The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has built a comprehensive learning and assessment system in English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA/L) and mathematics, the components of which work together toward the goal that all students leave high school prepared for postsecondary success in college or career through increased student learning and…

New teachers are eager to begin their careers with the information learned from their teacher preparation programs. Too many times, the classroom library is a second thought to the establishment of classroom rules and the implementation of curriculum. Rather than an instructional tool for literacy and classroom community, the library can become a…

In this time of change in our society, children's needs, preferences, and interactions with the world are changing. These changes have sent education policymakers scrambling to two extremes. The first extreme, a focus on testing and basic skills, seeks to ensure that all children leave school with equal knowledge and preparation for the workplace.…

This report addresses the question of what libraries and archives are legally empowered to do to preserve and make accessible for research their holdings of unpublished pre-1972 sound recordings. The report's author, June M. Besek, is executive director of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at Columbia Law School. Unpublished sound…

Managers of public libraries have been presented with a new set of challenges in the day-to-day operations of public libraries. These include their ability to serve as change agents as they manage the use of continuing online distance learning (CODL) for staff. This online tool may provide staff opportunities for on-the-job learning, yet for…

This paper is an author-edited transcript of a presentation to the ALIA Public Libraries Summit, Canberra, July 2009. The author starts off by talking about what people know about children, early reading and a literate Australia. He then discusses three main reasons why public libraries have had success in children's literacy and related programs,…

The controversy involving the challenge and possible banning of books has existed since the first person set pen to paper. These challenges have historically been based upon political and religious differences, but as time has passed, have become increasingly more to do with sex, race and culture. With these issues facing libraries, the role of…

The University at Buffalo (UB) and Empire State College (ESC) designed a project that demonstrates the viability of shipping materials directly to the patron, the cost-effectiveness of using UPS for delivering and returning materials, the value of expanded library service to ESC patrons, and the practicality of purchasing-on-demand as a service…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the work undertaken by Vancouver Public Library (VPL) in an effort to convert its website into a true virtual branch, both through the functionality of the website itself and by extending its web presence on to external social networking sites. Design/methodology/approach: VPL worked with its…

Darien Library, where the author serves as head of knowledge and learning services, launched a new website on September 1, 2008. The website is built with Drupal, an open source content management system (CMS). In this article, the author describes how she and her colleagues overhauled the library's website to provide an open source content…

Libraries have always been poised at the crossroads of access tools and content. Librarians, their personnel, and supporters have worked for generations to create tools to store and utilize content for the benefit of patrons. Libraries house materials and the tools to unlock them; their staffers teach patrons to use the materials and associated…

This paper defines and classifies vulnerable groups, elaborates the necessity of information literacy education of vulnerable groups, analyzes the feasibility for the library to carry out the education, and then discusses specific measures taken by the library to fulfill it.

The paper describes the processes and outcomes of the ranking of LIS journal titles by Australia's LIS researchers during 2007-8, first through the Australian federal government's Research Quality Framework (RQF) process, and then by its replacement, the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The requirement to rank the journals'…

As librarians work to make their services more user-centered, to put forward their best and most approachable faces in order to meet user needs, they are still met with students who approach them hesitantly and apologize for asking them questions, and by students who are obviously intimidated by the libraries in which they work. A good part of…

Americans still marry in great numbers, with over two million nuptials occurring every year. With the average U.S. wedding costing between $20,000 and $30,000, these celebrations represent a great financial and emotional investment not only for the engaged couple but for their loved ones as well. Besides the financial obstacles, weddings present…