Discusses the importance of family literacy. Highlights include daily reading at home before children go to school; the home/school connection; examples of successful programs implemented by school library media specialists; and ideas from the National Center for Family Literacy for starting family literacy programs, including community needs,…

Asserts that ever-increasing Internet access is rendering the functions of reference librarians obsolete. Presents the points of view of several two-year-college librarians, who insist that libraries will always require experienced reference librarians to act as organizers and guides to information seekers. Also discusses librarians' changing…

Discusses the Open Source Software method of software development and its relationship to control over information content. Topics include digital library resources; reference services; preservation; the legal and economic status of information; technical standards; access to digital data; control of information use; and copyright and patent laws.…

Discusses problems with patron Internet access in academic libraries and describes a study conducted at Northwestern University (Illinois) that used Internet tracking software to assess user Internet behavior. Topics include Internet use policies; pornography; and loss of control over library services and information content that is provided. (LRW)

Discussion of access to electronic resources and library services via Web sites focuses on accessibility barriers to the disabled that have created a digital divide. Topics include legal requirements, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act; barriers to implementation; and implementation…

Examines the changing roles of paraprofessionals in the knowledge economy due to advances in information and communication technologies. Discusses results of a survey of paraprofessionals in the Singapore National Reference Library that investigated how changes have impacted traditional library services, competencies, and changing needs of library…

Discusses work done by information professionals and the increase in teleworking, using telecommunications technology; considers teleworkers' information needs; examines ways in which library and information science professionals can facilitate teleworkers' information access; and investigates information environments of 20 teleworkers and 20…

Describes a study that explored the role electronic journals currently play in faculty's weekly scholarly reading habits at the University of Georgia. Discusses faculty choices for locating full-text articles and reports survey results that indicated that electronic access to journals, particularly library-funded access, is integral to research…

Discusses the application of win-win mindsets and strategy in the employment of LIS (library and information science) graduate assistants in academic library reference services. Considers recruitment, training and support, transition, treating graduate assistants as colleagues, differences from graduate assistants who are not LIS students, and…

Considers the role of school library media specialists in helping teens cope with developmental and emotional challenges. Discusses resiliency research, and opportunities to develop programs and services especially for middle school and high school at-risk teens. (LRW)

Examines the following elements of scaffolding, providing insight into the librarian's role as educator: attention, ownership, collaboration, appropriateness, modeling, support, adjustment, and internationalization. A sidebar lists 10 ways to recognize a constructivist children's reference librarian. (AEF)

This section includes five articles on research and librarianship including a case study on research and practice in academic libraries; select peer-reviewed journals that examine the current state of public library research (1996-2000); development of research on school library media programs; benefits of collaborative authorship for librarians…

Womens' studies librarians' view that women should be represented at the center of library collections and services generates conflict in the United States academic library. An examination of the development of a women's studies research library in the Rutgers University Libraries System between 1970 and the mid-1990s reveals the bibliographic and…

Discusses the use of the "Output Measures for Public Libraries" measurement method to compare public library performance based on a variety of statistics involving circulation, staffing, and library services. The need to consider the value that library services add to the community rather than relying on statistics alone is stressed.…

Of the 39 millions Americans with learning disabilities, 60-80% have reading disabilities. Describes techniques that libraries can use in literacy programs: screening of phonological awareness and skills; tutor training with the Orten-Gillingham method, a structured, systematic, multisensory program developing the ability to hear phonemes; and the…