A Florida elementary school mainstreaming 30 children with deafness and hearing impairments has developed a collection of signed videotapes for teachers, parents, and students to borrow. Videotapes include signed story books, tapes for teaching sign language, and tapes made by students. (DB)

Reviews 12 doctoral dissertations currently in progress or completed during 1992 that may be of interest to those in the school library media field. Topics fall into four main categories: literary analysis, use of technology, the librarian as practitioner, and student thinking processes. (LRW)

Summarizes activities of state organizations and associations responsible for school library media programs from Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Kansas, Rhode Island, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Michigan, and New Jersey. (LRW)

Reviews how the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) established a center to support its faculty. Addresses key questions related to the development of instructional technology (IT) centers through examples from UT-Austin. Discusses funding, fees, types of services and support, staffing, facilities provided, and training philosophy.…

Traces the history of the Harry Lasker Library at the Highlander Research and Education Center near Knoxville, Tennessee, from the first book donations in 1933 to its revitalization in the mid-1990s. Discusses the role of the library as a resource center supporting nonformal education for social activism and the contributions of librarians Hilda…

Discusses issues that affect school library media specialists and provides Web sites that are helpful in presenting and discussing these issues. Highlights include who our learners are in elementary and secondary schools; what they need to learn; how to get community support; and whether media specialists make a difference. (LRW)

Describes the Centre at Loughborough University whose purpose is to provide a range of resources and services for students over and above those normally available. Discusses the philosophy behind its development and details a wide range of practical issues. (Author/ASK)

Argues that school media centers should be more than an archival site for traditional print resources but also an interactive system open to the Internet and multimedia-instruction technology. The components of an interactive, information-age school media center are examined. (GR)

Supporting parental-involvement research findings, Congress in 1995 appropriated $10 million to fund 28 parent information and resource centers in 27 states and Washington, D.C. In 1999, 58 more were funded. Centers communicate personably with parents via newsletters, referral networks, websites, cable TV, and toll-free numbers. (MLH)

Continues a discussion of how library media specialists can become more organized. Topics include reducing the time spent dealing with paperwork by having someone else sort the mail; organizing paperwork by the use of folders and files; and desk space and other appropriate furniture, including space for computers. (LRW)

When a commercial pilot steps into the cockpit of an airplane, it has been serviced by a host of personnel and will be supported by many more from takeoff to landing. In more and more places, when an elementary school teacher steps into inquiry-centered science instruction, his or her materials have been carefully prepared by a team of experts,…

The School Library Media Center at Delsea Regional High School was not meeting the needs of the students, staff and community of the 21st century and hence a re-design of the library space was needed. The re-design project included planning objectives, providing a scale drawing and involving key players as stakeholders.

Library media centers can evolve into technological, informational, and recreational hub of schools and can help technophobes access their many resources. A greater and better understanding of what it is exactly that library media specialists do can thus be achieved.

Discusses leadership of the school library media specialist in the areas of curriculum and instruction. Presents case studies of principals who were media specialists and recognize the importance and leadership potential of media specialists, and provides a leadership model for school library media specialists. (LRW)

This article considers the impact of a major government initiative to reward and promote excellence in teaching and learning in higher education. The proposal to create Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in England's universities and colleges of higher education was first announced in 2003. A two-stage bidding process took place over…