Keeping Current with Information Literacy

Organizations

Blogs and Discussion Lists
ALA Blog: Weblog Server
At ALA’s Weblog server users may view ALA’s Blogs in aggregate. Users may view and subscribe to the blogs of interest.

AASL official blog
AASL’s blog purports to be a flexible format for disseminating and sharing timely information with its members as well as other interested parties of the K-12 community (while all may view the blog, the posts are to be made by AASL members or staff only).

AASL discussion lists
AASL discussion lists are a members-only means of connecting and networking with other members. Six different discussion lists are available and all have a slightly different focus.

Joyze Valenza’s Blog: the Neverending Search
Joyce Valenza’s the Neverending Search styles itself to be “a discussion of information fluency, searching, teaching, and learning in the 21st century”.

LM_NET Where School Librarians Connect
LM_NET is a listserv specifically designed to be a discussion group serving the professional development and collaborative needs of school library media specialists. LM_NET states: “It is a group for practitioners helping practitioners, sharing ideas, solving problems, telling each other about new publications and up-coming conferences, asking for assistance or information, and linking schools through their library media centers.”

Michael Lorenzen’s Blog: The Information Literacy Land of Confusion
Information Literacy Land of Confusion is styled to be for “discussing library user education, library instruction, librarianship, information literacy, and search engines. Also covers other observations on life in general”.

Journals and Magazines
Knowledge Quest
Knowledge Quest is an AASL journal that undergirds the development of school library media centers. The articles included provide a wide range of current coverage in pertinent areas such as learning theory and notable developments in school library media programs across the country (some content is members only).

Library Journal
Subscribing to Library Journal is a smart way to stay on top of the field of librarianship in general. It is not, however, a journal that tailors itself specifically to the field of school librarianship. Nonetheless, the journal (as well as the free content on its site) are good resources to be cognizant of and utilized as a general resource about current developments across librarianship.

School Library Journal Online
School Library Journal Online is a journal that tailors its content to the field of teacher librarianship. It is a useful resource for current awareness and for awareness regarding opportunities for professional development.

School Library Media Activities Monthly
School Library Media Activities Monthly is a magazine that is ubiquitously helpful for undergirding a teacher-librarian at work. With its collection of the “this is how-we-done-it-good” ideas, opportunity for professional participation and interaction, and activities galore, this magazine proves itself an asset each month.

School Library Media Research (SLMR)
School Library Media Research is AASL’s official journal promoting and publishing research in the area of school librarianship.

Teacher Librarian
Teacher Librarian (formerly Emergency Librarian) is a refereed/juried journal changed its name to reflect its focus on the essential role of the teacher librarian and all that that job entails. Articles cover topics such as collaboration, leadership, advocacy, and much more.

Advocacy and Other Useful Sites
Ed Tech Action Network
The Ed Tech Action Network is for educators who are interested in the technological aspect of information literacy. The network enables members to be an active participant in an online community supporting technology in the classrooms an aids them in increasing cognizance of pressing legislative actions pertaining to the future support or demise of funding technology.

Library Instruction Round Table
This ALA managed Round Table comprises ideas for implementing successful library instruction across all levels of librarianship. Makes available top articles relating to instruction, tips for teaching adults, and online tutorials.

Library Research Service (LRS)
The Library Research Service site myriad statistics and general library information of interest as well as maintaining its own blog and impact of school libraries pages.

LOEX Clearinghouse for Library Instruction
The LOEX Clearinghouse for Library Instruction offers an annual conference and quarterly newsletter with teaching ideas, technology tips, and other educational resources. LOEX resources are not free, but they are reputable. If one has already exhausted all of the resources specifically tailored toward teacher-librarians, then LOEX has myriad resources to offer for further professional development.

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