Briefly discusses the evolution of duties of school media specialists and describes use of an attitudinal questionnaire to survey the school community to see how well media services are being received and whether improvements or adjustments are necessary. Items to be included in such a questionnaire are listed. (MBR)

Discusses "Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs," which focuses on the library media specialist's role in planning the delivery of resources and services. Implementation of the guidelines on national, state, regional, district, building, and personal levels is discussed, and political cultures that influence…

Reviews the role of a public school media specialist and suggests resources for further reading in various areas. Highlights include the instructional role; levels of instructional involvement; the role of school libraries; teaching information skills; and the evaluation process, including evaluation of instructional systems, student performance,…

Presents a history of school library media programs. Topics include the evolution of standards; the influence of military training on standards during World War II; district and school media programs; and "Information Power," by AASL (American Association of School Librarians) and AECT (Association for Educational Communications and…

Describes a beginning Internet course at Mankato State University (Minnesota) designed for preservice and inservice school library media professionals and students. The course addresses the following topics: electronic mail; LISTSERVs; news services; gophering; FTP; and telneting. Other skills such as downloading and locating resources are also…

Describes the management of a learning resource center (LRC) budget. Topics discussed include controlling a budget, keeping records, managing grants, managing petty cash, responding to unexpected expenses, managing capital outlay dollars, managing insurance, balancing budgets, budget stretching strategies, and fund raising. (JLB)

Discusses the role of the school media specialist in the budgeting aspects of site based management. The involvement of businesses in education is discussed, restructuring school systems through site-based management is described, and the economic recession and the resulting decline in money for education are considered. (19 references) (LRW)

Considers ways to use electronic books (E-books) to involve students in literature. Highlights include E-book technology; costs; digital content; acquiring versus accessing information in libraries; title availability; storage capacity; sources of E-book content, especially Web sites; downloading software and E-books; sources for current,…

Discusses money shortages in Iowa that are affecting school library media specialists and highlights two collaborative efforts: cooperative purchasing of online reference databases, and the Com Cat union catalog. Explains the role of the area education agency (AEA) system in supporting schools and how online databases are being used. (LRW)

Discusses the implementation of computers in public schools and ways in which a district-wide media coordinator could help in the process. Highlights include duties of the coordinator, including planning curriculum, training staff, development of a media resource center, and evaluation; effects on the school libraries; and effects on learning.…

Describes services of the New Media Information Center to media specialists in Oakland Schools, the intermediate school district (ISD) for Oakland County (Michigan). Highlights include database training videos; online database tutorials; full-text periodical articles; district database sheets; face-to-face workshops for media specialists and…

Discusses the role of school media specialists in teaching students to navigate information resources available through online systems. Highlights include database searching; use of the Internet; multimedia workstations; integrated learning systems; teaching library skills; authoring software; and teacher utilities. (two references) (LRW)