School Libraries in a Time of Change

Book excerpt: By becoming practical futurists, school librarians can help their libraries not only to survive sweeping changes in education but to thrive. This book shows how to spot technological trends and use them to your library's advantage. During this time of rapid modernization of technology and educational reform, this book is a must-read for school librarians tasked with ensuring their libraries meet evolving standards. This title provides the research and organizational techniques and skills they need to gain seats at the table of the three power committees: technology, curricula, and strategic planning. School librarians need to collect and publicize national and local school-based evidence that shows the positive correlations between school librarians and student achievement. Craver notes correlative sources and provides ideas to employ them to ensure that school librarians remain indispensable. In addition, acquiring technological skills and becoming expert at their application are paramount for librarians. Even more important is the need for librarians to assume sole responsibility for designing and integrating information literacy and critical thinking skills throughout the curriculum. Craver analyzes studies that show students' inability to discern fact from fiction, ads from news, and information bias in electronic information sources and recommends six actions that school librarians take to ensure that they become active participants in their future rather than its victims.