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Knowledge Quest on the Web:
November/December 2001

Special full-text reprint with embedded links of the "Research into Practice" column
"Turning Data into Dollars: The Baltimore School Library Renaissance Story" (p. 58-59, 62)
exclusively on the KQWeb

Turning Data into Dollars: The Baltimore School Library Renaissance Story

Nancy Everhart, Column Editor

The goal of the "Research into Practice" column is to interpret and understand the work done on the Learning Through the Library Task Force. This group was charged with identifying and disseminating successful practices in school library media centers that support school reform efforts to improve student learning and achievement. Task Force members included: Violet Harada (Chair), Debbie Abilock, Carolyn Cain, Sharon Coatney, Bill Derry, Mike Eisenberg, Carol Fox, Mark Gordon, A. James Jones, Carol Kroll, Carol Kuhlthau, Vivian Melton, Carol Nelson, Donna Peterson, Denise Rehmke, and Sheila Salmon. Their efforts resulted in the AASL Learning Through the Library Web site  www.ala.org/aasl/learning/index.html.

The Research:
Designing a Local Action Research Study That Gets Results
by Nancy Everhart, Column Editor

Countless school library media specialists (SLMSs) across the country are dealing with antiquated print collections and minimal funds to improve them. Consequently, their students are at a disadvantage in realizing state and national information literacy standards for student learning. This was certainly the case several years ago in Baltimore County, Maryland, which is the twenty-fifth largest school district in the United States. But rather than point to the shelves and whine, their leaders developed an ambitious action research project that they named the School Library Renaissance. Their systematic approach paid off handsomely--school libraries were awarded in excess of $10.5 million to upgrade their collections in FY 2000-2001.

Action Research

What is action research? Action research is deliberate, solution-oriented investigation that is concerned with everyday practical problems experienced by educators, rather than theoretical problems defined by pure researchers. It is characterized by spiraling cycles of problem identification, systematic data collection, reflection, analysis, data-driven action taken, and, finally, problem redefinition. The linking of the terms action and research highlights the essential features of this method: trying out ideas in practice as a means of increasing knowledge about and improving curriculum, teaching, and learning.1 Educators' action research questions emerge from areas they consider problematic, from discrepancies between what is intended and what actually occurs.

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is involved in action research in several ways. The AASL Research and Statistics Committee is implementing the Information Power Action Research Project. (The Power Reader and Power Learner surveys from that project were highlighted in last issue's "Research Into Practice" column.) AASL's Highsmith Research Grant worth $2,500 is given to one or more SLMSs or library educators to conduct innovative research aimed at measuring and evaluating the impact of school library media programs on learning and education.2 The sister publication to Knowledge Quest, School Library Media Research, occasionally publishes action research studies.3 Finally, this column, as well as special articles in Knowledge Quest, addresses action research--a recent example is Lesley Farmer's Action Research Webliography in the January/February 2001 KQ on the Web.4

The basic steps for action research involve:

1. identifying the problem;
2. translating the problem into a researchable question;
3. deciding upon information needed for an answer;
4. collecting the information;
5. summarizing and analyzing the findings;
6. drawing conclusions; and
7. reporting results.

When Baltimore County personnel followed this design, the hard data they gathered and the clear way they presented it was especially compelling to administrators. They used this data to justify their collection development needs and promote an understanding of how school libraries contribute to student achievement. Although you may not attain their exceptional results, the process of action research can be used to build a case for numerous improvements to your school library media program.

The Practice:
Building a Case for School Library Funding in Baltimore County
by Della Curtis

Building the School Library Renaissance in Baltimore County Public Schools was by design, not by luck. It wasn't enough to say, "We need funds to upgrade our library collections," but rather it was imperative that we answer the essential question: How do quality library collections impact on student achievement and align with our school system's mission?5 Unlocking the answer to this essential question required that we ask ourselves subsidiary questions such as: How did the quality of our library collections decline? What is the scope of the problem? What is at stake? What research can back up the claims? What data will tell the story? Who can help? How will we effectively communicate the problem? How will we develop quality collections when we get the funding? How will we be accountable to the stakeholders? How will we communicate the impact of the funding? Engaging in this problem-solving process resulted in our school system receiving $10.529 million to upgrade library collections in fifty secondary schools (grades six through twelve).

Planning for effective change of library media collections was a three-year investment of developing curriculum, studying the research, gathering data, and garnering support though an aggressive public awareness campaign aligned with two of our school district's goals--achievement for all students and effective and efficient use of resources. It was a planning process that involved our entire community--administrators, teachers, parents, students, the Baltimore County Council, and the news media.

Our strategy was to make the connection between student achievement and access to quality information resources and instruction. We heightened the public awareness of the specific learning that students acquire as a result of a strong school library media program by designing the Web site, School Library Facts, our portal of essential information for our community.6 Without quality library information resources, it became apparent to all that the information literacy learning outcomes were impossible to achieve.

The fundamental information sources that laid the foundation and supported our rebuilding of quality library media programs were standards and research. Both were powerful sources to build our case. The Maryland State Department of Education publication, Standards for School Library Media Programs in Maryland, specifies seven standards to measure the quality of library media programs.7

The two standards we used to focus our campaign were:

• instruction that is collaboratively planned with classroom teachers to ensure that students are taught information literacy skills; and
• resources and resource services that ensure students have access to an organized collectionof materials supported by annual funding. The research we used focused onlinking student achievement to strong school library media programs.8

We also used the Maryland Standards to prove that our school library media collections did not meet quantitative standards for collection size and items per pupil. This was an easy task thanks to automated catalogs that allowed us to generate powerful reports, such as numbers of items in each Dewey category and items per pupil. Ten-year funding data proved that school libraries were not adequately or equitably funded across the district. This data, along with reading test scores, showed that we were not doing an adequate job of collection building and making accessible reading materials that students wanted to read or use for research. We proved that library collection development remained static for years. All of our data was converted into pictorial format using graphs, charts, tables, and narratives.9 Our pictures were worth a thousand words or a bunch of numbers! The time invested in this process was by far one of the most powerful strategies--it effectively communicated the problem, how we got there, and what we needed to do.

