The first comprehensive history of American public school librarianship. "Can I get a library pass?" Over the past 120 years, millions of American K–12 public school students have asked that question. Still, we know little about the history of public school libraries, which over the decades were pulled together and managed by hundreds of thousands of school librarians. In American Public School Librarianship, Wayne A. Wiegand recounts the unseen history of both school libraries and their librarians. Why, Wiegand asks, did school librarianship turn out the way it did? And what can its history tell us about limitations and opportunities in the coming decades of the twenty-first century? Addressing issues of race, social class, gender, and sexual orientation (among others) as they affected American public school librarianship throughout its history, Wiegand explores how libraries were transformed by the Great Depression, the civil rights era, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs, and more recent legislation like No Child Left Behind, Common Core, and the Every Student Succeeds Act. Wiegand touches on censorship, the impact of school segregation on school libraries, disparities in funding that fall along lines of race and class, the development of school librarianship as a profession, the history of organizations like the American Association for School Librarians, and how emerging technologies affected school librarianship. Wiegand clarifies the historical role of the school librarian as an opponent of censorship and defender of intellectual freedom. He also analyzes the politics of a female-dominated school library profession, identifies and evaluates the profession's major players and their battles (often against patriarchy), and challenges the priorities of librarianship's current agendas, particularly regarding the role of "reading" in the everyday lives of children and young adults. Filling a huge void in the history of education, American Public School Librarianship provides essential background information to members of the nation's school library and educational communities who are charged with supervising and managing America's 80,000 public school libraries.

Librarians around the country are currently on a battleground, defending their right to purchase and circulate books dealing with issues of race and systemic racism. Despite this work, the library community has often overlooked—even ignored—its own history of White supremacy and deliberate inaction on the part of White librarians and library leadership. Author Wayne A. Wiegand takes a crucial step to amend this historical record. In Silence or Indifference: Racism and Jim Crow Segregated Public School Libraries analyzes and critiques the world of professional librarianship between 1954 and 1974. Wiegand begins by identifying racism in the practice and customs of public school libraries in the years leading up to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. This culture permeated the next two decades, as subsequent Supreme Court decisions led to feeble and mostly unsuccessful attempts to integrate Jim Crow public schools and their libraries. During this same period, the profession was honing its national image as a defender of intellectual freedom, a proponent of the freedom to read, and an opponent of censorship. Still, the community did not take any unified action to support Brown or to visibly oppose racial segregation. As Black school librarians and their Black patrons suffered through the humiliations and hostility of the Jim Crow educational establishment, the American library community remained largely ambivalent and silent. The book brings to light a distressing history that continues to impact the library community, its students, and its patrons. Currently available school library literature skews the historical perspective that informs the present. In Silence or Indifference is the first attempt to establish historical accountability for the systemic racism contemporary school librarianship inherited in the twenty-first century.

The 1970 and 1994 editions of The Black Librarian in America by E.J. Josey singled out racism as an important issue to be addressed within the library profession. Although much has changed since then, this latest collection of 48 essays by Black librarians and library supporters again identifies racism as one of many challenges of the new century. Essays are written by library educators, library graduate students, retired librarians, public library trustees, veteran librarians, and new librarians fresh out of school with great ideas and wholesome energies. They cover such topics as poorly equipped school libraries and the need to preserve the school library, a call to action to all librarians to make the shift to new and innovative models of public education, the advancement in information technology and library operations, special libraries, recruitment and the Indiana State Library program, racism in the history of library and information science, and challenges that have plagued librarianship for decades. This collection of poignant essays covers a multiplicity of concerns for the 21st-century Black librarian and embodies compassion and respect for the provision of information, an act that defines librarianship. The essays are personable, inspiring, and thought provoking for all library professionals, regardless of race, class, or gender.

This textbook, for school library administration courses, is written by a professor who has taught this course at least once a year for the past twenty years. Technology is interwoven throughout the book and not listed as a separate chapter or book section. This is because the school librarian of today—and certainly the school librarian of tomorrow—is working in an environment of web resources, multimedia, mixed methods, and varying programs and services. Major chapters cover the various roles of the school librarian, curricular standards and guidelines, policies and procedures, budgeting, facilities, personnel, services, programming, ethics, advocacy, and evaluation. Sample policies, procedures, and plans make this book valuable to both new and experienced school librarians.

This book details effective strategies for promoting a library beyond the building level in order to make an impact with the influential individuals who make the key decisions that directly affect the school district and library program. Make a Big Impact @ Your School Board Meeting was inspired by the authors' experiences speaking at local and national library conferences on the topic of making presentations to school boards and forging relationships with key administrators. It became clear that many librarians are unsure how to create a comprehensive marketing plan, and are simply too busy with their day-to-day tasks to tackle this daunting project. This book is written specifically for K–12 librarians in the field. It can also serve as an instructional tool for school library certification programs. It spotlights the importance of ongoing advocacy and leadership, teaches school librarians how to demonstrate the tremendous value of their library programs and how they directly impact student achievement, and showcases library-specific marketing techniques that can be used during good and poor economic times. By using the straightforward methods and tools provided, librarians will greatly improve their ability to avoid detrimental budget cuts to their programs.

Adresses the art of controlling and updating your library's collection. Discussions of the importance and logistics of electronic resources are integrated throughout the book.

In recent years, interest in International Librarianship has grown rapidly and will continue to grow as globalization influences education and librarianship. In countries around the world, public and school libraries have unique roles and their staffs collaborate across types of libraries to varying degrees. Library staff preparation, training, and ongoing learning and organization of youth-serving librarians mirror each country’s values and priorities. The essays in Youth-Serving Libraries in Japan, Russia, and the United States address the universal and culture-specific aspects of library services to children and teens in these three countries. This collection shows how libraries have developed in light of each country’s political, educational, and social history. They examine how government and citizen roles in youth-serving libraries also reflect culturally defined social structures. The chapters highlight unique collections and services within each country and also show how librarians deal with the challenges they encounter, both from within their culture as well as from outside—including natural disasters. Each country’s authors discuss contemporary issues that face youth-serving libraries, such as information literacy, reading in a multimedia world, and the overarching influence of technology. This book will be of interest to youth-serving librarians around the world, library educators, and for those studying international and young adult librarianship.

Finally, a single volume that comprehensively introduces and addresses the most pressing issues and opportunities in young adult (teen) library services. Perpetually in the shadow of service to children, and historically riven by fractious relationships between public and school libraries, young adult services continue to suffer inadequacies and inequities of all kinds. Consequently, this area of specialization remains without the capacity to build the institutional, political, cultural, or professional influence needed to grow and develop beyond ritual and repetition. Young Adult Services: Challenges and Opportunities (COYAS) begins to address these inequities by preparing professionals. In COYAS, LIS youth services instructors, especially those in the United States and Canada, will find a single, broad, and diverse engagement with scholars and acknowledged experts on the most pressing issues confronting YA services today. Students at both graduate and undergraduate levels will benefit from the field-tested topics delivered through accessible treatments. Practicing YA (and youth) librarians will appreciate the support and evidence-based analysis they likely found lacking in their MLIS programs. Earnest youth advocates will value the pursuit of issues beyond cliché and perpetual “crash course” entry-level conversations. In addition, instructors and students will both value the brevity of concisely focused chapters, sectional introductions, as well as the study guide questions that conclude each chapter. Content areas include history and critical engagement with foundational concepts in YA services, current practices regarding challenges and opportunities, as well as forward leaning issues for future development of the field. COYAS will ultimately empower librarians in delivering professional-grade information services to improve the quality of young people’s experience in this important cultural institution.