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The literature in both education and library science since the 1980s has encouraged school librarians to support education change through service to school-wide initiatives. The difference in the literature from the last century to this one is the transition from a reactive stance to a proactive one. The former encouraged librarians to gain strength by supporting school reform initiatives initiated by the administration. This article indicates that now, just the reverse is happening. School librarians are encouraged to present initiatives that would garner the support of the administration. School librarians are expected to propose instructional reform, train others in new concepts and principles, lead in the implementation, and assess the impact of those changes. School librarians now have the power to create whole school change, rather than stand in line to be granted it. It is the evolution of leadership in the school library field. For the future, the dispositions of the school librarian, the definition of excellence in school librarianship, and the changing structure of the school library will be of paramount importance in the school reform landscape.

Implementing Communities of Practice (CoP) in online learning is well documented (Gray, 2004; Wenger & Snyder, 2000), and is of particular interest to the LIS profession (Yukawa, 2010). Most of the students in school library programs are practicing teachers seeking to add the library science endorsement to their existing license. They are adults with busy lives, full-time jobs, and family and home commitments who welcome the opportunity provided by part-time distance learning options. This study found that students perceived CoP development to be possible in online part-time graduate coursework, although the barriers of time, commitment to CoP development, and technology issues persisted to defray the effectiveness of the CoP.

Preservice school library media specialists will implement the AASL Standards for the "21st Century Learner" in their new roles. Drafted in 2007, the Standards reflect principles which school library media specialist must impart to learners to prepare them to be knowledge consumers, producers, and communicators in global environments. Because many new school library media specialists are currently classroom teachers, they have experiences with curriculum and professional standards that may influence their perceptions of school library media standards. In this study, the researchers convened focus groups of Master's in Library Studies students in an attempt to capture their perceptions and to determine their likelihood to support and implement new information-centered approaches to student learning. The results of the study suggested that preservice school library media specialists are eager to employ the freedom and creativity embodied in the Standards to foster learning experiences in which students can use their digital acumen to construct and express knowledge.

In this article, the author shares some tips for the new or not-so-new library media specialists. During the first week of school, the library media specialist's life will be filled with teacher work days, mandatory meetings, piles of stuff with no apparent purpose, and a line of teachers and other staff who want something from the library. There is little time to get to know the collection or the routine, and less time to figure out where everything goes. The author provides a set of goals for the first week of school: (1) Introduce yourself to classroom teachers and school staff; (2) Find one good resource for one teacher; (3) Find one good book for one student; (4) Put up one display; (5) Do one newsletter or Web page; and (6) Be where the students are. In their first month, some brand-new school library media specialists make the mistake of first writing policy and procedures, goals and strategies, without ever meeting a single patron. Policy and procedures should be based on the people in the school, not inflicted on them. At the end of the first month, they have plenty of time to think about the library program they could have in their school. First, they set a standard for discipline based on their values and beliefs and the culture of the school. Second, they offer to collaborate with one teacher. Third, they set goals for the year. Finally, they write a scenario of their vision for the library program in terms of instruction, environment, and collection. (Contains 1 figure.)

Evidence-based practice is a process used in the helping professions to systematically improve results by focusing on one child, patient, or client. Although not widely used in the school library profession, evidence-based practice could be used to provide a strong foundation for the teacher-librarian's role in student achievement. The process of evidence-based practice is similar to action-research processes in that practitioners develop an answerable question, search for known evidence in the literature, apply possible solution, evaluate the results, and share their findings with others in the profession. In this article, the author discusses how evidence-based practice can help teacher-librarians improve their school library programs and their own performance, while at the same time make a difference in the lives of the students.

So much hinges on putting the right book in a student's hands. Motivation to read is the foundation from which knowledge, reading competency, and comprehension grow. But how do we do it? Here, Hinton and Dickinson offer practical advice for how to reach kids through a partnership with library media specialists and a commitment to promoting books across subjects, locations, and seasons. (Contains 3 tables.)

