School

The Status of Library Media Center Staffing and its Effect on Student Achievement

April 2001

The study How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards found that school library media centers are instrumental in students’ academic achievement, including getting higher CSAP scores. In addition to the library media center’s collection and funding, key factors impacting student performance include adequate staffing of library media centers and the professional role of the endorsed […]

The Status of Library Media Center Support of Student Achievement

September 2000

How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards, a.k.a. the second Colorado Study, found that well-staffed, well-stocked, and well-funded library media (LM) programs are an essential component of successful schools. This issue of FAST FACTS examines the status of school library media services that support student achievement. Highlights Two out of 5 public schools have either […]

The State of Intellectual Freedom in Colorado Public Libraries and School Library Media Centers

April 2000

Every year the Library Research Service surveys public libraries and school media centers in Colorado. These surveys include items concerning the number of challenges received and policies and practices related to Internet filtering. Such data have been collected from school library media centers for the last two years and from public libraries since 1994. Chart […]

Proof of the Power: A First Look at the Results of the Colorado Study and More!

November 1999

The Latest Statewide Studies During 1998 and 1999, three statewide studies of the impact of school library media centers on academic achievement have been conducted. The forthcoming reports on these studies are: Information Empowered: The School Librarian as an Agent of Academic Achievement in Alaska, Measuring Up to Standards: The Role of Library Information Programs […]

A Salary Comparison of Library Agencies

August 1999

One could say that comparing the salaries of public, academic, school and special librarians is like comparing football with hockey. A full-time school librarian works ten months out of a year. A special librarian can be anyone from a Ph.D. in a Fortune 500 company to a law librarian in a small town firm. In […]

Librarians, Teachers, & Librarian/Teacher Ratio in U.S. Public Schools: State Variations & Trends, 1989-95

April 1999

A consistent finding inresearch about school libraries is the importance of cooperation and collaboration between “librarians”[note]* In these statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics appears to be using the term “librarian” loosely. Almost certainly, individuals counted for this position were not necessarily educated or credentialed as school library media specialists. Had that been the […]

Colorado Library Media Programs Mirror Nation’s Schools on Internet Access for Students

November 1998

According to Nua Internet Surveys, a recent study by Quality Education Data (QED) found that 39 percent of U.S. schools that provide students access to the Internet use filtering software and 80 percent have some kind of acceptable use policy in force. Similar data on school library media programs in Colorado for 1998 indicate that […]

Teens Credit Librarians with Influencing Their Book Purchases

October 1998

If you are a young adult librarian, have you ever considered how many of your clients may be looking to you for book purchasing recommendations? According to a recent Publishers Weekly poll of 12- to 17-year-olds nationwide… Librarians rank fourth after friends, teachers, and parents as the people they most credit with influencing their book-buying […]

State and National Data Link Circulation of Children’s Materials from Public Libraries & Reading Test Scores

October 1998

Relationships between public libraries and school library media centers (LMCs) are somewhat difficult to observe and assess. Consequently, distinguishing between the effects of public libraries and school LMCs on children’s performance in school is problematic. Several recent issues of FAST FACTS have presented evidence of the contributions of LMCs alone and their collaboration with public […]

World Wide Web Access via Library Media Centers in Colorado Public Schools, 1998

October 1998

During the 1997-98 school year, access to the World Wide Web via library media centers in Colorado public schools was widespread, though there were important differences by school level and enrollment range. In the state’s high schools, web access was almost universal. Virtually all LMCs provided web access to library media staff, teachers, and other […]