SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND LEARNING: A RESEARCH JOURNEY

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SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND LEARNING A RESEARCH JOURNEY

• Dr Ross J Todd
• Director, Center for International Scholarship in
  School Libraries
• School of Communication Information
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
• cissl.scils.rutgers.edu
• rtodd_at_rutgers.edu
• www.twitter.com/RossJTodd

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MISSION

• Undertaking research about learning in
  information age schools
• Disseminating research to the scholarly and
  professional communities throughout the world
• Fostering the development and continuous
  improvement of learning-centered professional
  practice that is underpinned by high quality
  research
• 4 faculty members ( Dr Kuhlthau)
• 5 doctoral students
• I part time Director of Prof Development
• Self-funding creates challenges re
• basic and applied research

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RESEARCH

• Understand how students learn through school
  libraries.
• Understand learner attributes and patterns of
  information seeking and use in schools.
• Understand the use of information for learning,
  the process of inquiry, and building
  understanding of a topic. Information-to-knowl
  edge Journey
• Understand how learning is effectively
  implemented through school libraries and
  demonstrated through evidenced based practice.
• Understand how learning outcomes can be measured
  and documented through the school library.
• Kuhlthau ISP as central framework

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With the school library literally the heart of
the educational program, the students of the
school have their best chance to become capable
and enthusiastic readers, informed about the
world around them, and alive to the limitless
possibilities of tomorrow. Mary Gaver, 1958
Gaver, M. Every child needs a school library.
Chicago, ALA, 1958 Gaver, M. Effectiveness of
Centralized Library Service in Elementary
Schools. Rutgers University, 1963
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Foundational Research

• Keith Curry Lance 12 State Studies
  Correlational Studies
• In schools with well stocked, well-equipped
  school libraries, managed by qualified and
  motivated professional school librarians working
  with support staff, one can expect
• Standardized scores tend to be 10 to 20 higher
  than in schools without this investment
• Development of capable and avid readers
• Learners who have a range of information
  scaffolds to interrogate multiple, diverse and
  conflicting sources of information into deep
  knowledge
• Teachers who are partnering with school
  librarians to create high-quality learning
  experiences based on curriculum standards
• Explicit links between availability of resources,
  technology, information literacy instruction and
  student achievement .

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Research Studies 2003

• Student learning through School Libraries
• - Ohio
• - Delaware
• - Australia
• - New Jersey
• School Library Infrastructure Analyses
  Continuous Improvement
• - Delaware
• - NJ (in progress)
• School Culture Dynamics
• - Collaboration
• - Principals Support

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Student learning through School Libraries

• Identify how students benefit from school
  libraries though exploring the help construct
• Provide statewide data on best practices in
  school libraries
• Improve teaching and learning in information age
  schools
• Encourage continuous improvement in school
  library services
• Promote dialog among parent communities, school
  boards, administrators, school librarians, and
  teachers on the value of effective school
  libraries

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Conceptualization of help

• Assumption that libraries contribute to social
  good
• Help refers to both the institutional involvement
  through advice and assistance in the information
  experiences of people (helps-as-inputs) and the
  effect of this involvement on the people it
  serves (helps-as-outcomes/impacts).
• This study has been informed by four streams of
  literature
• - Information Search Process (Kuhlthau)
• - Information Intents (Todd)
• - Outcomes Measurement (Fisher Durrance)
• - Information Literacy Standards (AASL).
• Context value / infrastructure / personnel
  issues

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Outcomes of the Austin Public Library Wired for
Youth Project (Fisher Durrance)
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3 Studies Student Learning Through School
Libraries

• Ohio 13,123 valid student responses and 879
  teacher responses (39 schools) (2003-4)
• Australia 6,718 valid student responses and 525
  teacher responses (46 schools) (Lyn Hay, 2004-6)
• Delaware 5,733 valid student responses and 408
  teacher responses (13 schools) (2005-7)
• many local replications / variations
• Tool of Evidence-Based Practice

