Praxis School Librarian key terms

The planning, budgeting, staffing, scheduling, and evaluation work a school librarian does to run the library media center as an ongoing service rather than a series of isolated tasks.

A multi-year written document that states the library program's mission, measurable goals, actions, and evidence of progress, aligned with the school's improvement plan and reviewed on a set cycle.

A systematic gathering of data about users, resources, and gaps, such as surveys, circulation patterns, and curriculum audits, used to set priorities before writing goals or spending funds.

A yearly summary of library statistics and narratives, such as circulation, visits, class collaborations, and budget use, that demonstrates value to administrators and informs the next year's planning.

A library schedule in which classroom teachers book time with the librarian as needed for research and reading rather than students attending a fixed weekly period, enabling curriculum-integrated instruction.

A library schedule in which each class attends at a set recurring time regardless of classroom content, which guarantees access but can limit collaboration and inquiry-based work with teachers.

A district document, usually signed by students and families, that defines permitted and prohibited use of school networks and devices and states consequences for violations.

A board-approved document stating selection criteria, responsibility for selection, reconsideration procedures, and deselection guidelines, giving the librarian written authority and a defensible process.

The stated standards used to judge whether to acquire a resource, such as accuracy, currency, authority, curriculum relevance, reading level, and representation of diverse perspectives.

The formal process by which a parent or community member challenges a library resource, typically involving a written request form, a review committee, and a documented decision.

The principle that library users have the right to access ideas and information without censorship, including the right of minors to choose their own reading within the collection.

Removing materials from the collection using criteria such as poor condition, outdated or inaccurate content, low use, and superseded editions, often guided by the CREW method and documented for transparency.

The quantitative and qualitative examination of a collection's size, age, currency, and subject balance, often using circulation data and standard lists to identify strengths and gaps.

A visual or tabular technique that displays how well collection holdings match curriculum topics, grade levels, or user groups, making gaps and oversupply easy to see and act on.

An instructional approach in which students pursue questions they help shape, gather and evaluate evidence, and construct and share conclusions rather than memorizing predetermined answers.

A staged framework describing the research process, such as a plan for connecting to prior knowledge, investigating, constructing understanding, and sharing findings, used to structure library instruction.

A structured form of inquiry in which the librarian and teacher design a unit with an open but bounded question, provide scaffolds and resources, and intervene at each phase of student work.

A broad, open-ended question that frames a unit of study and cannot be answered by a single fact, guiding sustained inquiry across sources and activities.

The ability to recognize an information need, locate and evaluate sources, use information ethically, and synthesize it into a new understanding or product.

The process of judging a source's authority, accuracy, currency, purpose, and relevance to the question, often taught through a structured checklist or questioning routine.

A fact-checking strategy in which a reader leaves a source to see what other independent sources say about it, rather than judging credibility from the page itself.

The recursive sequence of tasks a learner follows when investigating a question, including planning, searching, evaluating, note-taking, synthesizing, drafting, and citing.

The formatted attribution of a source's author, title, and publication details, used in text and in a reference list so readers can locate the material and credit its creator.

The commitment to honest scholarly practice, including original work, proper attribution, and refusal to plagiarize or fabricate, taught as a skill rather than only a rule.

Joint planning between the librarian and classroom teachers to design instruction that integrates library resources and information skills into subject-area content and assessment.

Two educators sharing responsibility for the same lesson or unit, planning, instructing, and assessing together, with the librarian contributing information and resource expertise.

A service model in which the librarian works inside the classroom during content instruction rather than pulling students out, keeping library skills embedded in the subject-area lesson.

Temporary supports, such as graphic organizers, models, sentence frames, or chunked tasks, that help learners complete a complex task and are gradually removed as competence grows.

Adjusting content, process, or product so students with varied readiness, interests, and language backgrounds can access the same learning goal.

Any planned way of gathering evidence of student learning, such as exit tickets, rubrics, or research portfolios, used to adjust instruction and report progress.

Ongoing checks during instruction, such as questioning, drafts, or quick writes, that reveal what students understand while there is still time to reteach or adjust.

A scoring guide that lists criteria for a performance task and describes levels of quality, shared with students in advance so expectations are transparent and feedback is consistent.

The knowledge and habits needed to participate responsibly online, covering safety, privacy, respectful communication, legal use of content, and evaluation of digital information.

The legal protection giving creators control over reproduction, distribution, and adaptation of their works, which school libraries must balance against fair use and licensed access.

A limited legal allowance permitting use of copyrighted material without permission in certain educational and transformative contexts, judged by factors such as purpose, amount, and market effect.

Software that blocks or restricts network content, required for schools receiving certain federal funding, which librarians must understand because overblocking can deny legitimate research access.

A planning framework that builds multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression into lessons so varied learners can access content and show what they know.

A library area stocked with tools and materials for hands-on creation, such as coding kits, craft supplies, or recording equipment, supporting exploration and informal learning.

Planned activities and services, such as book talks, displays, reading challenges, and author visits, designed to build motivation and volitional reading habits.

A conversation in which the librarian learns a reader's interests and reading history and suggests titles likely to fit, rather than recommending books the librarian personally likes.

A brief, lively oral presentation of several books that highlights hook, character, or conflict without spoiling the ending, intended to entice students to choose a title.

The internal and external factors that lead a student to choose to read, shaped by access, choice, modeling, social interaction, and perceived success.