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The article focuses on Questia, an electronic database offered by the Charlotte County Public School District (CCPSD) in Florida to fit individual reading need in the classroom as well as the library. It discusses how Questia helps promote all aspects of information literacy with its advanced search engine, relevant content, and easy-to-use tools. The CCPSD has selected Questia for use by students in dual enrollment classes and advanced subject courses. Factors that contributed to the selection of Questia include easy note-taking, and its vast list of research topics.

The article focuses on the ways in which students can be instructed to find information for their school projects. Getting students to process the facts and other information they find in sources with a higher level of thought will result in a final product that represents the best of what students can offer. It will stretch their intellect and engage them in the learning process. When students add personal value to the results, they take more ownership and pride in their work. Going beyond the facts means that students will have to use higher-level skills to process the information found in sources, instead of just rewriting or copying and pasting those facts into a report or other product. Students can complete group projects concurrently with the individually written paper, using many forms of creative expression resulting in a presentation, performance or production using a variety of technology applications as appropriate. Collaborating across subjects and specialty areas aids students in synthesizing information and adds a grand dimension to learning.

The article presents information on a collaborative unit in which second grade students create Native American homes by applying the Super3 process and its tools. Students will compare the lives and contributions of Native Americans, with emphasis on the Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands, the Sioux of the Plains and the Pueblo people of the Southwest. Students must demonstrate the homes of the three tribes. They learn that the Powhatan had homes of wood and bark called longhouses, the Sioux had homes made from buffalo skin called teepees, and the Pueblo had multistory terraced homes made from clay, straw and sand. The Super3 research method is divided into three steps, namely, plan, do and review. The purpose of these centers is to create excitement about the unit and expose the students to the Super3 process in a casual, fun way. This unit is designed to accommodate any student that needs extra assistance to succeed. A student with a higher writing ability could be paired with a student struggling with reading or writing skills. Formative assessment can be used so students have multiple opportunities to improve their work before turning it in to the teacher. Multiple resources are available such as audio books, CD-ROMS, video streaming, Web sites, and a variety of nonfiction books on different reading levels.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to issues related to libraries and other information resources in the U.S., including the donation of tapes and video discs to schools by video stores in New Jersey, information about the "We Love Reading" program of Garrett Elementary in Hazelwood, Missouri and the use of a label marker in bookshelves.

This article focuses on the use of the Cornell Note Taking Method during the Use of Information stage of a project. One of the note taking methods that works well for learners from seventh grade through adults is the Cornell Note Taking Method. This method, so called because it was developed by former Cornell University Professor of Education, Walter Pauk, may be taught to a group of students in a short period of time. The system was developed as a way of taking notes during a lecture. However, the system works equally well when taking notes from print resources.

Focuses on the advantages of school library automation in the United States. Adoption of automation systems to facilitate sharing across districts, regions and states; Provision of resource access through community catalogs; Key factor determining the user of interlibrary loan capabilities.

This article presents a brief overview of the Big6 stage 4, Use of Information, in student projects. It marks a major shift in focus in the information problem-solving process. Extracting information from all kinds of sources is a skill that students must learn. With the help of Big6 stage 4, Use of Information, and new computer technologies, this task can become easier and more efficient for all learners.

The paper compiles library resources recent as of November 2004. These include, Libraries Unlimited's release of Betty Morris' "Administering the School Library Media Center," which covers changes impacting the administration of school media centers. This edition takes a look at the basics, such as facilities management, selection of materials, staffing, budgeting and organization. The publication "A Guide to Handheld Computing in K-12 Education," released by the Consortium for School Networking features case studies that describe the innovative ways schools are using handheld computing. The Youth Technology Support Collaborative's book "A School Decision-Maker's Guide to Student Technology Support Programs," outlines the goals of a student technology support program.

The article presents updates related information services in the U.S. Women's professional golf icon Annika Sorenstam has announced the partnership between the ANNIKA Foundation and School Specialty Inc.'s SPARK Programs to help educate youth about the benefits of physical fitness and proper nutrition. Infobase Publishing Co. has announced the December 2009 release of the 2010 editions of the books "The World Almanac and Book of Facts" and "The World Almanac for Kids."

