In spring 2024, the Multicounty Multitype Library Systems, supported by State Library Services, conducted a census of K-12 public and charter schools in Minnesota to learn about the status of school libraries. A total of 1,528 out of 1,777 eligible schools completed the census. The findings can help legislators, school staff, librarians, and…

Copyright plays a central role in numerous activities within higher education, and educating a university community about copyright law should be a priority, if only to protect the institution from lawsuits. But, based upon a literature review, institutions devote a more resources to other intellectual property activities--plagiarism detection,…

Today's school librarians are taking the lead with legislative advocacy for education and their efforts are beginning to have an impact on legislation. Advocates for school library programs in the state of Washington made historic legislative in-roads in 2009 with the passage of Substitute House Bill 2261. Arguably, the most important factor in…

Suggests library media specialists have a responsibility to make educational funding laws work for their children and communities. Discusses the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act; NCLB and libraries, and online resources; Reading First Grants; "VISIONS 2020: Transforming Education and Training through Advanced Technologies" and "Technology in…

This paper looks at how the goals for school library media programs are aligned with the goals of education in general and what this alignment means in terms of the allocation of resources. Citing the 1983 report, "A Nation at Risk," it argues that there may be a disparity between the actual value of the school library media program and…

A secondary school librarian uses her experience to compare Canadian and Australian secondary school libraries in terms of educational philosophy, library role, staffing, budgets, resources, and library organization. (CLB)

Characterizes the essential habits of mind and scholarly needs of humanists as these affect issues in acquisition, allocation of funds, book preservation, computerization, and problems of access to and use of collections. (Author/FM)

The development of automated information services in academic libraries and the growth of AUSINET (Australian Information Network) are described. The current organization of online services and their integration into the pattern of user assistance are noted, and the effects on the user/librarian relationship, on the use of primary and secondary…

This book provides the tools for school library media specialists to make a significant and positive impact on the children and young adults in schools. The goals of this work are to delineate a realistic role structure for the school media specialist; to present the role of instructional consultant as obtainable and desirable; and to provide the…

The book has made the transition to the digital age; that much is certain. However, the jury is still out on what form or forms the book of the future will take and how libraries will adapt. This article is a look at the impact of digital books on public library acquisitions, including available formats, purchasing considerations, functional…

As institutional roles change in response to contemporary pressures on them, new opportunities arise for combining forces to achieve common objectives. With today's technological revolution in handling information, the role of the public library is both challenged and reaffirmed. Resources may be allocated from state and national levels of…

This paper illustrates how both marketing and advocacy are crucial skills to keeping the public aware of the library's impact. If marketing is promoting an individual library to increase public use, advocacy is broadcasting the purpose of libraries and the role of the librarian to garner public support. The issue of image of must be confronted, a…

The "65 percent solution," developed by First Class Education, a national advocacy group, states that 65 percent of a school's operating budget be devoted to "in-class instruction" as opposed to "out-of-classroom" purposes. One of the unintended consequences of this "solution," according to this author, is that it provides another basis for…

Describes a process undertaken by small, rural libraries in Massachusetts in which trustees, librarians, and community leaders identified the possible roles of libraries and prioritized needs for individual communities. The results include an emphasis on community standards rather than national, and a list of three basic roles of all libraries.…

In order to assess community information needs and determine how the Burlington Public Library could plan to meet these needs, a community analysis project was undertaken. Specific objectives of the study were to: (1) prepare a descriptive statistical profile of the community; (2) describe the community environment, lifestyle, and information…