School Library Studies builds on the UNI tradition of preparing excellent teachers. Our students become teacher-librarians who use their acquired knowledge of children & young people, books & information technologies, curriculum & the power of collaboration to enhance the learning experiences of all students in their schools.

Teacher-librarians have a two-part curriculum so that they can prepare K-12 students who read widely and communicate information critically and thoughtfully. Our graduates are teacher-librarians who are leaders in educational practice and who prepare their students to be informed members of a democratic society.

Our program prepares teacher librarians to who meet the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners requirements. The three endorsement options are:

• #108-Elementary Teacher Librarian,
• #109-Secondary Teacher Librarian, and
• #174-Teacher Librarian, K-12.

Teacher-librarians must also hold a teaching license; our undergraduate minor adds an endorsement to the level of the original license. Our master's degree meets the requirements for the K-12 licensure.

In 2006 the following law was reinstated by the Iowa legislature and signed by Governor Tom Vilsack: "Beginning July 1, 2006, each school district shall have a qualified teacher librarian who shall be licensed by the board of educational examiners under chapter 272...." (Iowa School Library Guidelines, 2007).

The UNI School Library Studies Program offers the curriculum and resources needed to become a certified teacher librarian.

See UNI School Library Studies Reference student project, "How to Use Facts for Learning" Created by the students in Reference using the Adobe Captivate program as an introduction for elementary students to familiarize them with the Facts For Learning subscription database.

To see more online library instructional videos, see Joyce Valenza's and UNI Rod Library database tutorials.

Dr. Barbara Safford, Associate Professor for the School Library Studies program, is our program coordinator. Dr. Safford has been a middle school and elementary school library media specialist in Maryland, a high school media specialist in Ohio and a public library director in Pennsylvania. Dr. Safford has been with UNI since the summer of 1990 and is looking forward to her retirement in May, 2008.

*** See photos of the surprise retirement gathering of current and former School Library Studies students at UNI on May 3, 2008!

Dr. Safford's book, Guide to Reference Materials for School Library Media Centers , soon to be in its 6th edition, is available online to the UNI community through UNI's Rod Library. More about Dr. Safford.

Dr. Karla Krueger, Instructor in the School Library Studies Division, has created a template for an Iowa school library web site, "IowaTown", utilizing Iowa Pages, which has numerous content-filled pages of librarian-approved resources and links. Iowa teacher librarians may easily adapt this template for their own school's use.

Karla co-edits the Iowa Association of School Librarians Journal.

More about Karla Krueger

Watch one of our student's lessons presented in Curriculum Class. Kathy Bottaro's Lesson is designed to inform Kindergarten students what a teacher librarian does.

You will need Real Player to watch this video. Click here to install.

The UNI College of Education Integrating New Technologies Into the Methods of Education (InTime) website was chosen for 101 Best Web Sites for Elementary Teachers, International Society for Technology in Education.

Here you can view online videos of lessons from teachers in Iowa and five other states, along with their lesson plans, that incorporate technology.