September 17, 2013

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ALA Urges FCC to Accelerate E-Rate Goals

By on September 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
broadband

The American Library Association on Monday asked the Federal Communications Commission to accelerate the goals of E-rate, the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries. ALA’s statement specifically calls for faster deployment of high-capacity broadband and new strategic investments in infrastructure, as well as program changes to save costs and streamline the process so that more schools and libraries can participate in the program.

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Public Libraries Tagged With: ,

Educators, Parents Fight NYC Bid to Bypass State Mandate for School Librarians

By on August 20, 2013 2 Comments
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New York City’s librarians, teachers, and parents are prepping for a major battle with the city’s Department of Education on the heels of its official request to the New York State Education Department last week that it be exempted from state minimum staffing requirements for certified school library media specialists. The city’s move follows years of quiet noncompliance with the state mandate despite two petitions from the local teachers union to the State Commissioner of Education.

Filed Under: Featured, Legislation, Librarians & Media Specialists, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , ,

Maine State Librarian Touts E-Rate Success to Senate

By on July 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
EthernetEagle

Linda Lord, Maine’s state librarian, represented the nation’s 16,400 public libraries Wednesday in her call to Congress to provide a “proactive vision for meeting the educational and learning needs of our communities for the next 15 years and beyond.” Her testimony—at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation—also detailed the success of the E-rate program in helping serve more than 30 million people every week.

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), Featured, Legislation Tagged With: ,

NEA Votes to Support AASL in Lobbying for ‘Strengthening America’s Schools Act’

By on July 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
NEAlogo

The National Education Association this week voted to support the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in its lobbying efforts with regard to the “Strengthening America’s Schools Act,” the first piece of legislation to recognize the role school library programs play in student learning since 1965, according to the American Library Association.

Filed Under: American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Featured, Legislation Tagged With:

ISTE Hopes ConnectEd Stirs Political Will to Fully Fund E-Rate

By on June 13, 2013 Leave a Comment
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The White House’s announcement last week of the ConnectEd initiative, President Obama’s urging of the FCC to overhaul the E-Rate program, is only the first step in what must be a larger, committed effort to fully fund technology in our nation’s schools and libraries, the International Society for Technology in Education says.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Public Libraries, Public Services, Schools & Districts, Technology Tagged With: , ,

ALA Hopeful, Excited by White House Push to Overhaul E-Rate Funding

By on June 7, 2013 1 Comment
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The White House’s announcement Thursday that it is urging the FCC to overhaul E-Rate—the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries—is an important and nearly unprecedented step forward in closing the digital divide, the American Library Association tells SLJ.

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Public Libraries, Public Services, Schools & Districts Tagged With: ,

UPDATE: ALA: New Education Bill Calls for Effective School Libraries

By on June 5, 2013 2 Comments
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The Strengthening America’s Schools Act, introduced in the Senate on Tuesday by Tom Harkin (D-IA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jack Reed (D-RI), includes strong provisions for effective school library programs, and is the first piece of legislation to recognize the role school library programs play in student learning since 1965, according to the American Library Association.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Schools & Districts

DC Parents Demand School Librarians Be Restored

By on October 15, 2012 1 Comment
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Parents in Washington, DC, are taking to the streets, advocating for more funding for their school libraries and librarians. The Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization (CHPSPO) has spent the past seven months pushing for Washington, DC, to open its coffers to school libraries to replenish shelves, upgrade library spaces and hire more librarians for K–12 students.

Filed Under: Industry News, Legislation, Librarians & Media Specialists Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

New COPPA Proposals Raise Privacy Concerns

By on October 11, 2012 5 Comments
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New rules proposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) designed to protect minors in the digital age are leaving some concerned that its intentions could do more harm than good.

Filed Under: Featured, Legislation, Technology Tagged With: ,

Romney Doesn’t Support Fed Dollars for Common Core

By on September 27, 2012 7 Comments
NBC's Brian Williams (left) with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

What can we expect if Mitt Romney’s elected the next president? More school choice, absolutely no federal money devoted to helping implement the Common Core Standards, and an A to F grading system for all K-12 schools.

Filed Under: Common Core, Curriculum Connections, Featured, Legislation Tagged With: , ,

UK Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson Embarks on Six-Week Library Tour to Protest Closures

By on September 11, 2012
UK Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson fights library closures and cuts.

Public libraries in the UK have another strong supporter: Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson, who, on

Public libraries in the UK have another strong supporter: Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson, who, on the eve of a six-week library tour, sent an open letter to the newly appointed Culture Secretary Maria Miller, urging her to save Britain’s libraries.

Filed Under: Featured, Legislation, Librarians & Media Specialists Tagged With: ,

PA State Legislators Hold Hearing on Status of School Libraries

By on August 25, 2012
Mary Kay Biagini, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, presents her study to PA State Legislators.

Although 94 percent of Pennsylvania’s 3,303 K-12 schools have libraries, the bulk of schools without media centers are in Philadelphia, says a new study that was presented to state legislators on August 22.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Featured, Legislation, Librarians & Media Specialists Tagged With: ,

Sara Stevenson: School Librarian Crusader

By on August 20, 2012
School librarian Sara Stevenson in front of the White House.

Give Sara Stevenson a computer and a cause—and you’ll be glad she’s on your side. The school librarian at O. Henry Middle School in Austin, TX. is well-known in educational circles for her opinion pieces and letters to the editor—which appear in her local Austin American-Statesman, and nationally in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal)— succinct and well-sourced points that she hopes will give readers an educator’s point of view as they shape their own opinions about the educational reform movement.

Filed Under: Featured, Legislation, Librarians & Media Specialists Tagged With: , , ,

President Obama’s Call to Halt Teacher Layoffs Leaves School Librarians Out

By on August 19, 2012
President Obama tapes the weekly address in the State Dining room of the White House. Photo: Chuck Kennedy.

President Obama’s weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday focused on the critical role that education plays in our country’s future—and the need for Congress to pass his proposed jobs bill to help states prevent teacher layoffs and rehire them. But he made no mention of school librarians.

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), Featured, Legislation, Librarians & Media Specialists, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , ,

NYC Pols Urge State to Ban Sex Offenders from Library Children’s Rooms

By Meredith Schwartz on July 12, 2012
NYPL's 42 Street Children's Center.

New York Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens have asked the New York state legislature to pass a law barring sex offenders from children’s reading rooms in libraries.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Legislation, Public Libraries Tagged With: ,

Arizona Mandates Stiff Penalties for Schools, Public Libraries Without Filters

By on July 10, 2012
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Arizona’s public schools and libraries must filter all computers that are available to children or risk losing 10 percent of their state funding, according to a new law set to take effect August 1.

Filed Under: Legislation, Public Libraries, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , ,

A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship

By on February 1, 2009

Self-censorship is rampant and lethal

By Debra Lau Whelan

Illustration by Brian Stauffer

When Barry Lyga finished writing his second young adult novel, he knew there’d be trouble. After all, Boy Toy was about a 12-year-old who has sex with a beautiful teacher twice his age, and Lyga expected it to spark letters to local papers, trigger complaints to the school board, and incite some parents to yank it off library shelves.

     But none of those things ever happened.
     “The book just [...]

Filed Under: censorship, Legislation