Adults at school board meetings screaming at elected members about "groomer" and "pedophile" school librarians' books, programs, and displays. Politicians who repeat these claims and pledge to remove pornography from local schools. Public threats of physical harm or loss of livelihood against school librarians. The result of…

What can school librarians do about library and book censorship? First, ask questions. Find out what your principal and your district have put into policy and what your principal's expectations are for your school library. Then, communicate with your classroom teachers. For ourselves, school librarians should work with colleagues, especially other…

In this article, the author explores why a school librarian's value should be wrapped up in books. First, reading is a foundational skill, and memories are built around who people are before and who they are after reading a book. School librarians get to be a part of that transformation. Second, books still make up the heart of a physical library,…

Leveled reading, in which students select "just right" books based on their assessed reading level, has become a significant part of elementary reading instruction. However, libraries remain places where students can select books to read outside their reading levels. Based on observations of 1st-grade students, the author describes how…

This article presents a case study of liberating reading lists through a staff-student collaboration in a UK arts university. It characterizes reading lists as a familiar but under researched feature of academic life and discusses their practical and symbolic role in maintaining Western/Eurocentric/White disciplinary canons, and how they inform…

The e-book is raising fundamental questions around the dynamics and habits of reading; the role of books in the academic library; and the role of librarians in addressing new realities of reading and learning. Print and digital texts foster different styles of reading and different ways of thinking and doing research. This paper examines…

School libraries play a powerful role in enabling, informing, and sustaining student agency, and nothing engages and motivates students more deeply than enabling them to become the active agents in the process of learning. Students with agency are powerful learners who are prepared to engage with the world with sustained, courageous curiosity.…

School librarians often wonder whether school superintendents and school board members understand and support intellectual freedom for students in K-12 schools. In this article, an administrator and a school board member discuss their thoughts and the actions they took to support access to information in the face of formal challenges to school…

Coombe Boys' School in New Malden worked with Kingston University to establish a 'Big Read', a scheme of pre-arrival shared-reading for boys transitioning from local primary schools into year 7 of the Coombe Boys' secondary school. A novel was chosen for shared-reading, and all arriving pupils were given a copy at their Induction Day (at the end…

All those who dream of working for themselves and being their own boss, whether they are fresh college graduates, recently unemployed, or newly retired from one career, have a thousand questions about where and how to begin. New entrepreneurs especially will need professional, expert help to start and run a small business effectively and…

Extensive Reading is a resource heavy technique used in second language acquisition in which language learners read large amounts of texts for enjoyment, with the expectation that they will improve their vocabulary and fluency as a result of exposure to the written language. Narrow Reading is a similar technique in which the texts have a common…

The relentless quest of the school librarian is finding the right book for each student, searching for the home-run book for every child, and keeping students reading book after book after book. A considerable amount of the school librarian's time, effort, and creativity are devoted not only to motivating students to read, but to keeping them…

The controversy involving the challenge and possible banning of books has existed since the first person set pen to paper. These challenges have historically been based upon political and religious differences, but as time has passed, have become increasingly more to do with sex, race and culture. With these issues facing libraries, the role of…

It is evident that many schools across the country are sweeping aside the fun and invigorating parts of education in order to prepare students for standardized tests. More and more classroom teachers are finding that they have less time to assign creative, hands-on projects and tasks to their students. On the elementary level, for example,…

With the pileup of responsibilities that range from programming to outreach to web management, more and more librarians are finding vendor-based book selection enticing. Most librarians see vendor-based selection as an option to relieve the pressure and still provide good collections to their patrons. However, using vendors to help facilitate…