Information literacy is a crucial topic in the library science profession. The information needs and perceptions of the information literacy of preservice and early-career school librarians were explored in this research using a survey and interviews distributed nationally over a 5-month time frame. These participants, who have been employed in…

The overarching assessment of youth services rendered by Leslie Edmonds in 1987 remains largely true today: that its most influential force remains not research, or evidence, or constant professional improvement or addressing field-based challenges, but "superstition." Research in youth services pedagogy, likewise, offers a perpetually…

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) as an American Library Association division is sixty-five years young in 2016. This article describes the AASL as a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The author presents: (1) Early Days in ALA; (2) AASL as a Division; (3) AASL's Future; and (4) Commemorating the Past by Paying…

A library supervisor for the Anchorage (Alaska) School District, credits five things with transforming her perspective throughout her school library career and helping her develop a clear vision and clearly articulated core values. Each of the five required her to move beyond her library and even beyond her district. The most critical opportunity…

As young people increasingly need computer science (CS) and other related STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) skills, libraries have been identified as spaces in which this learning can occur. However, librarians often perceive they lack the skills or confidence required to lead this type of education. As a result, funding sources,…

As the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) celebrates sixty-five years in 2016 as a division of the American Library Association (ALA), it is wholly appropriate to examine the life of the organization contemplating what the future holds for school librarians. It is important to understand the past and abiding certainty and steadfast…

Five initiatives launched during Cyndi Phillip's term as American Association of School Librarians (AASL) President (2006-2007) continue to have an impact on school librarians ten years later. They include the rewriting of AASL's learning standards, introduction of the SKILLS Act, the presentation of the Crystal Apple Award to Scholastic Library…

The Colorado Study (Lance, Wellborn, and Hamilton-Pennell 1993) and its many replications in other states have demonstrated that when educators and learners had access to a qualified school librarian in the context of a thoughtfully built, adequately resourced, technology rich, and widely accessible school library, learners tended to flourish on…

Cyberbullying is a problem many young adults ages 12 to 18 have experienced on a daily basis. Adult support is critical in both the prevention and intervention of cyberbullying. Although parents, teachers, and school administrators have been highlighted as sources of support for cyberbullied young adults, librarians have not been studied as a…

Evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP) provides school librarians a systematic means of building, assessing, and revising a library program, thus demonstrating a school library program's worth to the larger school community. Through survey research collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, 111 public school librarians in…

As the world grows closer, as access to resources worldwide increases, as more students move from country to country, the need to connect with other librarians around the globe increases. Over the past few years, the author's participation in international associations and other professional activities has grown, which has expanded her own…

School library professionals often complain that their principal or district-level administrators have a poor understanding of the work that they do. Reasons for this are varied and have been well documented in school library literature. The bottom line is that administrators' lack of education regarding the important contributions that the school…

In this article, the author discusses using Second Life (SL) in school librarianship. SL is a multi-user virtual environment in which persons create avatars to allow them to move and interact with other avatars. They can build and manipulate objects. To move, they can walk, run, fly, or teleport. There are many areas within SL to allow people to…

As digital devices play a more critical role in daily life than ever, more opportunities arise for innovative learning technologies--a trend on full display in the "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook for 2012." This latest edition, volume 37, from the Association for Education, Communication, and Technology (AECT) notes the most…

The Position Statement on the School Library Media Specialist's Role in Reading, adopted by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Board in February 2009, is a guide to help practitioners build library programs that support every learner's development in reading. As part of the Learning4Life (L4L) plan to implement the Standards for…