The underlying essence behind all creativity is the humanity that elevates art above manufactured product. Creativity takes courage to be nurtured and extracts personal sacrifices. Gifted with premonitions, obscured by insecurities, inflated by, ego, skewed by emotional highs and lows, wild and crazy, the lives of creative people are rarely dull.…

In the past, everyone knew what a school librarian did--a librarian helped kids find good books and find facts in big, fat dictionaries and encyclopedias. Then, in more recent years, the Internet appeared in schools and knocked the rationale for school libraries over like a set of bowling pins. Many librarians have spent more than a decade…

Historically, it's been an unavoidable truth: IT people and library people have not been inclined to come to the concept of service with the same view. For IT, it's been all about keeping the servers and systems up, the websites going, and the help desk calls and their turnaround times to a minimum. For library professionals, service has meant…

A brand is an idea in the minds of one's constituents that is created by what one says or does. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) describes itself as a professional membership organization, serving the needs of 10,000 school library media specialists in the United States, Canada, and around the world. In this article, the author…

Librarians are effective in sharing their best practices with each other. Learning from each other is crucial, but not sharing their stories with other members of the school learning community keeps them wondering exactly what it is that librarians do. In this article, the author offers steps that can guide librarians to write for publications…

With the pileup of responsibilities that range from programming to outreach to web management, more and more librarians are finding vendor-based book selection enticing. Most librarians see vendor-based selection as an option to relieve the pressure and still provide good collections to their patrons. However, using vendors to help facilitate…

The library, as we once knew it, may no longer be relevant. And, yet, this is undoubtedly the most exciting time in history to be a librarian. The future of the school library as a relevant and viable institution is largely dependent on librarians and how quickly they respond to change. They worry about their field and their practice. They worry…

Libraries of government departments provide information to policymakers, to government staff and employees, and, sometimes, to the general public. It is essential that libraries of government departments are organised and managed so as to collect and provide the information most needed by government decision makers, government workers, and the…

Pay equity, as a concept and outcome, is significant for libraries and librarians because it demonstrates the value of the library and information profession, and the significance of the work undertaken by librarians and allied professionals. The State Library's involvement in the NSW Pay Equity Case and precursor investigations into the worth of…

During the 1890s, the library media specialty was established through "a School Library Section as an integral part of the National Education Association" (Cole 90). In the ensuing decades, this role has expanded and changed; it demands a balancing act between the more traditional roles surrounding books and reading, and the newer expectations and…

Presents the case for library participation in community analysis and indicates several ways that it can be accomplished. (PF)

Explains the process of community development and points out ways in which a librarian's knowledge of the community can be enhanced by this community planning process if librarians involve themselves in the identification of community problems and participate in their solution. (Author/PF)

Libraries must begin to provide not only the information tools which will allow individuals to better manipulate the system, but those that will allow them to research and change the system. (Author)

Discusses the need for improved communication between the faculty and the library in colleges and universities. (PF)

The recent resurgence of interest outside the library field in independent study and the development of formal programs for nontraditional study provide new opportunities for public libraries to serve the independent learner. (Author)