school librarians Archives | American Libraries Magazine

From left: Moderator Liana Heitin Loewus; Elizabeth Rush, library specialist at Northside Independent School District in Leon Valley, Texas; Nawaid Ladak, legislative assistant to Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.); and Dallas Director of Libraries Jo Giudice.

Texas Librarians Help Capitol Hill Slide into Learning

By Megan Ortegon | June 7, 2019

PPA organized the discussion to educate congressional staff about libraries’ role in developing literacy, especially during the summer months, and to encourage members of Congress to look to libraries as leading partners in education. PPA staff worked with the American Association of School Librarians and the Texas Library Association (TLA) to identify librarians in the … Continue reading Texas Librarians Help Capitol Hill Slide into Learning →

Transform the High School Library

By Chiquita Toure | March 1, 2019

Surely, I thought, students will want to pour into the library, begging for the latest bestsellers. Imagine my surprise when one of the first students to enter the library asked, “Does anyone ever check books out?” After examining the stats, I found that students did not check out very many books. During my first nine … Continue reading Transform the High School Library →

Kerri Price, a Charleston County (S.C.) Teacher Librarian Cohort member in University of South Carolina's Library Scholar program, works with students in her school library, alongside her therapy dog, Bailey.

The Value of School Librarians

By R. David Lankes and Mike Corbo | January 15, 2019

Library advocates across the US are fighting to prove that every student is better off with a trained librarian in their school, but budget cuts are threatening school librarian positions across most of the country. Several states in the Southeast are facing a different crisis, however—a shortage of qualified school librarians to fill empty positions. … Continue reading The Value of School Librarians →

The Power of Primary Sources

By Tom Bober | September 4, 2018

My 1st-grade students recently prepared for a trip to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis by analyzing photographs and films of streetcars to better understand the part they played in our city. Inspired to share their learning, students wrote about streetcars and built their own with simple tools like paper, scissors, tape, and … Continue reading The Power of Primary Sources →

Shaping Digital Citizens

By Kara Shelton Watson | September 4, 2018

I tell them that I believe that digital citizenship falls naturally under the domain of librarians, as we place high value on using and creating information ethically. In schools, we have a curriculum that teaches students the concepts of citizenship, community, and social justice through varied disciplines. And in the school library, these ideals come together. … Continue reading Shaping Digital Citizens →

Liz Quakenbush and students at Orchard Park Elementary School in Indianapolis pose in the library.

Bookend: Shaking up Book Sales

September 1, 2018

For nearly 20 years, she held yearly used book sales at Orchard Park Elementary School in Indianapolis, where she is the media specialist. As her community grew more economically diverse, she wanted to help children add to their home libraries year-round, and she turned to her students for ideas. They wrote a business plan, set … Continue reading Bookend: Shaking up Book Sales →

Hommocks Middle School 6th-grader Avi Mehra shows off his current read in front of the data dashboard. Photo: Kelsey Cohen

Supporting Middle School Reading

By Kelsey Cohen | June 1, 2018

Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont, New York, wanted to find out what its students were reading independently. School Librarian Kelsey Cohen helped set up a system that encourages kids to log their reading choices and gives both students and teachers instant visual feedback on what books are popular. But in the last few years, my … Continue reading Supporting Middle School Reading →

Newsmaker: Jason Reynolds

By Alison Marcotte | April 12, 2018

This year’s theme for School Library Month is “Making Connections at Your School Library.” You’ve said reading the lyrics to Queen Latifah’s 1993 album Black Reign changed your life and inspired you to start writing poetry. When students connect with and see themselves in the music, multimedia, and books they read, it changes their relationship with reading completely. … Continue reading Newsmaker: Jason Reynolds →

At Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Civic Data Zine Camp, young adults learned data literacy concepts by presenting statistical narratives and visualizations in a handmade zine format. Photo: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Engaging Civic-Minded Teens

By Terra Dankowski | March 1, 2018

But what about data literacy? Did librarians tackle charts and graphs as much as headlines? And what about teens, who are often overlooked in the context of civic and voter preparedness? Increasingly, librarians are addressing these questions by bringing statistical education and opportunities to young adults—and they’re using massive collections of open civic datasets to … Continue reading Engaging Civic-Minded Teens →

Creating Space for Agency

By Rachel Altobelli | January 2, 2018

This is an excerpt from “Creating Space for Agency,” Knowledge Quest, Sept./Oct. 2017. It’s easy to imagine no LGBTQ students are at a given school, and therefore no need exists to court controversy by providing LGBTQ materials, but LGBTQ students are everywhere. I loved to read as a kid, but when I looked inside the books on … Continue reading Creating Space for Agency →

Screenshot from a video introducing the new AASL Standards.

