Ten years after the publication of its first edition of "Library Media Standards," the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) embarked on the preparation of its second edition. During the 2009-2010 academic year, a Development Committee selected by NPBTS from nominees from across the nation worked with NBPTS staff to…

Library media specialists understand better than anyone else that students must learn to engage with a wide variety of information types and formats to be efficient and effective learners in the 21st century. The I-LEARN Model--Identify, Locate, Evaluate, Apply, Reflect, kNow--both describes the process of learning with information and provides a…

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"…

The information age has given library media specialists an unprecedented opportunity to play a leading role in helping teachers, administrators, and especially students access and use information intelligently. As the school's premier information specialist; the library media specialist has a unique role to play in helping everyone in the school…

Teaching in urban school settings is an experience filled with challenges and rewards. For library media specialists serving in urban schools, additional roles of information specialist and instructional partner (AASL/AECT, 1998) increase those challenges. In this article, the authors describe factors that differentiate work in urban schools and…

Discussion of "Information Power," endorsed by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) and by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), focuses on assessing student outcomes in information literacy by school library media specialists. Describes collaborative, comprehensive, concrete, and…

Argues that current technologies offer unique possibilities for instructional improvement and identifies probable obstacles to exploitation of these opportunities for all students, including female, handicapped, inner-city and rural, minority, disadvantaged, and average learners. A 2-tiered model is presented for the media specialist addressing…

Discusses national standardized testing versus testing reform and provides an overview of the alternative assessment movement and its relationship to the school library media specialist. Highlights include criticisms of standardized testing; theoretical assumptions for alternative assessment; research and practice related to specific alternative…

Discusses results of a Delphi study of secondary school library media specialists that identified difficulties of students in using online and CD-ROM databases, suggested design elements and curricular and instructional strategies to make them more valuable as learning resources, and determined policy issues relating to electronic information…