News and best practices for creating information literate kids and teens from School Library Journal en-us http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/community/Info+Literacy/47070.html?nid=3260 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/info/260304.html Terms of Use. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:08:36 MST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6700578.html?nid=3260 Students are taught to read in their early years of schooling—but that doesn’t mean they’re given the keys to comprehension. And it’s this skill that the Carnegie Corporation of New York believes is the cornerstone to academic—and lifelong—success, says a new report. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6700294.html?nid=3260 Frances Jacobson Harris, Joyce Valenza, and Harold Rheingold believe librarians are on the front lines in teaching students how to evaluate which sources are relevant and which are not. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699357.html?nid=3260 The library, as we once knew it, may no longer be relevant. School librarians, as we once knew them, may no longer be relevant. And, yet, this is undoubtedly the most exciting time in history to be a librarian. The future of the school library as a relevant and viable institution is largely dependent on us and how quickly we respond to change. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6697397.html?nid=3260 High school students have some fairly heavy hitters behind them, with the launch of Get Schooled—a five-year program designed to help kids not just do well in class, but also graduate. Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6685542.html?nid=3260 Digital textbooks, once the playthings of a few Arizona high schools, are suddenly looking like they might become commonplace. And that could end up being a great thing for school librarians and, more importantly, students. Back in May, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the Free Digital Textbook Initiative, which would make open-source textbooks—for now just in science a... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6685552.html?nid=3260 Libraries of the future will primarily manage digital repositories of information rather than warehouse physical books. A more functional method geared toward easy browsing will replace the Dewey Decimal system. And computers will surpass human librarians in the ability to answer even the most complex reference questions. Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6675216.html?nid=3260 What book left a lasting impression on you as a kid? For actor Morgan Freeman, it was Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty. For singer Patti LaBelle, it was Johanna Spyri’s Heidi, and for Newbery-award-winning author Kate DiCamillo, it was Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673577.html?nid=3260 www.loc.gov/teachers Most of us know the excitement that primary sources can bring to teaching. Photographs, maps, correspondence, and other original records that have survived from the past spark the imagination, and a staggering 13 million of these items have been digitized and made available online, thanks to the Library of Congress. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673578.html?nid=3260 NECC, the big National Educational Computing Conference, has come and gone, but attendees, both in person and virtual, are still basking in the glow of all that sharing (bit.ly/dbGY5). School librarians Keisa Williams of Monarch Academy, a K–5 charter school in Oakland, CA, and Melissa Techman of Broadus Wood Elementary School in Albemarle Co. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673580.html?nid=3260 Over the past few years, Google has changed the way we search. Later this year, the search giant is going to reinvent how we communicate and share online with its new Google Wave application. To get a good feeling for what Google Wave’s about, imagine that your email program got a bit hungry and ate your instant-messaging client. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673581.html?nid=3260 The American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) decision to require permission—and potentially a fee—to commercially use its Standards for the 21st-Century Learner (bit.ly/lWd9B) has generated ire among its members. “At first I was annoyed, but now getting mad,” posted librarian Beth Frise on Twitter. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6672530.html?nid=3260 Libraries with a focus on family literacy now have three $10,000 grants to help them keep their programs flourishing. Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6668338.html?nid=3260 Kevin Youkilis, an all-star first baseman with the Boston Red Sox, is going to bat for young readers with his Hits for Kids, an organization that hopes to collect 100,000 new or gently used books for Boston’s public school libraries over a two day period. Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6666666.html?nid=3260 Watching our Commander-in-Chief read Where the Wild Things Are (HarperCollins, 1964) at the White House Easter Egg Roll gave us chills, even though we had to experience it vicariously on YouTube. We had often heard the new president suggest to parents that they “turn off the TV and read to your child. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6663625.html?nid=3260 Imagination Library, the Dolly Parton literacy program that sends free books to preschoolers, is expanding its reach with the help of United Way of America. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6660875.html?nid=3260 It was the sort of exchange that could only happen on a field trip. One of my students, noticing the unusual bow attached to Alexander Hamilton’s ponytail, asked our guide about the odd accessory. “That’s a bag wig,” replied Eli Lesser, director of education at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6660881.html?nid=3260 A recent firestorm on Twitter involved media specialists and education technology experts who considered whether librarians who don’t engage in social media are jeopardizing their careers not to mention student learning. “Can a media specialist do their job now if they are not also a social media specialist? I’m not sure,” Karl Fisch (on Twitter: karlfisch), director of ... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6660884.html?nid=3260 Web-based telephony, desktop video conferencing, and other digital tools make it easy to connect with people in real time. Virtual meetings have become standard fare, and the once arcane task of calculating time zones is now regularly performed in classrooms, where students and teachers collaborate with distant peers or welcome guest experts from around the globe. Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6654562.html?nid=3260 Reading for Healthy Families: Building Communities of Learning was launched in 14 of Oregon’s 36 counties. Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6655502.html?nid=3260 How a book club for reluctant readers proved the naysayers wrong. Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 EST