Collection quality was determined by examining such copyright-sensitive areas as astronomy, geography and travel, politics, economics, health sciences, technology, world cultures, government, communication, transportation, engineering and allied operations, commerce, paleontology, social services, education, medical sciences, and earth sciences. The result of this analysis was more powerful than collection size and items per pupil standards. We showed that the currency of school library collections was bleak. The percentages of collections copyrighted in the 1990s were as follows: 12.4 percent (high schools), 22.3 percent (middle schools), and 35.0 percent (elementary schools). MARC Records were sorted by these Dewey categories and converted to a graphic representation showing bar graphs of the inventory of out-of-date items, the number of items needed to be considered a quality collection (70 percent of total collection), and the number of items that were considered current.

The collection analyses were an eye-opener for all. Our school library collections needed immediate attention. The county council increased our request for $10 million by $529,000. It was a wonderful day when we were told we needed to ask for more funds! Since elementary school libraries are receiving additional state and local funding support through the five-year School Library Enhancement Grant, we elected to focus our collection rebuilding in middle and high school libraries. Allotments to these schools were based on the collection analysis; however, to illustrate the incredible funding amount received, each school was allotted an average of $210,580 during the 2000-2001 school year. Amounts were dispersed based on the collection analysis of each school. These funds allowed SLMSs to purchase current information resources and to upgrade collections to meet 80 percent of the Maryland State Standard of 15,000 items for middle schools and 18,000 items for high schools.

We will continue to build on our successes and the lessons learned throughout the process.

What We Have Learned

• Collaborative and informed decision making supported by research and data collection is a powerful problem-solving strategy that engaged an entire community to seek a solution.10 
• Developing strong instructional programs where SLMSs integrate information literacy and technology literacy standards give credence to proposals for school library improvement.11 
• School libraries require continuous, adequate, and a systemic funding approach. Library funding for the upcoming 2001-2002 school year will be centrally administered by the Office of Library Information Services, thus allowing an equitable per pupil disbursement of funds for collection maintenance.
• Students choose to read when they have access to current and appealing books, as was demonstrated by a 75 percent increase in book circulation. Investment of time, money, and effort has already had a positive affective impact on students and teachers as noted by the SLMSs' impact statements.12 
• Using technology as a tool for both collection analysis and rebuilding was a key factor to the success of the project.

What We Will Build On

• Strong ties with the community to support staffing requests, both professional and support staff, as recommended in School Library Media Programs in Maryland.
• Educating a professional workforce that is prepared for their roles as teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator through effective communication methods.13 
• Research that shows how school library media programs impact on student achievement by measuring student performance on national and state testing programs.
• Students' enthusiasm for reading and teachers' joy of having quality library resources to support instruction.

References

1.   Stephen Kemmis and Robert McTaggart, The Action Research Planner (Victoria, Australia: Deakin Univ. Pr., 1982).
2.   The 2001 AASL/Highsmith Research Grant Application, <www.ala.org/aasl/awardapps/highsmith.html>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
3.   School Library Media Research, 8 June 2001, <www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
4.   Lesley Farmer, "Action Research Webliography," KQ on the Web, Jan./Feb. 2001, <http://ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/backissues/volume29/actionresearch.htm>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
5.   Baltimore County Public Schools, "Blueprint for Progress: Realizing the Vision," <www.bcps.org/system/default.asp>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
6.   School Library Facts, Office of Library Information Services, Baltimore County Public Schools, 12 Aug. 2000, <www.bcpl.net/~dcurtis/libraryfacts>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
7.   Maryland State Department of Education, Standards for School Library Media Programs in Maryland (Baltimore, Md.: Maryland State Dept. of Education, 2000). Also available at http://mdk12.org/mspp/standards/library_stds.html.
8.     The Library Research Service, "School Library Media Impact Studies," 4 June 2001, <www.lrs.org/html/about/school_studies.html>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001. Keith Curry Lance, Christine Hamilton-Pennell, and Marcia J. Rodney, How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards: Study (Denver, Colo.: Colorado Dept. of Education, 2000). Keith Curry Lance, Lynda Welborn, and Christine Hamilton-Pennell, The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement (Denver, Colo.: Colorado Dept. of Education, 1993). Library Power: Strategies for Enriching Teaching and Learning in America's Public Schools (Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Library and Information Studies and School of Education, 1998). Also available at www.wallacefunds.org/publications/pub_library/report/index.htm.
9.   Della Curtis, "Turning Data into Dollars: The Baltimore Library Renaissance Story," Computers in Libraries 2001 Presentation Links, 13 Mar. 2001, <www.infotoday.com/cil2001/presentations/curtis.ppt>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
10.   School Library Facts. Baltimore County Public Schools, "Research Models Supporting the Essential Curriculum and Information Literacy," <www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models>. Accessed 1 Aug. 2001.
11.   School Library Facts.
12.   Ibid.

  Nancy Everhart is an Associate Professor in charge of the school library media program at St. John's University, Jamaica, NY. She is the author of Evaluating the School Library Media Center: Analysis Techniques and Research Practices published by Libraries Unlimited.

  Della Curtis is the Coordinator of the Office of Library Information Services, Baltimore County Public Schools in Towson, Maryland. <www.bcps.org/offices/lis>.

Copyright © 2001 American Association of School Librarians,a division of the

American Library Association.