Many find it harder to enter the profession than it sounds in the recruitment literature. This article outlines how one librarian's job searching strategies after she experienced a layoff from her dream job due to budget cuts, can help others gain, or regain, a foothold in the profession. The author of this article offers many suggestions for…

Stories speak to people in different ways. Yet it is the person behind the story who pushes the literature into a malleable body of imaginative possibilities. Author visits transform quiet written words from a private exchange between reader and author into a lively community discussion. North Country School, in northern New York, sits in the…

This study examined the effects of students access to print through public library card ownership and class trips to the community library. Reading performance, attitudes toward reading, time spent reading at home, number of books at home, and family visits to the public library after school were compared between students who had library cards,…

In school library research programs, a challenge for students doing research emerges when they take their projects home and turn to their parents for assistance. Often parents lack sufficient knowledge of the research process to be able to effectively help their children. Moreover, teachers expect parents to monitor student homework but rarely…

Since 1998, Americans have paid more than $8 billion in assessments on their telephone bills to help provide schools and libraries with discounted access to the Internet, as well as to support investments in networking infrastructure. In this brief article, the author argues that now more than ever, it is important for school officials to pay…

The old cliche about not reinventing the wheel is especially apropos concerning the grant writing process. It has been my experience that grant writing is equal parts form and substance. The "trick" is to discover a successful formula that can be used repeatedly to secure different grants, while every grant underwriting organization has its own…

When it comes to selecting science trade books, there are plenty of lists and guides that identify good books; however, when it is time to create a unit or add to the classroom library, selecting appropriate books can still be a challenge. Recommended books may not be available in the school or local libraries, and budget constraints may prohibit…

This study examines the academic library experiences of African American undergraduates attending a research university in the Midwest. Data collection techniques included questionnaires and ethnographic observations. The results indicated that African American undergraduates are using the academic library primarily to read and to study with their…

This article is based on a series of lessons prepared for a class of third graders who were going to research specific planets. With so many Web sites on the Internet, there is a need to be concerned about information overload for the audience. The NASA site (www.nasa.gov) is filled with lots of sites providing factual information about the…

The impact that visuals can have on the mind of children while reading in the library is discussed. Thus it is important to provide young readers with a visual feast as they begin to choose reading materials to explore independently.

Media specialists across the nation have developed innovate plans to ensure access to Online resources and safeguard them in the midst of the budget crisis, such as evaluating Online service providers involving stakeholders of elementary, middle, and high schools. This plan is aimed to produce valuable services, stronger communication, and an…

Use of government information by social sciences researchers has not increased since the 1980's. This article argues that academic libraries must begin to focus less on government organization and function and begin to collect government information and offer reference and instruction services within the context of disciplines. Subject librarians…

In recent years, security issues have increasingly come to dominate the technological development process--although still in a more reactive than proactive mode. It now seems more important than ever to monitor security trends and policy developments, especially if technology is regarded as a potential community builder. This article suggests…

An M.A. in divinity is an uncommon qualification in librarianship, and so is experience in leaching job skills to homeless women. But Cynthia Chadwick, the Arapahoe Library District's manager of outreach services, thinks her background is a good match for library work. Libraries not only "have a duty to serve the marginalized of our society," she…

As a college student, Phil Davis intended to become a scientist. But as he studied population genetics of a family of mosses, monitoring his experiments daily, he wondered, "Is this really how I want to spend my life?" After taking time off to read philosophy and bike his way around France, his answer was, "No." Instead, he decided to advance the…