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Getting The Data

• 2 InstrumentsImpacts on Learning Survey
  (Students)
• Perceptions of Learning Impacts (Faculty)
• helps measure of 48-50 statements of learning
  outcomes
• Critical Incident response to capture voice of
  students
• Evidence-based response to capture voice of
  faculty how they know the library helps
  students

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7 Sets of help

• how helpful the school library is with getting
  information you need
• how helpful the school library is with using the
  information to complete your school work
  Information Literacy skills)
• How helpful the school library is with your
  school work in general (knowledge building,
  knowledge outcomes)
• How helpful the school library is with using
  computers in the library, at school, and at home
• How helpful the school library is to you with
  your general reading interests
• How helpful the school library is to you when you
  are not at school (independent learning)
• General school aspects Academic Achievement

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Critical Incident

• Now, remember one time when the school library
  really helped you. Write about the help that you
  got, and what you were able to do because of it
• To validate witness quantitative data to
  elucidate helps not identified in the
  statements to provide the voice of the
  students

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How School Libraries Help

• The effective school library helps strongly in
  terms of providing access to information
  technology (sources and tools) necessary for
  students to complete their research assignments
  and projects successfully
• It provides up-to-date diverse resources to meet
  curriculum informational needs
• Instructional intervention focuses on the
  development of an understanding of what good
  research is about and how you undertake good
  research
• It engages students in an active process of
  building their own understanding and knowledge
• Reading enrichment, especially in elementary
  school
• It demonstrates the link between school library
  services and learning outcomes

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Listen to the Voices

• 777 When I was working on a project about
  science I had no idea what I was doing I asked my
  library teachers for help they helped and by the
  end of the day I felt so much better!!! And from
  that day on I knew what I was doing on that
  project and I got a A I was so proud of myself
  and my confidence went up a whole lot and now
  when ever I do a project I know I have a lot of
  power now to do well on projects!!!
• 1075 Well one time was when we had to do a
  report on Animals and I had no clue how to find
  information about my animal. So Mrs. X helped me
  find the information on the computer. On the
  internet if its true or false to learn that is
  very important at school.
• 6256 Sometimes I argue with my parents about
  things and use the library to check if my
  opinions are true

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Listen to the Voices

• 3532 I was working on History project and we had
  to have several sources (primary documents) and
  the librarians instructed the students on how to
  go about finding the information we needed and
  compiling it into something worthwhile. I was
  able to combine everything together and earn a
  good grade.
• 433 It helped me find info on racism for a 10th
  grade project, and made me really think about
  that, especially I didnt realize how racist some
  of my ideas were
• 100 I needed help doing a project for government
  that had to do with presidents and they had so
  many books and then the librarian helped me find
  web sites. But then they gave me ways of sorting
  through all the ideas to extract the key points
  so I could get my head around it all

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Infrastructure of Delaware School Libraries

• Commissioned by the Governors Task Force on
  School Libraries established by Delaware Governor
  to gather benchmark data on status of school
  libraries in Delaware
• Use data as basis for capacity building and
  continuous improvement of school libraries in
  Delaware
• Capacity Building is broadly conceptualized as
  any process, strategy, initiative or action that
  is employed to strengthen or facilitate the
  ability of school libraries to provide powerful
  and sustainable, high quality in their schools,
  and to provide opportunities for school teams to
  work together in new ways (Noah Brickman, 2004
  Harris Lambert, 2003).

