Promoting your media center to teachers

[Matt Lee]

A new discussion group has opened up on WebJunction MN, the library social networking site. The group is called “Promoting Your Media Center to Teachers,” and is a place to talk about ways to reach out to teachers and integrate media center resources into the classroom. Explore and join the group at http://mn.webjunction.org/lmcpromo and learn more about why and how one might use the group with this 3.5 minute video: http://www.minitex.umn.edu/events/webinars/archived/WJMN/WJMN.html. The MEMO Ning is great for all sorts of important discussions; this WebJunction group is good for just one: how to get library resources integrated fully into the classroom, thereby ensuring the stability of your media center for years to come.

[Bruce Pomerantz]

Advocacy toolkits for school librarians

AASL has several resources for library media specialists to use that is worth keeping handy, so here's the website.

http://tiny.cc/JprbV

Here are some additional resources compiled by my colleague Mary Ann VanCura:

Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners
http://www.islma.org/pdf/ILStudy2.pdf

A 2005 study of the Illinois School Libraries shows that students who frequently visit well-stocked and well-staffed school libraries end up with higher ACT scores and perform better on reading and writing exams.

Press release:
http://tiny.cc/hwqhF
http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/illinoisstudy/PressRelease.pdf

Martin, Ann M. “School Libraries Renewed: Library Media Specialists Connect Curriculum and Technology to Real-World Skills.” District Administrator. (October 2008)
http://tiny.cc/7botr
http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1726
AASL President Ann M. Martin elaborates on the relationship between school libraries and 21st Century Skills.

ALA/AASL has created a Crisis Toolkit, among other resources, provides links to the following reports:

College Success: High School Librarians Make the Difference
This published study shows the difference in achievement by students from the respective high schools in a Cabrillo College course.

School Libraries do Make a Difference
Research results from sixteen studies are summarized in a two page table.

School Libraries Work! updated (3rd ed., 2008) –
An overview of school library research studies.

School Library Impact Studies -- Links to the results research Studies from 1993 to 2005 in 16 states

If you have created anything that explains the need for library media centers, please consider posting it here for others to use.