This article focuses on two popular sites students use in school projects about native Americans and ancient Egypt. Students and teachers readily accept them as valid sources of information. But, they are not even close to being authoritative or accurate. It was found that one is authored by a gentleman who posts no qualifications, does not cite his sources, and asks children to send him money for his work. The other is by a woman whose site appears valid, but contains no in text citation or bibliography, and she claims to be a psychic and has been visited by aliens. Books, magazine articles, and other sources went through rigorous editing processes, after which the library media specialist carefully evaluated the source for the collection based on positive reviews, reputations of the publisher or author, and its relevance to the curriculum. Classroom teachers and library media specialists will want to introduce students to resources available through the library media center (books, audiovisual materials, and subscription databases), as well as those on the Internet.

The article examines the case studies related to implementing a virtual reference service in a library media center as presented by the doctoral students from the School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas. These case studies emphasize the impact of Virtual Reference (VR) on the traditional role of reference librarians and the technology, tasks and skill set incorporated with this online service. The students also highlight the benefits of Instant Messaging (IM) Virtual Reference Services (VRS) as well as cites theoretical and ethical issues in the online reference environment. The case studies are compiled in the book "Virtual Reference on a Budget: Case Studies."

This article shows how teachers can administer a multiple-choice test that assesses students' knowledge of relevant terminology, their ability to identify appropriate sources of information for different questions, and their awareness of the need to evaluate the accuracy, currency, relevancy, and authenticity of information found in different sources. The students are required to select appropriate sources for a specific question, then find, access, and evaluate those sources of information to be integrated into an answer to the question. Assessment should not just serve as a vehicle for assigning grades or comparing schools and districts. Gathering meaningful information about student performance allows teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses.

The article offers the author's insights on primary and secondary resources that will help researchers and teachers find historic information such as the background information about Charles Goddard, an author. Topics include various search terms that suggest information about Goddard such as the Company K and Charley Goddard letters, photographs of Civil War from the Matthew Brady Collection, and background resources related to the book "Soldier's Heart," by Gary Paulsen.

The article presents a reference for school librarians who work with elementary school children interested about the life and work of Benjamin Franklin. A list of books about Franklin for the elementary and middle grades are recommended. These include, "Hatmaker's Sign," "Benjamin Franklin's Adventures With Electricity," "Ben Franklin & the Magic Squares" and "What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?"; The recommendations are based on their appeal to children, quality of illustration and contents. Price quotations are also presented. Web sites about Franklin were also identified. A Web site sponsored by the Independence Hall Association, ushistory.org, contains in-depth and accurate information about Franklin. The Franklin Institute Online Web site, on the other hand, contains information about Franklin categorized by his particular accomplishments.

This article cites a study on evaluating information literacy skills in students at media centers. The pre-test survey asked all freshman English students to critique their abilities before they received any formal instruction from the media center team. This enabled researchers to identify areas of research. The five main research areas were, point access, information skills when researching a topic, databases, the Internet and technology. These results indicated that it's not just the collection of print and non-print resources that influence students' use of the media center.

The article elaborates the role of literary reviewers and notes the constraints of their job. Reviewers are expected to identify the strong and the weak points of a literary work. All reviewers of the literary works published within the journal "Library Media Connection" are following the review protocols set by the publication to ensure coherence and reliability of the review content.

The author, a former teacher librarian and co-founder of the educational service NoodleTools Inc., discusses ways to teach students about citation and how to distinguish between source type and format. PDF versus HTML computer formats are mentioned, and an example is given from the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). The evaluation of sources and the teaching of research skills are also mentioned.

The article offers the author's surveys on several schools administrators and teachers in the U.S. The author mentions that most teachers are contented to have their instruction from textbook, and administrators do not provide staff and students quality information sources. He states that administrators also believe that students and staffs can locate information without asking for assistance and feel that the ability to process and communicate information is unnecessary.

Reviews the Web site Sagebrush MARC Source from Sagebrush Corp.