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California School Library Association

Online Resources

Basic Tools for Curriculum Leadership:
A Reference for Library Media Staff

I. Purpose

Basic Tools for Leadership is designed as a reference to professional organizations and resources that should be familiar to all library media staff as they build and extend curriculum leadership. It is anticipated that library media staff will use this reference list to provide various levels of access to these resources depending on the needs of their clients. For example, library collections at county offices of education will probably include all resources listed; at school sites, staff will select those most appropriate for inclusion in their local library media collections and provide information to clients about where they can access others.

This "toolkit" is intended as a work-in-progress. You should know the function of each tool and use it as needed. You will also want to add new tools as you discover them. We hope that your copy of the list, personally revised and annotated, will help you to do an outstanding job of providing and fostering curriculum leadership.

II. Arrangement

Since this list emphasizes organizations important for school library leaders and the educators with whom they work, it is arranged alphabetically by organization name. Each listing includes a phone number, Web site and/or e-mail address as available, a brief introduction to the organization, and selected resources with notes as needed.

The journals section features publications of several professional organizations but uses curricular categories as the basis for arrangement. General Education and Library Media/Technology journals are followed by those that address specific curriculum areas. The order of curricular groupings is alphabetical.

A few other resources seem essential to this list of basics even though they do not fit neatly into the categories above. These are listed as "Other."

III. Organizations and Their Publications

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANS (AASL)
800/545-2433 http://www.ala.org/aasl

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association, has as its mission to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library media field. The AASL publications listed are key resources to assist you in the development of your role as a school library media leader. For a complete list of current AASL publications, log onto the website listed above.

  • Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs, 1988
  • Kaleidoscope: New Visions for School Library Media Programs, 1993 (video) and Using Kaleidoscope, 1994 (a planning guide to accompany the video; distributed by Follett Software Company, 800/323-3397)
  • Standards for Student Learning, 1996 (Draft of the forthcoming new national standards)
  • Information Literacy: Critical Skills for a Changing World and Evaluating Information: A Basic Checklist, 1994 (pamphlets)
  • Count on Reading Handbook, 1997 (Tips for planning reading motivation programs)
  • ICONnect: Publication Series, 1996 and online courses (ICONnect focuses on use of Internet in education)
  • AASL Electronic Library, 1997 (CD-ROM, IBM-compatible only)
  • National School Library Media Program of the Year and other awards: Criteria/Applications

Position Statements: The diverse position statements, approved by the AASL Board of Directors are useful tools as you develop school library media policies within your school or district. All statements are available on the website and from the association.

Journals: AASL publishes both a print and an electronic journal to support school library media specialists in the field.

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (CDE)
800/995-4099 http://goldmine.cde.ca.gov

The California Department of Education (CDE) publishes the basic documents that guide public education in California. These typically are essential resources for administrators, teachers, and parents. They include curriculum frameworks, recommended readings, handbooks for curriculum implementation, program quality criteria, academic standards, guidelines for facilities, and others. An Educational Resources Catalog of CDE publications is updated periodically and is available free of charge by calling the toll-free number listed above. This information is also available online. Library staff at all levels should provide access to this information. Relevant publications should be included in school, district, and county office library collections.

CALIFORNIA INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY CLEARINGHOUSE
http://www.clearinghouse.k12.ca.us

The California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse is a state-funded project for evaluation of all instructional technology resources for grades K-12 based on California curriculum guidelines and standards. Evaluated resources include instructional videotapes, CD-ROMs, computer software, multimedia products, and new instructional technologies as they emerge. A searchable database of all Clearinghouse evaluations is posted on the Clearinghouse Web site. A CD-ROM version of this evaluation database was also distributed to county media directors. The Clearinghouse evaluation guidelines and rating instrument are available as a published document. Publications include Guidelines for the Evaluation of Instructional Technology Resources for California Schools, 1997 and others.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION (CSLA)
415/692-2350 http://www.schoolibrary.org

CSLA has published and sponsored books, brochures, newsletters, and other materials usually developed by CSLA committees to provide guidance and leadership to CSLA members. Some of these items are distributed to all CSLA members, some are available on request from the CSLA office, some are distributed through commercial publishers, and some may be available on the CSLA Web site. All library media staff in California should have copies of or access to these resources and should use them to provide relevant leadership.

