Designed for courses that prepare LIS students for school librarianship, this title teaches basic reference processes, sources, services, and skills and provides authentic school library reference scenarios and exercises.This fourth edition of Reference Skills for the School Librarian: Tools and Tips acknowledges the vital importance of reference skills in school libraries. It focuses on new reference skills for school librarians and includes more online materials such as Webliographies and a glossary.Teaching reference skills and providing reference services to students and staff in schools are extremely important tasks and are required of librarians on a regular basis. Aimed at pre-service and in-service school librarians, this book covers all types of reference materials including almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and other standard information sources, giving extra emphasis to the online sources to which students increasingly turn. This edition addresses more online reference resources than previous editions and offers practical suggestions for use in K-12 student instruction.

Offers librarians the chance to practice their skills with scenarios and exercises

Part 1: What Is Reference All About?Chapter 1: Reference and the School Library: An OverviewChapter 2: Selection, Evaluation, and Maintenance of the Reference CollectionPart 2: Nuts and BoltsChapter 3: BibliographiesChapter 4: Ready-Reference Tools: Fact Books, Directories, Almanacs, Yearbooks, and HandbooksChapter 5: Biographical SourcesChapter 6: Dictionaries and EncyclopediasChapter 7: Geographical SourcesChapter 8: Electronic Indexes and Abstracts, Periodical and Specialized DatabasesChapter 9: The Reference InterviewChapter 10: The Internet in Today's Reference ServicesChapter 11: Scenarios and ExercisesGlossaryBibliographyIndex