Focuses on resources useful for the evaluation of school library media specialists, including four Web sites from various states and one from the American Association of School Librarians, and a chapter in a print publication. Include areas of competencies, intervention plans, evaluation criteria, sample job descriptions, and evaluation…

Discussion of legal aspects of using intellectual property appropriately by school library media specialists focuses on copyright and fair use, based on "Information Power II". Highlights include keeping faculty and staff well-informed about the laws; and helpful resources, including background reading, books, and online resources. (LRW)

Discusses the importance of research to the school-library media specialist. Topics include levels of knowledge that help with informed decision-making; ways to overcome the gap between research and practice, including writing for scholarly journals; the need for publishing research from practitioners; and development of a research agenda for the…

Discussion of the introduction of block scheduling in high schools highlights two case studies that illustrate how a schedule change impacts the library media program. Shows how the library media specialists modified teaching and scheduling practices to take advantage of the extended instructional time. (Author/LRW)

Presents a strategy for using output measures to make a case for a flexible school media center schedule. Highlights include gathering the data; doing the calculations; and avoiding misinterpretation of the figures. A sidebar describes a step-by-step strategy for presenting a convincing case. Two sample charts are included. (AEF)

Building or rebuilding a library media center to accommodate new technologies and teaching methods requires careful planning. New national standards for library media programs are useful starting points. Space should be allotted for a circulation area, online catalog/electronic reference area, librarian's office, workroom/storeroom, and class…

Presents a biography of Ashley Bryan, an author and illustrator who is known for presenting the African experience based on oral tradition. Includes ideas for promoting his work and includes an annotated bibliography of his books and sound recordings as well as sources for bibliographical information and relevant lesson plans. (LRW)

Discusses the value of book fairs to encourage reading and offers suggestions for planning them. Considers sponsorship, location and timing, sources to get books from, how to select books, marketing, library programs connected with the fair, volunteers, and who receives the profits. (LRW)

Today, federal laws often seem like an alphabet soup with acronyms like CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act), CTEA (Copyright Term Extension Act), ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), YMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and NC LB (No Child Left Behind). These letters stand for federal…

Assessment is generally seen as one of the key challenges in the field of self-access learning (Gardner & Miller, 1999; Champagne et al., 2001; Lai, 2001; Kinoshita Thomson, 1996). Many researchers and practitioners point to difficulties with assessing language gains in an environment in which variables cannot comprehensively be controlled…

This second edition of guidelines for weeding school library media collections is addressed especially to elementary and secondary school library media centers and to community college and vocational school library resource centers in Iowa. This publication is designed for those who want weeding of all formats of materials and equipment (not just…

This practicum report describes a volunteer program that was established to resolve staff shortages in a high school media center. Three target groups were involved. The first target group was composed of the current adult volunteers. The second target group was made up of teachers who served their required duty in the media center. The third…

Each year the Continuing Education Committee of the Library Instruction Round Table of the American Library Association selects the top 20 journal articles and publications for the previous year. This collection presents these bibliographies for nine years from 1985 to 1993. Each bibliography is annotated and offers a sampling of the 20 best or…

A survey was conducted of randomly selected school library media specialists participating in the Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Texas state "child choice" book award programs to identify any censorship taking place in these programs, and the attitudes of the library media specialists toward such censorship. In most…

The study described in this report was designed to determine the dominant approach to library skills instruction in the schools of the DeKalb County School System (Georgia), and whether any relationships existed between certain demographic variables and the approach being used. Library media specialists were asked to respond to a two-part…