Recruiting professionals for schools' media resources centres needs to take into account the new dimensions of the information society. This article describes the radical reform of the very high-stakes and competitive national selection of those professionals in France. The new exam is now driven by a problem-solving approach and based on an…

The standards specified in all academic areas have risen to educational prominence and mandates to meet these standards have changed the face of American education for all educators. The positive ways by which emphasis on standards has changed the face of the library program are discussed and the challenges posed are presented.

Media specialists operate in an environment of challenge, controversy, and daily travail. A new and particularly challenging trend makes media specialists responsible for teaching classes, especially in reading, or to hold a spot on the so called "specials" rotation. [For Part II, see EJ717650.]

The library media specialists are a critical factor in a school's survival, especially as the staff works to strengthen reading comprehension across all classrooms and disciplines. Brief summaries to clarify what is involved in each strategy of the six prime strategies of library media specialists are described, which can help the school to…

The strategies to be followed by a Library Media Specialist when his or her position is reduced due to budget reductions or reorganizations in the school district are discussed. The strategies include, learning the timeline for district budget adjustment project, distribution and discussion of library advocacy information with building…

Locating sources and accessing the information they contain is part of the Big6 approach to information problem solving. In this stage of knowing where to look and how to find the required source, library media specialists train students in the use of the card catalog in the library media center.

The ways in which one can keep the library media plan on track in the face of the realistic challenges faced by media are discussed. A system for prioritizing tasks, both planned goal-related tasks and tasks that walk in the door in varying degrees of emergency status and by need of more time management strategies could be used. [For Part I, see…

In this article, the influence of timesaving and inspiring reference technologies on the field of reference services is assessed. Library media specialists are advised to be aware of and embrace such emerging technologies, as these will enable them to make information gathering effective and efficient and create information-literate students.

Collaboration between classroom teachers and library media specialists will help overcome problems of increasing workload faced by teachers, students and parents in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind program. One such experiment resulted in transforming a tedious assignment into an exciting and memorable project.

Research on assessment and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is moving at a rapid pace. Continuing education (CE) providers must translate new findings for clinicians so as to enhance patient care. A two-page survey was distributed by mail to a sample of 5,000 licensed Missouri clinicians to gather data in support of this translation process.…

While librarians routinely collaborate with reading and humanities teachers, they rarely partner with teachers of math and science--to the loss of students. With the current emphasis on standardized testing and declining student performance in math and science, media specialists need to remedy this situation. Why don't librarians click with…

Sixteen years ago, the author was the sole librarian at a suburban Chicago elementary school, teaching 24 classes a week to 450 students. She was overwhelmed and alone, and there was nobody in the building who really understood what she was going through. Although she regularly met with 15 fellow district librarians to review broad topics such as…

For most families, financial planning involves paying the monthly bills while putting money aside for the children's college funds and the parents' retirement. However, for parents of children with special needs, planning often takes on a very different meaning. Ensuring that children will have the resources to meet their financial, educational,…

Library media specialists hear about Web 2.0 in numerous professional journals and during conference workshops. They know that using this aspect of the Internet is second nature to many of their students, and therefore they feel a need to become knowledgeable about this means of information sharing. What better way to learn about blogs, wikis, or…

In this article, the author shares how she became an advocate for school libraries. Moving into a career as a school library media specialist after five-and-a-half years as a teacher, she eventually became a delegate to the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services. At these conferences, she learned where and how decisions…