LISNews: Librarian News

Steve Fesenmaier spotted a nifty NYTimes Story on The Upper School at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT. The library has been turned into a light show.
All of the structural elements for the new library had to be equipped with channels in which L.E.D.'s and fiberoptics could be imbedded, along with wiring to let Mr. Turrell control the lights in one-foot sections.

SomeOne writes "This paper, by Dr. Ross Todd, first articulates the core beliefs around which effective school library services need to be developed to ensure playing a central role and making a significant contribution to learning in information age schools. These core beliefs revolve around the concepts of difference, intervention and transformation. Based on these core beliefs, it explores the concept of evidence-based practice. The paper provides a brief overview of and rationale for evidence-based practice, identifies and discusses underpinning assumptions, and using findings from a recent research study in Australia, identifies some practical strategies and processes for undertaking effective evidence-based practice, and examines barriers to and challenges of evidence-based practice. In doing so, the paper explores a range of opportunities and options for maintaining effective library services in information age schools.

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\"Canada\'s youth risk falling behind unless school libraries get more resources, says Canada\'s national librarian, with the support of a new study called The Crisis in Canada\'s School Libraries.\"

\"In many places the state of school libraries is just miserable,\" Roch Carrier told the International Forum of Canadian Children\'s Literature on Thursday.\"

\"In this rich Canada, I saw libraries in schools where they could not buy books for the last 10 years.\" (from CBC Ottawa)

Brought to you by Gary Deane: The Globe and Mail reports on a new study that shows a direct correlation between investment in school libraries and improved standardized test scores.

There's no quick fix [for poor standardized test scores], commentators are quick to point out. But what if there were? What if someone found a dependable method of raising test scores while enhancing the educational values that a standardized Q and A can't measure?
Ken Haycock, a University of British Columbia researcher and former chairman of the Vancouver School Board, has identified that miracle solution in one of modern education's most neglected outposts: the school library. No, it's not sexy or particularly cutting-edge -- the opposite, if anything, which may be why the library's backers can't get the attention of people fixated on education's next big thing.

The full report (in .pdf) is available here.