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Staff -- School Library Journal, 06/01/2000

Carey On

Television star Drew Carey, who hails from Cleveland, chose Ohio's public libraries to receive the $500,000 he won in a charity appearance on the television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in May. "It started with us cold-calling him to see if he would do some public service announcements for us," explains Lynda Murray of the Ohio Library Council. "He agreed to donate his time and administrative costs, and we must have been on his mind because we were then contacted by one of his representatives at ABC to say that he would donate any proceeds he won on the show." Murray says that the money has established the Drew Carey Fund of the Ohio Library Foundation to provide funds for underserved populations in the state.

Why Girls Don't Compute

A study by the American Association of University Women's (AAUW) Educational Foundation found that girls are being shut out of high-paying jobs in the technology field because they lack skills. But the report blames the boring and unimaginative way that tech-nology is being taught in schools rather than a lack of interest among girls. "They are not so much phobic but are disenchanted," explains Pamela Haage, AAUW's director of research. The report, "Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age," is the result of a two-year study analyzing previous research, teacher survey responses, and focus groups of middle and high school students. The study recommends that educators make technology more attractive to girls at an early age, and in doing so, change the overall perception of careers that they can pursue. Another factor is that computer software--often violent--is targeted primarily at boys. "[Girls] want high-skill, not high-kill," Haage says. Visit www.aauw.org/2000/techsavvy.html for more details of the report.

The Key to Reading
The most effective way to teach children to read is through a combination of three methods--phonics, reading skills practice, and reading comprehension strategies. This is the conclusion of a report by the 14-member, congressionally created National Reading Panel. The panel's review concluded that the greatest improvements in reading were seen from systematic phonics instruction. The panel also suggested that "oral guided reading," in which students are corrected as they read aloud, is important for developing reading fluency. The report can be found at www.nationalreadingpanel.org.

Major Acquisitions
The publishing world has seen yet another merger in the form of Scholastic's purchase of Grolier, for $400 million. "The acquisition will strengthen our position in U.S. school and public libraries--a growing $5.5 billion market where Grolier has a strong print and online presence, including leading encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia Americana, the New Book of Knowledge, and Spanish language encyclopedias," explains Richard Robinson, Scholastic's chairman, president, and CEO. In another consolidation, the British media conglomerate Pearson has purchased the children's book publisher Dorling Kindersley for approximately $470 million.

Martha the Librarian

If you thought that the doyen of domesticity, Martha Stewart, catered only to those with a yearning to make pom-pom animals, think again. AprilÃ¢?Ts issue of Martha Stewart Living features a two-page spread on reference books as a basic household tool. The article outlines the origins of reference books in the 13th century and recommends that thorough home libraries include a dictionary, an encyclopedia, an almanac, a desk reference, an atlas, a thesaurus, a guide to grammar, and a book of quotations. The piece suggests buying more than one copy of a good reference book so that, like Martha, readers can give them as gifts.