Of all the honors and accolades bibliophile and noted authority on the Underground Railroad Charles Blockson has received, being bequeathed recently with some of Harriet Tubman's personal items by her great-niece is one of the most significant experiences of his life. A longtime collector of books and rare items by and about African-Americans,…

Teaching is a difficult and time-consuming job, but the rewards teachers receive from their students are unquestionably worth it. The good news is that in every school, there are people that they work with who can help to make their daily life much easier--but they are not always the people that they would think to ask for help. New teachers often…

The health literacy movement has been socially constructed over time. Unlike the consumer health information movement, which developed with broad public support, the health literacy movement has been fashioned primarily from the top down, initiated by policy makers and imposed on targeted populations. Interest in the health literacy movement has…

Given the pace of innovation, not only in the gadget market but in how social media is changing society, the future isn't what it used to be, which is to say, it is not that far off, out of reach, and "gee whiz" tomorrow. The planning horizon has moved closer than ever. And far-off eventualities are here and gone before you know it. In this…

In the present climate of fascination with online this and digital that, it is easy to lose sight of the importance of the monographic collection in the evaluation of any library's ability to serve its clientele. Within realistic budgetary constraints, this collection should be maintained in a fashion as recent, relevant, accessible, and…

The feelings of librarians planning for the American Library Association (ALA) conference at Disneyland (aka Anaheim, California, June 26-July 2) range from moderate pleasure to dread. Some remember the joys and difficulties of Orlando, especially the exorbitant cab fares and mediocre restaurants. Others quail at screaming kids and tourists in…

Libraries need to share records more with one another, make greater use of the Web, and bring more attention to their special collections, according to a report released last month by the Library of Congress. The new study examines how libraries can improve the distribution and use of their materials in a technology-centric environment. But "On…

"ARL Statistics 2006-2007" is the latest in a series of annual publications that describe collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities for the 123 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Of these, 113 are university libraries and 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries. Data reported by…

Twenty-one scholarly papers and fourteen abstracts comprise the content of the ninth annual "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium," held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future…

The achievements of media education in higher education of Germany have been highlighted. The notions of media education that exist in scientific literature have been outlined. Media education has been defined as a direction in pedagogy (media pedagogy) aimed at an individual's media-culture formation in society, as well as a process of…

Bookreading has proven to be beneficial for children's language and literacy development (e.g. Bus, Van Ijzendoorn and Pellegrini, 1995; Fletcher and Reese, 2005; Mol and Bus, 2011a). Families in Western countries are often advised to read to their young children, and many parents appear to be aware of the positive effects of bookreading. However,…

Despite the considerable attention paid to the need to increase the information literacy of high school students in preparation for the transition to college, poor research skills still seem to be the norm. To gain insight into the problem, library instruction environments of nineteen high schools were explored. The schools were selected based on…

We are at a transformative moment in education with the almost universal adoption (forty-five states, the District of Columbia, and four territories) of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). As we move from adoption to implementation of these standards across the country, the climate for educational reform has led to expectations of change that…

In "Marketing Today's Academic Library", the author uses his vast experience to speak directly to the academic library practitioner about matching services with user needs. This book proposes new visions and ideas, challenging the traditional way of thinking and providing a framework to target users more precisely. Most library marketing intended…

The American Association of School Librarians' (AASL's) School Libraries Count! annual longitudinal survey is an online survey that is open to all elementary and secondary school library media programs to participate. The 2009 survey was launched on January 30, and closed on March 22. AASL has received a high participation rate during the three…