Helpful Websites

http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/index.html
Teacher Librarian is a journal that is in print as well as on the web. It is a perfect website for school librarians because it is specifically designed for library professionals working with children in grades K-12. Among it's pages, you can find relevant articles dealing with current issues regarding librarianship. There are also technology ideas and plenty of websites to use as a teacher-librarian. I used Google and Vivisimo to find this website, but I have also viewed some of the physical journals.
I also found this website using Vivisimo, http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/. This website is another library journal that is dedicated to those professionals working to build literacy in schools. The School Library Journal gives librarians current information to help librarians become instructional leaders on campus. The journal also give ideas on how to integrate literature and technology into the curriculum.
I found both of these websites to be full of helpful advice and information. I can not wait to utilize some of the ideas into my own future library. I also was not aware of some of the current issues facing school librarians, such as losing positions due to funding. I found several interesting articles about this situation in TeacherLibrarian. I also found information on how to make the librarian an integral part of your school community through these websites. I wanted to share these two websites because of the information provided on both sites.

Multimedia

Click on the picture to see a PowerPoint on ideas to promote your library. I found many of the ideas and pictures to be extremely helpful. I plan to use some of these ideas in my future school library. I found this PowerPoint on the Jericho Middle School Library page at http://www.jericho-schools.org/ms/library/librariesslims.htm. I used a Google image search for public school library PowerPoint and found this gold mine of ideas and pictures.

In recent months, there have been reports of librarian positions being cut down to half-time or being eliminated completely from schools. Promoting your library program is a great way to invest in your school and show parents, teachers, administrator, and students the value of your position as a librarian. It is also a way to show your contribution to student literacy and commitment to student achievment.

This graph represents the percentage of public school media centers with scheduled times when students can use the library independently by school level :1999- 2000.

The information is a bit dated, but the data is relevant to today's library programs. The government offers one year grants through the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program. You can find information about this grant at http://www.ed.gov/programs/lsl/index.html.

This program was developed to help with the NCLB legislation (No Child Left Behind Act). Librarians are a partner in education and should be seen as an instructional leader. Ways that a librarian can help are to provide instructional materials aligned to the curriculum and state standards, collaborating with teachers, working with parents, and having extended hours. Librarians need to show the teachers, administrators, and parents how integral their role is in student achievement. Students need to be introduced to reading for pleasure not just high stakes testing situations. The librarian is elemental in this shift of student thinking. By allowing students more independent time in the library, they will utilize this time and see the library as a comfortable reading space.

I used Google Images to find this graph. This graph can be located at the following web address: http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/achiever/2004/091504.html#3.

Database Searches

For my database competency, I searched for information on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its effect on public school libraries and librarians. NCLB has a profound affect on how teachers, students, parents, and administrators view the library. The library can have a positive impact on student success.

I used the building block search method on the Texas Woman's University (TWU) database LibLit. I searched for 1) NCLB and 2) librarian and 3) public school library. My search criteria resulted in 1 article.

St. Lifer, E. Is NCLB Really "The Da Vinci Code?. School Library Journal v.49 no. 12 (December 2003) p. 13.

For my second search, I chose the specific faction method on the TWU database WorldCat.

My first search for NCLB provided 859 hits. Public school library provided 24,585 hits and my search for librarian found 38,446 hits.

Hess, Frederick M.; Finn, Chester E. Leaving no child behind? options for kids in failing schools. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

The third search method was the successive fractions using the TWU database ERIC. I arranged the search facets in this order: 1) NCLB and 2) public school OR libr* and 3) libr*. This search provided 17 hits.

Georges, Fitzgerald. The No Child Left BehindAct of 2001:What Are the Implications for School Libraries. Library Media Connection; v23 n1 p28 Aug 2004 Accession Number: EJ717576.