  • CSLA Journal (Provided as a benefit of membership in CSLA.)
  • CSLA Newsletter (Provided as a benefit of membership in CSLA, published monthly.)
  • From Library Skills to Information Literacy: A Handbook for the 21st Century, 2d ed., 1997 (Developed by the CSLA Curriculum Committee. Order from LMC Source, 800/873-3043.)
  • Good Ideas! Newsletter (Published annually since 1991 by the CSLA Curriculum Committee, the newsletter features California library media programs, staffed with full-time credentialled library media teachers, that feature collaboration and promising practices. The newsletter is mailed to all members sometime after the annual conference.)
  • Put Your Library on the PQR Road (Developed by the CSLA Curriculum Committee for elementary and middle schools preparing for a program review.)
  • Technology Planning and Grant Resources Information Packet (Developed by the CSLA Technology Committee.)
  • WASC/PQR for Library Media Programs: Focus on Learning (Developed by the CSLA Curriculum Committee with the support of WASC and the CDE, this brochure focuses on the library media program in a school-wide program review.)


CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY
916/653-7071 http://www.library.ca.gov/

Library of California. A plan for library networking in California available from the State Library.

ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE ON INFORMATION & TECHNOLOGY (ERIC/IT)
800/464-9107 http://ericir.syr.edu/ithome

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is designed to provide educators with resources that will be useful in educational research as well as information on practices in teaching, learning, and educational decision-making. There are 16 clearinghouses under the ERIC umbrella. Each one focuses on a different theme or aspect of the broad field of education.The Information and Technology Clearinghouse, which specializes in library and information science and technology, provides educational information in support of learning, literacy and technology. Representative publications are listed below.

  • ERIC/IT Monographs e.g. Doyle, Christina. Information Literacy in an Information Society: A Concept for the Information Age. 1994
  • ERIC Digests (Brief overviews of topics of current interest in fields of library science and educational technology and highlighted references for further reading.)
  • ASK ERIC (E-mail: askeric@ericir.syr.edu . A 24-hour Internet-based service designed to serve educators world-wide with educational information, upon request.)
  • AskLN, an online question answering service for teachers, administrators, media specialists, and anyone who is interested in using the Internet and other technologies as effective classroom tools.


SCHOOLS OF CALIFORNIA ON-LINE RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION (SCORE)
http://www.score.k12.ca.us

Four clearinghouses, funded by the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP), focus on the use of curriculum-related web sites for instruction in grades K-12. Intended users are teachers and students. Curricular areas are: history-social science, language arts, mathematics and science.Web sites identified for each area have been reviewed by teachers and indexed as they support California curriculum content at various grade levels. Also included are subject specific lesson activities that support the use of the Web and the development of information literacy. These searchable databases are accessed by selecting identified curriculum framework topics.

IV. Journals

Most of the following are the journals of professional associations that focus on curriculum. They are arranged so that journals in curriculum and general education and library and instructional technology are listed first followed by journals in specific curriculum areas. Search for other magazines and journals at Yahoo.

General Curriculum and Education

Library and Instructional Technology

English/Language Arts

History-Social Science

Mathematics and Science

Visual and Performing Arts

 

V. Books and Other Resources

School Libraries

  • Lance, Keith. The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement, Hi Willow Publishing & Research,1993. (800/ 873-3043, lmcs@pacbell.net)
  • Gordon, Mark. The Essential Library.
  • Haycock, Ken. What Works: Research about Teaching and Learning through the School's Library Resource Center. Rockland Press, 1992. (604/925-0266)

English/Language Arts

History-Social Science

Developed by Bettie Day and Zhita Rea for CSLA Curriculum Committee
11/97; rev. 1/98 (additions by Debbie Abilock 3/1/98, Joyce Roth 5/31/98)

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