Standards for school library/media programs, 1972-75.

In cooperation with the Joint Standards Committee.

School library service record.

Vols. for issued as Wisconsin. Dept. of Public Instruction. Bulletin.

Library and school.

At head of title: The nugget, May, MDCCCXCVII.

The traveling elementary school science library,

Mode of access: Internet.

SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNANCE AND KNOWLEDGE-FIT IN DECISION RIGHTS: HOW DISTRICTS RECRUIT AND HIRE SCHOOL LIBRARIANS

This study examines the organizational structures and decision-making processes used by school districts to recruit and hire school librarians. For students to acquire the information and technology literacy education they need, school libraries must be staffed with qualified individuals who can fulfill the librarian’s role as leader, teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator. Principals are typically given decision rights for hiring staff, including school librarians. Research shows that principals have limited knowledge of the skills and abilities of the school librarian or the specific needs and functions of the library program. Research also indicates that those with specific knowledge of school library programs, namely school district library supervisors, are only consulted on recruiting and hiring about half the time. School districts entrust library supervisors with responsibilities such as professional development of school librarians only after they are hired. This study uses a theoretical lens from research on IT governance, which focuses on the use of knowledge-fit in applying decision rights in an organization. This framework is appropriate because of its incorporation of a specialist with a specific knowledge set in determining the placement of input and decision rights in the decision-making processes. The method used in this research was a multiple-case study design using five school districts as cases, varying by the involvement of the supervisors and other individuals in the hiring process. The data collected from each school district were interviews about the district’s recruiting and hiring practices with principals, an individual in HR, library supervisors, and recently hired school librarians. Data analysis was conducted through iterative coding from themes in the research questions, with continuous adjustments as new themes developed. Results from the study indicate that governance framework is applicable to evaluating the decision-making processes used in recruiting and hiring school librarians. However, a district’s use of governance did not consistently use knowledge-fit in the determination of input and decision rights. In the hiring process, governance was more likely to be based on placing decision rights at a certain level of the district hierarchy rather than the location of specific knowledge, most often resulting in site-based governance for decision rights at the school-building level. The governance of the recruiting process was most affected by the shortage or surplus of candidates available to the district to fill positions. Districts struggling with a shortage of candidates typically placed governance for the decision-making process on recruiting at the district level, giving the library supervisor more opportunity for input and collaboration with human resources. In districts that use site-based governance and that place all input and decision rights at the building level, some principals use their autonomy to eliminate the school library position in the allotment phase or hire librarians that, while certified through testing, do not have the same level of expertise as those who achieve certification through LIS programs. The principals in districts who use site-based governance for decision rights but call on the library supervisor for advisement stated how valuable they found the supervisor’s expertise in evaluating candidates for hire. In no district was a principal or school required to involve the library supervisor in the hiring of school librarians. With a better understanding of the tasks involved, the effect of district governance on decision-making, and the use of knowledge to assign input and decision rights, it is possible to look at how all of these factors affect the outcome in the quality of the hire. A next step is to look at the hiring process that school librarians went through and connect those with the measurable outcomes of hiring: school librarian success, retention, and attrition; the quality of school library program services, outreach, and involvement in a school; and the perceptions of the success of the school librarian and the library program as seen from students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other community stakeholders.

Proposal for linking the school library of the School Education Unit Four Queens in the nursery of J. Francisco Public Library Orlich Tibás Canton, Heredia, Costa Rica

Since classical antiquity, the public library has been the institution that helps people to know their history and face the changes that society increasingly demands. Similarly, school libraries are piloting the learning of children; in them, manage to have their first contact with books, his first great travel stories with dinosaurs, robots, fiction, among others through the stories, legends and knowledge games. School libraries contribute to strengthening reading habits from the earliest years of life.In conducting the research, developed an assessment of the current situation of the two libraries under study, based on the following variables: services, human resources, budget, infrastructure, children's collection, furniture, electronic equipment and audiovisual, recreational interests, needs of information, socio-cultural characteristics and availability. This was achieved through the collection of information externada by children of preschool and junior, mothers or guardians and teachers of the Education Unit of Four Queens and in charge of the School Library Education Unit Four Queens (BEUPCR) and J. Francisco Public Library Orlich (BPFJO).According to the diagnosis and analysis of information, it is shown that the aspects related to personnel, electronic equipment and resources are limited, in addition, there were deficiencies in infrastructure BEUPCR.

Rethinking copyrights for the library through Creative Commons licensing

Two recent and related social developments of note for libraries are an upsurge in cultural participation enabled by Web 2.0 media and calls in government policy for enhanced innovation through education. Ironically, these have occurred at the same time that increasingly stringent copyright laws have restricted access to cultural content. Concepts of governmentality are used here to examine these tensions and contradictions. In particular, Foucault’s critique of the author figure and of freedom as part of the will to govern within liberal democratic societies is used to argue for better quality copyright education programs in school libraries and library information science education programs. For purposes of teaching and research, copyrights are defined as agglomerations of legal, economic, and educational discourses that enable and constrain what can and cannot be done with text in homes, schools, and library media centers. The article presents some possibilities for renewal of school libraries around copyright education and Creative Commons licensing.

The arobase in the libr@ry : new political economies of children’s literatures and literacies

This essay--part of a special issue on the work of Gunther Kress--uses the idea of affordances and constraints to explore the (im)possibilities of new environments for engaging with literature written for children (see Kress, 2003). In particular, it examines a festival of children's literature from an Australian education context that occurs online. The festival is part of a technologically mediated library space designated by the term libr@ry (Kapitzke & Bruce, 2006). The @ symbol (French word "arobase") inserted into the word library indicates that technological mediation has a history, an established set of social practices, and a political economy, which even chatrooms with "real" authors may alter but not fully supplant.

