Access Denied: How Internet Filters Impact Student Learning in H ...

School media centers play a strong role in the education of America’s children. Gardner (2001b) lists four main missions of school libraries: to promote literature and reading; to provide information that supports the curriculum; to teach young people how to find, process and use information; and to provide information students will need as they grow into adulthood. Shirley (2001) posits that it was the threat of Sputnik in 1957 and the publication of A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) that prompted the development of full-service school libraries designed to serve the diverse learning needs of students.

School media centers have changed radically in recent years, moving from a focus on resources to an emphasis on lifelong learning. The landmark publication Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs (American Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and Technology [AASL and AECT], 1988) brought the concept of information literacy to the forefront as a way to encourage lifelong learning in students. The information literate student understands the need for information as well as how to identify, access, and use it in all aspects of his / her life. Later works, such as Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (AASL and AECT, 1998) emphasize the collaboration that must take place among all partners in learning: administrators, teachers, librarians, parents and other community members, for a culture of lifelong learning to flourish.

Library media specialists play a number of integral roles in this process of nurturing lifelong learners (AASL and AECT, 1998). As teachers, they instruct students on ways to analyze and meet their information needs. As instructional partners, they collaborate with others to work across the curriculum with a wide variety of resources. As information specialists, they are experts in acquiring and evaluating information in new technologies. And finally, as program administrators, media specialists define or influence policies and direct the library media program to achieve the larger educational goals of the school.

Library Research Service first studied the impact of school librarians on academic achievement in Colorado (Lance, 1994) and then replicated that study in a number of other states, most recently Michigan (Rodney, Lance and Hamilton-Pennell, 2003).