of desired print or nonprint materials and helping students feel independent when browsing. A matching game for helping students learn the Dewey numbers is presented. Instructions for the library media specialist or teacher, instructions for…

Offers suggestions for library activities based on a football theme. Six examples of activity forms are provided, and addresses of football organizations are given. Eighty-two books on football suitable for grades 4-8 are listed, including fiction and nonfiction, bibliographies, reference, picture books, poetry/riddles, audiovisual materials, and…

Describes an activity for young children that helps them conduct subject searches using an automated system that allows customization of access to a library's collection. Explains a timed game that makes use of subject searching and word searching on the topic of dinosaurs. (LRW)

Presents an annotated bibliography of quality materials by and about African Americans in the areas of poetry, music, folklore, women, picture books, history/collective biography, authors, and professional materials. Activities are suggested in each area for Black History Month. (LRW)

Discusses the meaning of knowledge management and the increasing need for school library media instructional specialists. Topics include electronic learning collaborations; global relations and critical thinking in information literacy; and implications for library collections. (LRW)

Describes how reference collections can be used by middle school students to evaluate poems as literature and sources of historical fact. Two sidebars list U.S. history reference books appropriate for middle schools and story poems that can be used for an authentification project. (JMV)

Presents methods used to justify the need for additional library resources or services to school administrators based on the library's role in meeting educational objectives. Suggestions for gathering data for the assessment of library needs and presenting the results to administrators are provided. (CLB)

Activities designed to acquaint students with the library media center are listed: find examples of fractions; estimate the total number of books; find information on a topic; pick favorite leads; locate the most and least popular books; find animal heroes; discover answers to questions; redesign the library; select a book for a secret partner;…