When American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) "Standards for the 21st Century Learner" were released in late 2007, librarians rushed to incorporate them in curricula at the local and state level and in existing lessons. After an initial frenzy of simply replacing old learning objectives with new ones, the field settled into the task of rethinking curricula, reinterpreting what librarians do and teach, and re-interrogating subject curriculum to place the learning standards in their proper place. A mantra heard over and over was that standards are not curriculum. Standards are what a professional association thinks that students should know and be able to do in that subject specialty. Curricula are then built from the standards. Instruction is planned from curricula. Assessments are based on instruction but aligned back to the standards. It's a continuum of instructional improvement, and one that takes time and practice to implement. It is, in many ways, a constant experiment. "Empowering Learners; Guidelines for School Library Media Programs" was released in April. The field is again faced with the challenge of how to incorporate new guidelines into existing programs. Maybe the field is faced with the opportunity to not incorporate new guidelines into old programs, but rather to shape new programs around new guidelines. It's time to review every guideline and every action to determine what it means for libraries today. The author doesn't think this conversation can or should happen in a vacuum. As a profession, librarians need to talk about the guidelines and how they can be implemented. They need to make time at every conference and at every library professional meeting to have open-ended conversations about what they should do now. Most importantly, they need to have a forum to share the results of all of those conversations. Only then can these guidelines be effective in not only empowering learners, but also in empowering their profession. (Contains 3 figures.)

Since the earliest days of the profession, school libraries have been establishing standards and guidelines to guide and shape school library programs. For the most part, the standards have shaped what programs are and what they do. Rarely has a set of standards focused on the content and process of what school libraries teach students. The information age has affected most of a person's personal and professional life in ways that could not possibly have been foreseen, and looking into the future as a profession, the content of what is needed to be taught must focus on what students need to learn in this century. Pundits in their pulpits usually point to two documents that point the way for the path to perfection in information use. The first is the new National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the second is the "enGauge" 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age from the North Central Regional Education Laboratory (NCREL). The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has added to this national conversation by launching the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner. This article discusses these standards and describes how to achieve full implementation of these learning standards.

A library media specialist already knows from library school some things that he/she should do, namely collaborate with teachers to integrate information skills instruction with classroom content, encourage reading, teach wise use of technology, and advocate for the library media center program. Maybe what isn't talked about as much is what a library media specialist should not do. This article discusses eight things library media specialists could do to lose friends and decrease influence: (1) Complain about working hard; (2) Sit in a dark and empty library media center; (3) Pretend that the school year starts two weeks later than it does for everyone else; (4) Close the library media center at the times when everyone can use it; (5) Care more about the books than about kids reading; (6) Impose rules to limit the access of all, rather than work to change the behavior of a few; (7) Say no first; and (8) Allow non-instructional use of library media center without complaint. Four types of access are also discussed.

JOHN DEWEY'S WRITINGS CAN BE A THEORETICAL BASE FOR THE STUDY OF INFORMATION SKILLS, DEWEY ABHORRED ROTE MEMORIZATION OF FACTS AND BLAND REGURGITATION OF TRIVIA ON TESTS. COLLABORATIVE TEACHING OF [...]

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE IS A PROCESS USED IN THE HELPING PROFESSIONS TO SYSTEMATICALLY IMPROVE RESULTS BY FOCUSING ON ONE CHILD, PATIENT, OR CLIENT. ALTHOUGH NOT WIDELY USED IN THE SCHOOL LIBRARY [...]

Within the school library profession there is an emerging focus on dispositions, defined as "a tendency to exhibit frequently, consciously, and voluntarily a pattern of behavior that is directed to a broad goal" (Katz, 1993). Directed focus groups of practicing school librarians were asked to articulate their vision for school libraries of the future. Data from these groups informed development of six dispositional continua to guide both school library education and school librarianship in the 21st century. This study clarifies the dispositions needed by school librarians in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preservice school library media specialists will implement the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner in their new roles. Drafted in 2007, the Standards reflect principles which school library media specialist must impart to learners to prepare them to be knowledge consumers, producers, and communicators in global environments. Because many new school library media specialists are currently classroom teachers, they have experiences with curriculum and professional standards that may influence their perceptions of school library media standards. In this study, the researchers convened focus groups of Master's in Library Studies students in an attempt to capture their perceptions and to determine their likelihood to support and implement new information-centered approaches to student learning. The results of the study suggested that preservice school library media specialists are eager to employ the freedom and creativity embodied in the Standards to foster learning experiences in which students can use their digital acumen to construct and express knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]