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Delaware Infrastructure Survey Instrument

• Sought to capture data related to the physical,
  resource and personnel infrastructure
  (informational)
• In addition, to gain initial perceptions into the
  nature and focus of instructional activities of
  school librarians, initiatives related to
  fostering the development of reading through the
  school library (transformational)
• Some insight into what the school librarians
  perceive to be the impact of the school library
  on student learning outcomes and achievement
  (formational)
• http//www2.lib.udel.edu/taskforce/survey2004.doc

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Key findings

• Mismatch between stated goals, espoused beliefs,
  and practices and actions
• Staffing and resourcing benchmarks not met (71
  certified SL 22 of libraries have full time
  support staff)
• Low levels of formal instructional
  collaborations small number school librarians
  (25) engage in multiple collaborations
• Major gap between espoused conceptions / rhetoric
  of information literacy and practice of
  information literacy
• Focus of information literacy instruction
  access and retrieval of information limited
  attention to use of information resource
  interventions rather than knowledge construction
  interventions
• Learning outcomes focus on use and appreciation
  of school library limited notion of impact on
  curriculum standards library centric
• Inability to identify / express outcomes
  statements beyond school library
• Very passive approaches to reading enrichment /
  promotion

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Capacity-Building Approaches

• Measure and show the school librarys
  contribution to reading initiatives, curriculum
  outcomes, vitality of the school library to
  continuous improvement of schools
• Develop stronger collaborative instructional
  programs targeted to curriculum outcomes
• Identify reading / literacy achievement gaps and
  reconfigure reading programs through the school
  library
• Develop and negotiate school and district
  improvement plans that engage the school library
  in a direct and deliberate process of identifying
  school achievement gaps and developing
  evidence-based programs to contribute to closing
  achievement gaps

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NJ IMLS Study

• Do students learn anything when they undertake
  library-based research projects
• What does this learning look like?
• How can it be measured?

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NEW JERSEY STUDY

• To provide (if any) empirical evidence of the
  impact of school libraries on student learning,
  and to use this as a basis for developing a
  learning impacts measure for use by school-based
  teams.
• What learning outcomes, aligned to curriculum
  standards, does the school library enable?
• How might these learning outcomes be identified,
  measured, and embedded into professional
  practice?
• Research Component Development Component
• SLIM Tookit

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New Jersey Research

• 10 New Jersey public schools
• Experienced and expert school librarians
• Diverse public schools
• 10 school librarians working on curriculum
  projects with 17 classroom teachers
• 574 students in Grades 6 12 range of
  disciplines
• Key question Did they learn anything? What did
  the learning look like?

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NJ-IMLS Research

• What changes, if any, are evident in students
  knowledge of a curriculum related topic, as they
  proceed through the stages of a collaborative
  inquiry project?
• What changes, if any, are shown in the students
  feelings as they proceed through the stages of a
  collaborative inquiry project?
• How does the students study approach influence
  knowledge construction of a curriculum topic in
  collaborative inquiry projects?
• What interactions exist between knowledge
  construction, feelings, and study approach, and
  what are some of the explanations for these
  interactions?

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Assumptions Learning

• Process of personal and social construction where
  people are actively involved in making sense of
  information rather than passively receiving it
• Cumulative and developmental process
• Involves the whole person thinking, acting,
  reflecting, discovering and linking ideas, making
  connections
• Transformative developing and transforming
  prior knowledge, skills, attitudes, values
  conceptual change
• Encompasses feelings and motivations
• Dewey-Kelly-Brunner-Piaget-Vygotsky
• Kuhlthau ISP

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Data Collection Instruments

• Five data collection instruments were used to
  collect the data from the students
• 1. Writing Task 1 (at initiation of inquiry
  unit)
• 2. Writing Task 2 (at midpoint of inquiry unit)
• 3. Writing Task 3 (at conclusion of inquiry
  unit)
• 4. Search Journal Log
• 5. My Research Style
• The instruments consisted of a combination of
  qualitative and quantitative questions.

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Writing Tasks

• Writing task 1 and 2 consisted of the following
  questions
• 1. Write the title that best describes your
  research project at this time.
• 2. Take some time to think about your research
  topic. Now write down what you know about this
  topic.
• 3. What interests you about this topic?
• 4. How much do you know about this topic? Check
  (?) one box that best matches how much you know.
  Nothing, Not much, Some, Quite a bit and A great
  deal
• 5. Write down what you think is EASY about
  researching your topic.
• 6. Write down what you think is DIFFICULT about
  researching your topic.
• 7. Write down how you are FEELING now about your
  project. Check (?) only the boxes that apply to
  you. Confident, Disappointed, Relieved,
  Frustrated, Confused, Optimistic, Uncertain,
  Satisfied, Anxious or Other.

