This article outlines some of the opportunities and challenges of changing what the library "brand" means to academic and professional services staff in the rapidly changing environment of UK higher education, taking the University of Leicester as a case study. It makes a practitioner contribution to the growing body of evidence of how…

The author reveals in this article that her action research journey in the land of evidence-based practice was not her own idea. She writes that she was lured by the profession's finest scholars who advocated for reflective dispositions for practitioners to improve their practice and demonstrate the school librarian's critical role in teaching and…

School library programs have measured success by improved test scores. But how do next-generation school libraries demonstrate success as they strive to be centers of innovation and creativity? These libraries offer solutions for school leaders who struggle to restructure existing systems built around traditional silos of learning (subjects and…

This article describes a process one librarian discovered and implemented as she observed the changing role of the librarian and the library. Frustration was growing due to the gradual erosion of school libraries as they struggled to remain, with electronic books, video streaming, and databases supplanting many of the physical resources in the…

By applying just-in-time philosophy to today's school libraries, librarians can fulfill the role of program administrator by continuing to provide the resources students and faculty deserve, exactly at their individual points of need. Just-in-time librarianship is a mindset that could prove unsettling for some school librarians. The main facets of…

In this article, the authors describe how they created a school library that is the center of learning in their school community with the collaborative vision of the principal (Mat McRae) and the school librarian (Kay Wejrowski) and the support of their entire staff. For eight years, McRae and Wejrowski have worked together as principal and school…

Libraries are critical learning spaces and may play a significant role in intercultural education initiatives, particularly in Sweden where the national curriculum ascribes central functions to libraries for learning activities. Unfortunately, the ways in which teachers and librarians may collaborate to leverage mutual resources is not fully…

What is the common goal of our school? Why is this important? How does this build community? What are Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and where does the library media program fit in? All these questions swirled in the author's head during the first few months they were opening their new middle school. She had been hired as the school…

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts affords school librarians and their planning committees an opportunity to reinvigorate their roles in the school as curators of the school library collection, innovators in the use of instructional technology, and leaders in instructional planning. By focusing on these…

A school librarian may or may not have access to the same students on a daily basis as would a teacher. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Often, students are drawn to those who are not their "teacher," and a bond is naturally formed. In other instances, students may not seek this bond. Either way, a school librarian can reach out to…

The "embedded librarian" as a concept has emerged in the literature only recently, but has quickly gained footing as a model of practice. Many scholarly explorations of embedded librarianship have been published, though no two works define this concept in the exact same way. David Shumaker's description seems to be particularly apt: "Embedded…

The conceptualizing of and structuring of a learning commons shifts both the thinking of what a library media center is as well as its learning imperative in the school. Rather than being defined in terms of collections and instructional activities that focus primarily on an information-centric paradigm--the finding, accessing, and evaluating of…

Purposeful assessment of space for the understanding and improvement of the academic library is a relatively new area of inquiry. This essay offers a framework to consider different factors affecting such an assessment and insights for undertaking a meaningful inquiry about the relationship of space to an academic library's evolving purpose as…

As higher education confronts shortages in hungry times, will officials who previously viewed the library as a sacred cow think it's time for a barbecue? Don't light the charcoal yet. Interviews with chief academic officers and an online survey taken by over 130 leaders in academic affairs yield surprising results. It's no secret that academic…

In this article, the author discusses the most important thing she thinks school libraries should work toward. It is important for a school librarian to know and understand the mission of the school. It is also important to formulate a mission for the school library program. School librarians must think about and reflect on their own beliefs. What…