This book is directed toward graduate students who are preparing to become, or already serving as, school library media specialists. It reflects the rapidly changing questions being asked in school library media research, as well as the methods of addressing those questions. These changes are due to both the changing role of the school library media specialist, and the explosion of research methods available. The authors hope that this book will encourage its readers to pursue an active research agenda in their school library media center.
This collection of case studies emphasizes practical management techniques designed to be used by library media specialists in elementary, middle and high school settings.
Provides a history and overview of the certification process, reviews the areas highlighted in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) portfolio entries and assessment center exercises, examines their components, and gives tips on how to complete each part.
Presents theory, research, and interviews with more than forty library media specialists to show how the role of the library media specialist has changed and needs to be approached; covers such topics as instructional programs and partnerships with the principal, teachers, and the community.
Provides vision for strong school library programs, including identification of the skills and knowledge essential for students to be information literate. Includes recommended baseline staffing, access, and resources for school library services at each grade level.
Everhart provides practical guidelines and ready-to-use forms for evaluating a school library media center, as well as important results derived in other studies. She includes qualitative and quantitative techniques for the areas of curriculum, personnel, facilities, collections, usage, and technology. She also gives step-by-step instructions on how to create in-house surveys, conduct interviews, and use observation to gather useful data. Conduct research, collect statistics, and evaluate your program with this useful resource. Everhart provides practical guidelines and ready-to-use forms for evaluating a school library media center, as well as important results derived in other studies. She includes qualitative and quantitative techniques for the areas of curriculum, personnel, facilities, collections, usage, and technology. She also gives step-by-step instructions on how to create in-house surveys, conduct interviews, and use observation to gather useful data. For example, there are directions on how to assess information literacy with rubrics. In addition, each chapter gives detailed references, a list of further readings, applicable Web sites, and dissertations. A quick and easy guide to justifying and supporting your SLMC operations and effectiveness, this book is invaluable to all school library media specialists. It will also be of interest to school library media supervisors and researchers.
Find out how you can increase the impact of your school library instruction, promotion, and organization with the utilization of infographics created with do-it-yourself tips found within this guidebook. Infographics have become increasingly popular educational tools for visually conveying ideas and information—in class projects, in daily lessons, and for promoting school and library programs. This book—the only one of its kind—helps you create your own computer-generated visuals for your class and library using common software platforms and free web-based applications. A perfect primer for educators with little or no technological savvy, this resource features charts, tables, screenshots, bars, and graphs for making infographics easy to reproduce and create. Author Peggy Milam Creighton discusses the benefits of utilizing visuals with students and provides tips and strategies for creating your own graphics for various educational settings. The reference is organized into three topics: how to create infographics with Microsoft software such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; how to use graphics to support school library programs; and why using these visual-based learning tools is important. The work features easy-to-use tutorials, lesson plans, and project ideas for students.
During this period of radical change in the field of information technology there is evidence of confusion about the role of school library media specialists in the implementation, and the administration of emerging information technologies in Wisconsin public schools. This study sought to answer the question what is the role of the school library media specialist (SLMS) in Wisconsin public schools? In-depth interview methodology was used to discover role expectations for workers in the area of information and instructional technologies. Among the sub-questions to be answered through the use of interview methodology were (a) what roles/services are expected exclusively of media specialists, (b) what role/services were expected to be shared with other personnel? There was reason to believe that role expectations for SLMS may vary by the instructional level at which they serve. Therefore, school library media specialists, at the (a) elementary, (b) middle school, and (c) high school levels were interviewed. Eight school library media specialists in two medium-sized school districts in south eastern and south central Wisconsin participated in the interviews. Among other things, the interviews revealed that school library media specialists at the elementary level preferred the role of Teacher as defined by Information Power (1998). At the secondary level, school library media specialists were found to prefer the role of Information Specialist as defined by Information Power (1998).