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Additional Questions at Writing Task 3

• Write down what you think is EASY about
  researching your topic.
• Write down what you think is DIFFICULT about
  researching your topic.
• What did you learn in doing this research
  project? (This might be about your topic, or new
  things you can do, or learn about yourself)
• How did the SCHOOL LIBRARIAN help you?
• 5. How did the TEACHER help you?

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Changes in Knowledge 5 Approaches to
Measurement

• Substance of knowledge. Analysis of changes in
  the relational nature of statements by which
  students described their topical knowledge.
• Amount of knowledge. Numerical count of number of
  statements they used to describe their topical
  knowledge, as well as isolated concepts / terms.
• Structure of knowledge. Thematic organization and
  integration of themes into a meaningful structure
  
• Estimate of knowledge. Personal estimate of
  extent of their topical knowledge
• Labeling of knowledge. The students were asked
  to give a title for their inquiry project, which
  was considered to reflect the degree of
  focus/specification of topical knowledge.

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Substance of Knowledge
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Changes in Knowledge

• Two distinctive approaches to knowledge
  construction
• -- Transport
• -- Transform

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Transport Approach to Knowledge Construction

• Gathering facts, then more facts, then more facts
• Stockpile of facts, even though facts were
  sorted, organized and grouped by end of task.
• Remained on a descriptive level throughout
• Limited intellectual engagement with the ideas
• Surface knowledge
• Saw the collection of facts as the end of the
  research

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Transform Approach to Knowledge Construction

• Initial superficial sets of properties
• Moved beyond gathering facts
• - building explanations
• - address differences in information
• - organizing facts in more coherent ways
• Interpret information
• Establish personal conclusions and reflections
• Collecting facts was the beginning and not end
• Facts were the basis for personal choice

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Factors contributing to differences across
Schools

• No significant variations across the age, grade,
  and gender groups
• Nature of task you set collection of facts or
  transformation of facts
• Engagement and ownership
• Nature of Interventions Development of skills
  to construct knowledge rather than finding
  information
• Partnerships

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Study of School Librarian Teacher Instructional
Collaborations
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COLLABORATION Background

• Dominant construct in professional rhetoric of
  school librarianship
• Advocated as a high priority for school
  librarians
• Important dynamic in student achievement (eg
  Lance)
• Lack of theoretical grounding weakly
  articulated education / social psychology /
  leadership / networking teaming underpinnings
• lack of consensus as to its conceptual boundaries
  and operational definition confusion between
  coordination, cooperation, collaboration
• Goal to enhance student learning? is it mastery
  of curriculum standards is it mastery of
  information skills and the creation of students
  who mirror librarians collaboration itself
  sometimes appears as key goal
• Low levels of collaboration are documented
  (Callison, 2005, Todd 2005)

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Purpose of Collaboration Study

• To develop a deeper understanding of classroom
  teacher-school librarian instructional
  collaborations
• - their dynamics, processes, enablers, barriers
• - their impact on perceptions of learning and
  instruction, how (if at all) collaboration has
  changed the nature of classroom practices
• - impact on learning outcomes
• - its role in continuous improvement and school
  change

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Approach

• Qualitative study of the experience of the
  instructional collaboration
• Operational definition Instructional
  Collaboration is where the classroom teacher and
  school librarian jointly set goals, design
  learning experiences, and teach and evaluate a
  unit of study.
• 170 partnerships established as part of the
  IMLS-Kent State University IL program over a
  three year program 2003-2005.
• Experience with the first instructional
  collaboration undertaken with the school partner
  as a result of the IL program

