When talking about collection development, few school librarians think about databases. Databases provide learners with a one-stop shop for cross-curricular, up-to-date, vetted information in a structured and easy-to-manipulate format for class projects. To be successful learners, students need to know how to use a database to find the information…

Suzanne Sannwald is the school librarian at West Hills High School in the Grossmont Union High School District, in San Diego's East County region. While working for a couple of years in a corporate setting prior to her current position, Sannwald learned about everything from organizational development and leadership to marketing and customer…

The school library profession has gone through an evolution since its inception in the early 1900s. School librarians hold strong to unwavering core principles that remain true throughout time. Students today are tech-savvy consumers of information. With smartphones and tablets galore at their fingertips, they have access to all the knowledge of…

Like many teacher librarians, this author is often blessed with the opportunity to mentor preservice teacher librarians. There are "apps" she would like to "load" onto every student teacher-librarian's "screen," if he or she is to have true credibility in leading a school through an information and communication landscape that is continually in…

One calls people on the street strangers if he or she doesn't know who they are, so students whom the librarian has never dealt with are just that, strangers. When the school librarian gets involved in collaboration, most of the time they don't see the student's Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), language barriers, or anything else that…

Connecting teens to books they'll truly enjoy is the aim of every young adult librarian, and the completely revamped guide "Outstanding Books for the College Bound" will give teen services staff the leg up they need to make it happen. Listing nearly 200 books deemed outstanding for the college bound by the Young Adult Library Services Association…

Collaboration and coteaching with classroom teachers and campus specialists are the cornerstones of a successful school library program. Whereas collaboration is the process of planning a lesson or unit of instruction, coteaching suggests a much deeper level of collaboration--one in which both the teacher and campus specialist (be it school…

This article features "Pop Culture Universe," which received the 2009 Dartmouth Medal honoring the creation of a reference work of outstanding quality. School librarians will find "Pop Culture Universe" a wonderful resource for assisting middle school and high school students with research projects on significant historical events that focus on…

Audiobooks are excellent tools to help students build literacy skills as well as improve listening, writing, and vocabulary competencies. In many shared or independent reading situations, audiobooks offer support to reluctant and struggling readers, special-needs students, and English-language learners. They are also embraced by voracious readers.…

Audiobooks have been around for years in various formats, like cassette tapes and CDs. This article describes a new type of audiobook on the market which is generating an interest in "reading." The device, called Playaway, is the size of a MP3 player and comes with a lanyard and ear buds. Buttons on the back of the player control the…

This article offers a savvy guide to the best graphic nonfiction books for teens. Many of these titles work well with teens, offering them quick access to facts and an enjoyable encounter with books and information literacy. In putting together this list of essential titles for high schoolers, the author searched for graphic nonfiction that is…

Regional library consortia and other groups throughout the U.S. are forming collaborative networks of librarians at all levels in order to prepare students to develop the necessary information literacy skills to be successful in college and beyond. This article focuses on an initiative of the Rochester (New York) Regional Library Council (RRLC).…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

This article is a discussion of authors and controversial novels that should be on the top of library media specialists' reading list if they work with high-school-age teens. "Controversial" is not a dirty word, it is an enticement! The goal of library media specialists is to get teens who may be burned out with reading due to incentive programs…