Libr@ries : changing information space and practice

This volume examines the social, cultural, and political implications of the shift from traditional forms of print-based libraries to the delivery of online information in educational contexts. Despite the central role of libraries in literacy and learning, research of them has, in the main, remained isolated within the disciplinary boundaries of information and library science. By contrast, this book problematizes and thereby mainstreams the field. It brings together scholars from a wide range of academic fields to explore the dislodging of library discourse from its longstanding apolitical, modernist paradigm. Collectively, the authors interrogate the presuppositions of current library practice and examine how library as place and library as space blend together in ways that may be both complementary and contradictory. Seeking a suitable term to designate this rapidly evolving and much contested development, the editors devised the word “libr@ary,” and use the term arobase to signify the conditions of formation of new libraries within contexts of space, knowledge, and capital.

Valuing the impact of the teacher librarian from an evidence base

Evidence-based practice as it applies to the Library and Information (LIS) sector and in particular teacher librarians is the focus of this research investigation. The context for this research is Australian school libraries and teacher librarians. This is a research in progress and the report here will include some very early findings and lessons learned from the initial pilot study. The contributions of this research will be in developing a framework for the library and information sector with a particular application for teacher librarians. Providing meaningful evidence of work practices that demonstrate contributions to the schools goals and mission statements in conjunction with contributions to student academic, social and cultural achievements are crucial for the future of the teacher librarian.

Untangling the evidence : teacher librarians and evidence based practice

The research was a qualitative study investigating the lived experiences of teacher librarians as evidence based practitioners in Australian school libraries. It addressed how teacher librarians understood, applied and implemented evidence based practice, and investigated what these teacher librarians considered to constitute evidence. Two key critical findings of this research are that evidence based practice for teacher librarians is a holistic experience and evidence for teacher librarians can take many forms, including professional knowledge, observations, statistics, informal feedback and personal reflections. The study is significant to teacher librarians, library and information professionals, schools and school administrators, and the research field.

Reimagining learning spaces : A research report for the Queensland Council for Social Science Innovation

The purpose of the Reimagining Learning Spaces project was to conduct an empirical study that would result in findings to inform the design and use of physical school facilities and examine the ways in which these constructions influence pedagogy. The study focused on newly-established school libraries in Queensland, many of which had been established with funding from the Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution economic stimulus program. To explore the field, the study sought multiple perspectives that included those of school students as well as teacher-librarians and other key school staff, addressing the following focus question: - How does the physical environment of school libraries influence pedagogic practices and learning outcomes? Further research questions that guided the inquiry included: - What are the implications for teacher-librarians when transitioning into a new library learning space? - How do members of the school community (principals, teachers, teacher-librarians and students) experience the creation of a new school library learning space? - How do school students imagine the design and use of engaging library learning spaces? An extensive review explored Australian and international literature based on the research questions, focused on the following major areas: • School library renewal: trends in reimagining the place of libraries in virtual and real space • School libraries as learning spaces: the expanded role of school libraries in whole-school pedagogical support. • The role of teacher-librarians in new times • Built environments and the implications for learning • Learners and learning in newly established spaces • Learning space design: perspectives, research and principles • Pedagogical principles and voices of experience • Transitions to newly created learning spaces Approach Using an innovative qualitative research design, Reimagining Learning Spaces investigated learner and teacher perspectives across three intersecting domains exploring: - Imagined spaces: learners’ imaginative concepts of learning within engaging learning environments; - Emerging spaces: experiences of teacher-librarians in the transition into new spaces for learning, and - Established spaces: learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of ways in which the physical environment influences and shapes pedagogy. Seven schools that had recently benefitted from the BER program became the research sites at which data were collected from teacher-librarians, teachers, school leaders and students. With this range of participants, an appropriately diverse set of data collection tools was developed, including video interviews, drawings, and focus groups. Evocative narrative case studies (Simons 2009) were developed from the data, representing the voices of users of learning spaces. Key findings The study’s findings are presented in this report and complemented by an array of visual materials on the project web site http:// The report includes: • a set of seven cases studies that reveal nuanced experiences of designing and creating school libraries, based on the narrative of key stakeholders (teacher-librarians, teachers, students and principals) • thematic discussion of student imaginings of their ideal school library, based on drawings and narrative of students at the seven case study schools • critical analysis of the case study and student imaginings, focusing on implications for (re)designing school learning spaces and pedagogy, and responding to the study’s overarching research question - .17 recommendations to support: designing, transitioning and reimagining pedagogy; leadership; and policy development

Snapshots of teacher librarians as evidence-based practitioners

Drawing on recent doctoral research (Gillespie 2013), this paper presents snapshots of teacher librarians’ lived experience as evidence-based practitioners in Australian schools, and it defi nes what constitutes evidence for teacher librarians. Gillespie’s doctoral research responded to fi ndings of the Australian Government’s Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in Australian Schools (House of Representatives, Standing Committee on Education and Employment 2011) which indicated the urgent need for empirical evidence about the professional practices of teacher librarians and their contributions to school goals and student academic, social and cultural achievements. Such evidence is crucial to ensure the future viability of teacher librarians and their contribution to learning and teaching in schools. This qualitative, interpretive research responds to this need by exploring the experiences of 15 Australian teacher librarians to discover how they gathered and used evidence in performing their professional roles.

Adding value: Principals’ perceptions of the role of the teacher-librarian

This paper reports on a study into principals’ perceptions of the role of the teacher-librarian. Nine principals in Australia were interviewed about the role of the teacher-librarian and library in their school. The findings indicated a range of ways in which the teacher-librarian adds value to the school, including in their role as teacher, providing the principal with a broad perspective on the workings of the school, providing advice and ideas, and providing leadership in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) at the school. It also identified a number of personal qualities valued by principals.