ILTS Library Information Specialist (220) cheat sheet

AASL's 2018 National School Library Standards are built on six Shared Foundations - Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, Engage - crossed with four domains (Think, Create, Share, Grow), producing 24 competencies for each of three sets: Learners, School Librarians, and Educators.

AASL defines inquiry as a stance of wonder and puzzlement that invites exploration, discovery, and reflection; instruction therefore centers on student-generated questions rather than tool demonstrations or database tours.

Stripling Model of Inquiry phases in order: Connect, Wonder, Investigate, Construct, Express, Reflect. The phases are recursive, and the Reflect stage commonly launches a new Connect cycle.

Guided Inquiry Design (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, Caspari) phases in order: Open, Immerse, Explore, Identify, Gather, Create, Share, Evaluate. The Identify phase, where students form a focused inquiry question, is the instructional pivot.

Backward design (Wiggins & McTighe) has three stages in this order: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence of learning, then plan learning experiences. Evidence is defined before activities are chosen.

Loertscher's taxonomy of librarian-teacher involvement runs from no involvement, through self-contained teaching and limited resource/reference support, to team planning, co-teaching of a unit, and joint curriculum development.

Scheduling decision rule: fixed weekly classes suit checkout and isolated library-skills lessons; flexible scheduling by teacher booking supports co-planning and content-embedded inquiry but requires a shared calendar, clear booking rules, and active outreach.

Universal Design for Learning rests on three principles - multiple means of engagement (why), multiple means of representation (what), and multiple means of action and expression (how); apply them to lesson design, signage, and the range of resource formats offered.

Assessment pairing: formative evidence (research conferences, source logs, exit tickets, draft feedback) adjusts instruction mid-unit; summative rubrics scoring both process and product judge learning at the end, and authentic tasks mirror real information use.

Budget types to distinguish: line-item (organized by expenditure category, simple to monitor), zero-based (every dollar rejustified each cycle), formula (allocated by enrollment or a per-pupil rate), and program/PPBS (organized by program objectives and measured outcomes).

Annual cycle: needs assessment and data collection in fall, draft budget request in winter, district approval before the fiscal year begins (July 1 for most Illinois districts), monthly encumbrance monitoring, then year-end reconciliation and an annual report.

Reconsideration sequence: informal building-level conversation, written request on the official form, review committee reads the complete work and applies the selection criteria, written decision, appeal to the superintendent and then the school board. Challenged items normally stay on the shelf during review unless formally removed.

The ALA Library Bill of Rights asserts that materials should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people; materials are not excluded because of origin, age, background, or views; and Article VII (added 2019) affirms privacy and confidentiality.

Confidentiality layers: the Illinois Library Records Confidentiality Act protects records identifying users, FERPA governs education records, and ALA Code of Ethics Article III protects user privacy. Release generally requires a subpoena or court order, not a verbal request from a parent or administrator.

CIPA: schools and libraries accepting E-rate discounts must certify an internet safety policy, use technology protection measures that block obscene or harmful images, and, for minors, educate users about appropriate online behavior including cyberbullying and social networking.

Advocacy data to gather every year: collaborative units co-taught, scheduled class visits, circulation per student, database sessions, gate counts, and program attendance - reported against building goals rather than as raw totals alone.

A learning commons facility plan uses mobile furniture and separate zones (collaboration, quiet study, makerspace, presentation) and is designed from instructional use cases; shelving capacity alone is not a valid planning driver.

Selection criteria applied per title: curriculum alignment, accuracy and currency, authority of author and publisher, literary or informational merit, reading and interest level, diversity and representation, format durability, cost per use, and demonstrated or projected demand.

CREW weeding applies MUSTIE - Misleading, Ugly, Superseded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere - together with per-class age guidelines and circulation data; a 5- to 10-year guideline is common for general nonfiction, with faster turnover in fast-changing 000 and 600 areas.

Dewey classes: 000 generalities and information, 100 philosophy and psychology, 200 religion, 300 social sciences, 400 language, 500 pure science, 600 technology and applied sciences, 700 arts and recreation, 800 literature, 900 history and geography.

MARC 21 tags to know: 020 ISBN, 100 main entry personal name, 245 title and statement of responsibility, 250 edition, 264 publication, 300 physical description, 490 series, 520 summary, 650 topical subject, 082 Dewey number, 856 electronic location.

RDA replaced AACR2 in 2013; it records discrete data elements organized around FRBR user tasks (find, identify, select, obtain) and uses authorized access points and relationship designators instead of a fixed citation format.

Ebook license models: one-user, multi-user, simultaneous-use, and non-linear lending, each paired with perpetual access or subscription terms; read the license for interlibrary loan, print/copy, and preservation rights before purchase.

Demand-driven acquisition loads catalog records with short-term-loan triggers or purchase thresholds, so money follows actual use; the trade-off is a drift toward popular titles and away from curricular and backlist depth.

Usage statistics: COUNTER-conformant reports (for example database and ebook title reports) harvested via SUSHI are portable across vendors; non-standard vendor dashboards cannot be compared from one product to another.

A diversity audit inventories holdings by author identity, subject, format, and language, compares the results to enrollment or community demographics, and converts the gaps into targeted purchase and weeding priorities.

CRAAP test criteria: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose - each treated as a question about the source and applied comparatively across several sources rather than to one page in isolation.

SIFT moves in order: Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims to the original context; the sequence is built for fast evaluation of claims circulating on social media.

Lateral reading means leaving the source to see what other sources say about it; vertical reading judges credibility from the page's own cues (about pages, domain suffixes), which research shows is less reliable for students.

Big6 steps in order: Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, Evaluation. It provides a step-by-step scaffold for a single research assignment.

ISTE Standards for Students (2016), seven: Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Innovative Designer, Computational Thinker, Creative Communicator, Global Collaborator - describing technology use across learning, not isolated software skills.

WCAG 2.x rests on four principles - Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust (POUR); Level AA conformance is the usual procurement benchmark, and common failures are missing captions, low contrast, keyboard traps, and absent alt text.

Fair use (17 U.S.C. Section 107) factors: purpose and character of the use including transformativeness, nature of the copyrighted work, amount used relative to the whole, and effect on the potential market. Educational purpose alone does not establish fair use.

Creative Commons terms: BY requires attribution, SA requires share-alike licensing of derivatives, NC bars commercial use, ND bars derivatives, and CC0 waives rights entirely; these licenses grant permission in advance but do not replace fair use analysis.

Generative AI outputs can contain fabricated citations and stale claims, so source verification against primary documents and disclosure of AI assistance belong in the research rubric and academic honesty policy.