"Do what's best for kids!" The author's former principal said this often when they discussed media program needs. Media specialists can make media centers places where students and teachers want to be. This article looks at everyday, attainable, common sense best practices. These everyday best practices require time, energy, new ways of thinking,…

Presents the following tips for getting the school media center off to a good start in the fall: refocus to-do lists; be ready for business; provide advance scheduling; deal with perceptions; conduct new staff orientation; focus on teachers of new students; and provide ongoing staff development. (AEF)

The Internet's unique scope, characteristics and potential make it a vehicle for media specialists to model good use of information technology and provide far-reaching instructional leadership in schools. This article focuses on approaches to Web site selection, supervision, and staff development for effective use of the Internet in schools. (AEF)

Discusses ways that school media specialists can save time to make the transition from traditional tasks to newer responsibilities necessitated by changes in education. Highlights include placing orders; record keeping, particularly clerical tasks that could be handled electronically or by other people; cataloging; parent volunteers; and working…

Describes a program developed at Winona Middle School (Minnesota) to integrate the state standard for information literacy into the curriculum. Explains the role of the school library media specialist and discusses the final product which is a student portfolio, a HyperStudio multimedia presentation that incorporates the newly acquired skills.…

Discusses how to integrate a computer lab with a school library media center. Topics include planning; management issues; printing guidelines; scheduling; instruction and integration; staff development; supervision while classes are in the computer lab; and technical issues. (LRW)

Provides a synopsis of classes developed by the Winona (Minnesota) Middle School media center to provide staff with current Internet skills. Includes navigation techniques using browsers; e-mail; search engines; selecting and evaluating Web sites; Internet ethics and Netiquette; critical evaluation of Web sources; graphics; interactive video…

Focuses on effective data gathering in school libraries. Discusses the connection between program goals and statistical information; budget data; using spreadsheets to track and compare costs; circulation data and trends; copyright assessment of materials; material-quality evaluation; lab usage data; computer information; data on services and…

Discusses the need for improved teacher training in the use of technology and considers the role of school media specialists. Topics include providing focused workshops on technology integration; promoting peer mentoring; partnerships with universities; using online staff development resources; and promoting technology in curriculum development…

Discussion of cuts in school library media specialist positions focuses on practices that need to change. Highlights include operating in isolation rather than being integrated into the school; isolated traditional library skills rather than integrated information literacy; unhelpful statistics; protecting resources rather than sharing them; lack…

Advocates the assessment of teachers' technology skills by school media and technology specialists who are involved in staff training. Discusses what should be assessed, including level of curricular integration and attitudes; assessment objectives; informal assessments; formal assessments; assessment tools; and administrators as role models for…

Suggests ways to stretch media center budgets for technology, based on experiences at Winona Middle School (Minnesota). Topics include keeping statistics, hardware purchase and warranty information, centralizing purchases, planning for the reallocation of hardware and software, creative financing, working with business and community groups, staff…

Examines how data is useful in three integral areas of media center management and decision making: collection development and budgets, including circulation data and media center usage; curriculum integration and information literacy, including the types of instructional support librarians offer teachers; and staff development and staff skills.…

Describes the "Information Power: Partnerships for Student Learning" (1998) guidelines and their significance for school library media specialists. Discusses standards in three broad areas (information literacy, independent learning, and social responsibility), roles and responsibilities of media specialists technology integration,…