For school librarians, technology is an essential component of their work. To meet the growing need in this area, Odin Jurkowski first wrote Technology and the School Library in 2006. To address the technological advancements, Jurkowski provides an overview of the types of technologies used in school libraries, from traditional low-tech options to…

How can school librarians change the view of school librarians to better match the reality of their work? One way is to increase their explicit connections with broad, recognizable initiatives, like digital fluency and computer science. The The New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency (CS/DF) Standards, in alignment with the "AASL…

In the author's small school district of about 1,450 students and over 150 staff members, she is considered a local expert on all things social media. She has a minor presence on many of the social-media platforms including Twitter, Blogger, Pinterest, and Edmodo, and more accounts that she can remember. Interacting daily with her personal…

To assume the role of technology leaders and information literacy specialists in their schools, librarians need access to the most current information. And, they do this by helping each other. There are many definitions, but professional learning networks (PLNs) involve sharing work-related ideas with a network of colleagues via various digital…

While connecting the nation's schools and libraries to the internet by modernizing and expanding the federal E-rate program currently dominates education technology efforts, a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education urges that adequate broadband access be accompanied by a comprehensive "digital infrastructure" that unlocks…

Driven by new digital technologies, the future of learning is increasingly interactive, individualized, and full of real-world experiences and information. Unfortunately, the average school has about the same connectivity as the average American home, but serves 200 times as many users, and fewer than 20 percent of educators say their school's…

Public school districts often block access to online social media tools. While considered a preventive measure to ensure student safety and limit district liability, this policy strips school librarians and their collaborating teachers of opportunities to instruct students in using social media tools creatively and responsibly. Using one school…

School librarians need to be proactive in identifying new ways to help students prepare for the world of the future. Students need relevant educational experiences that support emerging demands created by information and service based economies. The economies of Pacific Rim countries such as the USA, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada are…

With school budgets shrinking every year, tough decisions are made by those powers that be, and you very well may be the next RIF (reduction in force) waiting to happen. Sadly, those school librarians who have stopped learning, who have become stale in their role as librarian, or who feel the newer tools and ways of doing the job are not necessary…

Web 2.0 applications are changing how educators interact both with each other and with their students. Educators can use these new Web tools daily to create, share, socialize, and collaborate with students, colleagues, and newly developed network contacts. School librarians are finding that Web 2.0 tools are bringing them more ways to embrace and…

Students are using Web 2.0 tools in school to meet technology and curriculum standards and many parents want to know more about those tools. How can the library media specialist be the "go-to" person for those parents who have Web 2.0 questions? It is important to keep up with Web tools but also important to know the limits. New Web tools are…

There are plenty of reasons why teaching students to set up their own blogs should not be taught by school librarians. But the truth is, not all students have access to that out-of-school technology world. ELL students and kids from lower-income homes are unlikely to have the Internet at home. As much as school librarians promote and encourage…

Since the very first introduction of a Commodore Pet, TRS 80, and the Apple II microcomputers beginning in 1977, billions of dollars have been spent chasing a dream about the effect of technology on teaching and learning. Now, educators face the second decade of the 21st Century with seemingly unlimited ways technology can influence what people…

This hands-on practical guide contains all the information the network novice needs to plan, fund, create, and maintain a local area network (LAN) in the school library media center. Step-by-step nontechnical instructions and advice for creating an information network are presented in understandable format. The network novice is taken from dream…

Presents insights of what does and doesn't work in school library local area network (LAN) printing in terms of five "myths": (1) "You need a network to share a printer;" (2) "Printing is much faster on a network;" (3) "All printers are created equal;" (4) "If one is good, two are better;" (5) "I'll never learn." (AEF)