Ever since the initial release of the AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, School Library Media Activities Monthly magazine has consistently focused on providing librarians with the information and strategies they need to help students achieve those standards. Now from the pages of that magazine—renamed School Library Monthly—comes a collection that no school library or librarian should be without.

21st-Century Learning in School Libraries: Putting the AASL Standards To Work brings together the ideas and methods of leading school librarians and educators across the nation, all focused on meeting the new standards. The book begins with a survey of 21st-century learning documents and an examination of how learning has changed for today's student. It offers a wide range of articles—over 90 in all—in a series of chapters on key themes, a vision for successful school libraries, inquiry, collaboration, assessment, reading, and pedagogical strategies. Each chapter has an introduction, discussion questions, and promotional and advocacy strategies.

Web 2.0, the read/write web creates new opportunities for students to share their learning with a larger, real world community via the Internet. One Web 2.0 tool that is gaining in popularity among educators is podcasting, the process of creating audio files using computer software and distributing them electronically, giving students authentic audiences and the motivation to do outstanding work. Contrary to popular understanding, podcasting software does not require an iPod. In fact, projects made with podcasting software also can be converted to CDs, sent via email, stored and heard on classroom computers, posted to a Web site or blog, or channeled into iTunes to await subscribers. This book takes an in-depth look at several podcasting tools, many of which are free, that can be used by educators to create podcasts. After building a solid technical foundation, the book introduces readers to a wide variety of lesson plans that motivate students and stretch their higher-order thinking. Discussion of student privacy issues is interwoven throughout. Grades K-12.