My final search method was citation pearl growing using the TWU database ProjectMuse. I searched the author Meier, and full text-no child left behind, and schools. This search produced 69 hits. I chose one link from one of these articles: educational change-United States. This link provided 50 other links to view.
Apple, Michael W.
Rochester, J. Martin.
Brookings Papers on Education Policy, 2005, pp. 186-204 (Article)
DOI: 10.1353/pep.2005.0002
Subject Headings:
Hirsch, E.D. (Eric Donald), 1928-Education reform and content the long view
Educational evaluation~United States
Educational change~United States
Education~Curricula~United States

aasl(2) advocacy(1) apt(1) ed(1) education(6) education standards(1) info literacy(1) information literacy(11) information literacy standards.(1) information power(1) information science(1) irls(1) learning(1) lib(1) lib services(1) librarians(1) Librarianship(2) libraries(3) library(6) Library Administration(1) library literacy(1) library media specialist(1) library science(9) library standards(1) library text(1) library textbook(1) lms(3) location-harvey(1) nf(2) non-fiction(11) outstanding school library resource(1) own(1) read(2) reference(3) school(2) School Librarian(1) school library(5) school library media(3) school library media standards(1) school media(2) schoollibraries(1) standards(2) teaching(3) text(1) textbook(3) wishlist(1) work(1)

http://www.librarything.com/

I chose the book Information Power: Building a Partnership for Learning by Association for Educational Communication, American Association of School Librarian. This book shows how to build a productive and outstanding library media center. It also shares how to build partnerships with the community, parents, students, teachers, and administrators. The librarian is an instructional leader and should be a partner in education to help all students succeed.

I added a RSS feed from ALSC- Association for Library Service to Children. I chose this RSS feed because I want to work in a public school library with children ages 9-12. There is also a connection for the Kids Library Tool Kit which has ideas on making your library and children successful.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/initiatives/kidscampaign/index.cfm

Library Podcast

This entry is an assignment for my graduate class ISAR LS 5013. I searched Youtube to find a podcast that represented my idea of a library. I found the Brookfield High School Library Media Center Podcast. This 3 minute 19 second podcast is an advertisement for the library media center. There are several pictures showcasing the library media center that transition from one to another using various techniques. Information about the library media center is spread throughout the podcast. Some information included in the podcast are the hours, tutoring, literary genres, number of books available, and resources (computers and databases). The podcast is accompanied by a recording of one of Vivaldi's Seasons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wr468Qres4

The podcast is a reflection of the library I would like to work in one day. I chose it because of the comfortable atmosphere that is dipicted through the photos used. The library media center is a community in this high school. You can infer that students are welcome to come in and sit in a chair to read a book or converse with one another. Classes and teachers are welcome as well. The library media center has plenty of room and tables for classes to utilize during their class time. I believe a library should be inviting and warm...like a cup of hot tea on a rainy day.

Promoting School Libraries

This entry is an assignment for my graduate class ISAR LS 5013 Competency #2. My goal was to find a blog that supported my interest in libraries. I am deeply interested in public school libraries and the future of libraries in our current economic situation. I looked over many different kinds of blogs before I decided on this blog to share with you. It touched on some of the issues I have thought about recently...such as budget cuts, fewer positions, half-time positions, and how to promote libraries and reading. The blog I am sharing today talks about marketing your library. How to make it relevant to your community inside and around your school. This idea of marketing was shared in a reading from our last module in class. It was an article by George R. Plosker (2003). The Information Industry Revolution: Implications for Librarians from Online Vol. 27 No. 6-Nov/Dec 2003 Website: http://www.infotoday.com/online/nov03/plosker.shtml

Here is an excerpt from the blog:

What can you do to promote the value of school libraries? We are in tough times all around the state and it is very possible that school libraries will experience cuts in many school districts. How can you be your own advocate and rally for the value of school libraries and school librarians? Listed below are some links to website and articles that you may find helpful to your cause. However, we are all in this together so please post any projects or activities that you are doing to promote yourselves. This could be best practices, lessons, community outreach, whatever!!
Calling All School Librarians! - http://casl.wordpress.com/

The blog continues to share some of the ideas that they have used in there library. I think we can use these ideas and share some of our own. We (librarians and future librarians) are all in this together and need to band together to show the importance of our position and the importance of reading.

If you get a chance, please view the link of the Ethiopian library. It reminds me of how blessed we are to have access to so many books and libraries. Here is the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7777560.stm

Introduction

This blog is an assignment for Information Retrieval and Storage graduate class at TWU. I will use this blog throughout the semester to archive my thoughts and findings related to information retrieval and storage.

I am interested in school libraries for intermediate and middle school students. I want to learn more about library journals, finding ways to interest reluctant readers, encourage students in how to use search options in the library, and find ways to promote the school library program.