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Sample

• 130 of 340 who participated in the IL training
  program (38 response rate)
• 85 school librarians (65) and 45 teachers (35)
• 121 (85) with masters degrees in LIS / education
• Average work experience T 12 years (range 1
  36 years) L 13 years (range 1 32 years)
• T L 25 had 5 years or less teaching
  experience

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Some Key Findings

• Primary motivation for teachers build collegial
  and collaborative relationships teaching as a
  social and collegial experience collaboration
  with librarian was a natural extension of social
  dynamic of teaching
• Primary motivation of librarians centered on
  marketing library services, increasing their
  status within the school, and spreading
  library-centered collaboration in the school.
• Librarians also sought to lesser extent develop
  their content knowledge or pedagogical skills
  around which they would cooperate with teachers.
• Librarians acknowledged expertise with technology
  and information skills
• Characteristics such as divergent and convergent
  thinking, creativity, flexibility, openness to
  experience, organization, planning were regarded
  as important traits that facilitated the working
  process by both partners

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What participants hoped to gain through
collaboration

• Teachers
• Improved pedagogy, content knowledge, better
  understanding of curriculum
• Resources, technology help or support from
  librarian to meet teachers needs for students
• Affective reason, eg friendship, relationship
  with colleague, have fun
• OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP TEACHING AND INSTRUCTIONAL
  SKILLS

• School Librarians
• Integrated notion of library as part of the
  educational milieu, marketing, model best
  practice for libraries,
• Improved pedagogy of information literacy
• Improved status of librarian, demonstrate
  importance
• Affective reason, eg friendship, relationship
  with colleague, have fun
• OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE OWN PROFESSIONALISM, ROLE
  AND LIBRARY SERVICES

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What participants hoped the students would gain
through the collaboration

• Teachers
• students to learn curriculum content
• increased information literacy
• Increased depth, better quality of learning

• School Librarians
• students to develop information literacy
• students to develop a better perception of the
  library and the librarian

Mutuality of Intent as key driver Of
instructional collaborations
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Current Studies

• Pennsylvania Principals Support for School
  Libraries and relationship of this support to
  student achievement (187 school principals)
• New Jersey (2009-2011) 2 phases
• Phase 1 NJ School Library Infrastructure
  Personnel Study To provide a comprehensive
  picture of the status of public school libraries
  in New Jersey in terms of facilities, staffing,
  collection and access to information, budget, and
  instruction
• Phase 2 To examine the dynamics of effective
  school libraries to establish the outcomes and
  opportunities for school libraries in New Jersey,
  and to establish the key inputs (both library and
  school-wide inputs) that enable these outcomes.
  Commissioner Davys concern Show me what good
  school libraries in New Jersey look like.

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PROPOSED NJ STUDY

• 40 schools for in-depth study.
• Undertake an in-depth study of the dynamics of
  these school libraries within a broader analysis
  of the schools and their culture
• perceptions of students identify helps as
  inputs and helps as-outputs
• faculty attitude / values towards school
  libraries
• faculty use of school libraries enablers and
  inhibitors of library use
• faculty perception of impact and sources of
  evidence of impact
• principal attitude / value towards school
  libraries
• faculty perception of school librarys impact on
  student learning, and evidence for impact
• principal support for school libraries and how it
  is seen to impact on learning outcomes
• survey of school librarian actions to enable
  student learning outcomes, and perceptions of how
  those actions impact on learning, and what the
  actual impacts are
• school librarian data on evidence of impact

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Key Challenges

• From Information to Inquiry
• Evidence-based practice
• Building teams and partnerships
• Engaging Web 2.0 tools to develop deep inquiry
• Re-imagining school libraries

• Without inquiry, there is no reason for school
  libraries
• Without evidence, it is just another opinion
• Without teams, there is limited capacity for
  change
• Without Web 2.0, missed opportunity for situating
  learning in the real world of kids
• Vision for the future you create the vision.
  Without vision, you walk in darkness