The pandemic prompted Courtney Lewis and her fellow school librarians to dig deep and acknowledge that their information literacy instruction followed a just-in-time philosophy. Essentially, limited just-in-time information literacy instruction is like teaching a kid how to play soccer for seven days out of each year and expecting them to be a…

We seem to instinctively crave information that confirms our biases. Rather than learning knowable things, we shrink inside ourselves and hunker down with the familiar, comfortable information that feeds our narrative of what we think we know, of how we think the world works. Students do not naturally know how to open up their perspective to other…

Fixed scheduling is well-researched in the school library literature. We know from this research that information skills taught in isolation from curriculum content are not as relevant to students as skills taught in the context of what they already know (McGregor 2006). Constructivism is an approach to learning that posits individuals construct…

More than twenty years ago reading researchers sought to capture the behaviors good readers demonstrated to make meaning from their reading. By shifting the focus away from what was wrong, researchers were able to study and discuss what worked. A comprehensive list of reading strategies emerged from this research. This was an important discovery.…

Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop directed the five trustees of her estate to erect a school for Hawaiian children (Bishop 1883). Her wish was to improve the capability and well being of her people through education, and to provide an environment where each would have an opportunity to practice and perpetuate Hawaiian values and traditions. In 2008…

Synergy may be defined as the collaboration between two or more parties to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate parts. That is exactly what happened in Denton, Texas, when all types of librarians collaborated on a community reading initiative. In 2007 Denton Reads--a One Book, One Community organization--was formed with…

The idea that information is the building block for learning is not new. In fact, it has been a core tenet of learning theory since the study of human cognition began. What's new about learning in the twenty-first century is that various dimensions of information have changed--expanding in every conceivable way. Information is now a "24-7"…

Participatory culture has many mechanisms to support peer-to-peer learning as young people enter interest-driven and friendship-driven networks. In this article, the authors argue that school librarians can help bridge the gap between the excitement of having students experiment with new forms of social learning and new digital-media practices,…

In 1989 the American Library Association defined information literacy as a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. While these fundamental skills are still at the heart of information literacy instruction, the nature of that…

Combines the results of action research in the high school library media center with conclusions in the professional literature to argue that systematic formal instruction in electronic search skills is necessary for awareness of library media software and competence in its use. Focuses on the why, what, where, and how of teaching electronic…

This article describes Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (TRAILS), a freely available, online tool designed to measure the information literacy skills of high school students. It is based on information literacy competencies for ninth-graders found in the "Ohio Academic Content Standards" (Ohio Department of Education…

While the promotion of literacy is a fundamental mission for all librarians, over the past decades the definition has expanded and, paradoxically, fragmented into various multiliteracies, such as computer literacy, visual literacy, media literacy, and so forth. From these, a broader concept of student competencies, one that includes both…

Discusses the main goal of this workshop, which is to show how the use of information literacy and instructional design theory and skills have been easily integrated into the normal classroom routine in one Ohio school district. (LRW)

Explains 10 concepts that school librarians can use to incorporate information literacy concepts into the curriculum through collaboration with teachers. Highlights include how libraries are organized; how information is arranged and accessed; setting criteria for the acceptability of information; and benefits of voluntary reading. (LRW)

Discusses emotional literacy, which combines emotions, intelligence, and literacy, and suggests ways to increase emotional intelligence in school libraries and classrooms. Emotional literacy skills include self-awareness, empathy, social problem solving, mood management, and the understanding of motivation. (LRW)