News & Features

In an August issue of SLJTeen, we covered a program run by University at Buffalo’s Center for Literacy and Reading Instruction that matched graduate students with 180 elementary school students to advance their reading and writing schools over the summer. We asked readers to tell us about other programs like it, and the Southeast Regional Library (FL) stepped up with their collaboration with University of North Florida's education undergrads.

Jennifer D. LaBoon, coordinator of library technology for the Fort Worth Independent School District, and Cindy Buchanan, program director for library media services for the Aldine, Texas, Independent School District, shared advocacy strategies with attendees at the SLJ Summit in Austin. Here are takeaways from their presentation, “PTA & School Library Relations.”

Two Philadelphia school libraries, at the prestigious Central High School and Masterman High School, will reopen next week thanks to an anonymous donation, the Inquirer has reported. The school libraries had been shuttered last month due to severe city budget cuts.

I've been told that I can turn any conversation into one about libraries, a book, or a “cool thing” my own library is supporting. I don’t just tout the library’s programs during a lull in conversation, though. I simply see a connection between person and program, need and service.

Happy Columbus Day to you!  I’ve not particularly insightful encapsulations of the day to offer you, though if you’d like to read some preview posts I’ve done on the day (completely with book recommendations) feel free to go here. I will start today with this rather interesting post about a recent brouhaha that arose when [...]

Data from New York City’s Independent Budget Office, requested by the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), exposes huge inequities in the distribution of resources in New York City high schools. According to AQE’s analysis, black and Latino students are being denied opportunities available to many white and Asian students.

SLJTeen reviewers take a look at an interesting mix of books. From a creepy short story collection to a novel told backwards, these titles have something for every reader.

Jillian Cantor has taken Anne Frank’s Diary of A Young Girl and written an alternate fiction in which Margot, Anne’s older sister, did not die in Bergen-Belsen after all. Instead, she survives and makes her way to Philadelphia. But, in a way, she is still in hiding. Margot has changed her name, hidden her Jewish faith, and [...]

Across Texas, the number of certified school librarians has dropped 10 percent since 2009, in part because of limited budgets and the growth of digital books. The decline has been particularly sharp in Houston, where roughly 60 percent of schools do not have certified librarians this year, according to district data.