Introducing the Standards

By Phil Morehart | November 14, 2017

“These Standards are a commitment to our future, our teachers, and our students,” said AASL Executive Director Sylvia Knight Norton at the morning general session. “These are our Standards; these are your Standards.” To illustrate the point, Norton had attendees who had worked on the editorial board stand up, followed by those who had been … Continue reading Introducing the Standards →

Jaime Casap, chief education evangelist at Google, talks to librarians in the exhibit hall after his keynote talk on the first day of the 2017 AASL National Conference and Exhibition in Phoenix.

Technology at the Forefront of Education

By Phil Morehart | November 13, 2017

Jaime Casap, education evangelist at Google, opened the 2017 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National Conference and Exhibition, held November 9–11 in Phoenix, with an examination of the evolving state of education in the US and how it has changed—for better and for worse—with the advance of technology. The future is now, Casap says, … Continue reading Technology at the Forefront of Education →

Latest Library Links

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Applying an informal and practical approach, Mona Kerby’s new second edition of An Introduction to Collection Development for School Librarians, published by AASL and ALA Editions, provides beginning librarians with the essential steps to effectively manage a vibrant school library collection. Kerby argues that building a quality collection is no longer enough and offers strategies to ensure that learners actively engage with the materials. Supported by the National School Library Standards and ALA/AASL/CAEP standards for university preparation programs, this resource introduces the key collection development components.

ALA Editions, June 19
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Hillsborough County (Fla.) Public Library is hoping to cater to the bookworms who may not have access to materials. Its mobile library program, Library2Go, makes it easy for avid readers to borrow books and rent movies without ever leaving their homes. The service, once known as the Bookmobile, was recently revamped, making it accessible to everyone. “Our mission is to go to those who normally can’t get to the branch, whether it be physical needs, disabilities, or monetary,” said Deshaun Johnson, a Library2Go staffer. The service has expanded to provide wireless printing, provide library cards, and mobile hot spots.

WTVT-TV, Tampa, Fla., June 16
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Haroon Janjua writes: “The tribal district of Darra Adam Khel, located about 85 miles west of Islamabad, Pakistan, is best known for its sprawling weapons bazaar. But a local book lover, Raj Muhammad, hopes it becomes known as the home of the Darra Adam Khel Library. Located near a gun shop that his father built 12 years ago, the library opened in August 2018, and Muhammad considers it a labor of love as well as a message to the area and the wider world. Uninterested in his father’s firearms business, he opened the library to give people in the area better access to books and education.”

New York Times, June 18
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Michael Kozlowski writes: “Penguin Random House comprises the vast majority of ebooks published, and Macmillan and Hachette comprise nearly all the rest. These companies have recently revised their contracts with the public library. Libraries will now have to purchase ebooks that are only good for two-year contracts and then will have to devote the resources to see what books they want to buy again and which ones they do not. This is a far cry from the old policy which only had the library make a one-time purchase for every ebook they wanted. Publishers don’t want to devalue their front-list books and want people to buy them, instead of borrow them.”

Good e-Reader, June 19
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Scientists who study specific types of animals or plants can be challenged by the fact that species information is often limited to only one or two libraries in faraway places. The Biodiversity Heritage Library, headquartered in the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington, D.C., was formed in 2007 as a consortium of institutions dedicated to making taxonomic information openly available through its digital portal. Martin R. Kalfatovic, BHL’s program director, estimates that its 20 member libraries and 22 affiliates have scanned upwards of 147,000 titles, ranging from the 15th century to the present, with information on more than 180 million species.

American Libraries Bookend, June
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A committee has ruled that nine books challenged by the Florida Tea Party and Citizens Alliance should remain, at the very least, on high school library shelves in Ocala, Florida. The committee included three parents, one of whom was a School Advisory Council president. The committee also featured a secondary school librarian, a high school principal, a district curriculum administrator, and three high school staff members. Superintendent Heidi Maier believes that only two of those nine, Killing Mr. Griffin and Angela’s Ashes, should be allowed in middle school libraries.

Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner, June 18
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The Schenectady (N.Y.) City School District’s summer bookmobile made its debut June 15 at the 19th annual Juneteenth festival in the city’s Central Park. Kristina Graves, a Schenectady school librarian and media specialist, said the selection of books offered by the bookmobile fits in perfectly with the Juneteenth theme of celebrating cultural diversity. Some of the titles on display at the bookmobile spoke to the themes of racial and religious oppression and equality. Kerri Messler, K–12 English language arts and library coordinator for the district, said it’s important for the district to curate its book collection with selections acknowledging diversity.

Schenectady (N.Y.) Daily Gazette, June 15

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