Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant

About the Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant
The Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant is given annually to one or more librarians or library educators who will conduct innovative research that could lead to an improvement in services to any specified group(s) of people. The project should aim to answer a question that is of vital importance to the library community and the researchers should plan to provide documentation of the results of their work. The Jury would welcome proposals that involve innovative uses of technology and proposals that involve cooperation between libraries, between libraries and other agencies, or between librarians and persons in other disciplines.

Administered by:

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2014 Winner(s)

David Loertcher

David Loertscher for “The Impact of Co-Teaching on Learning When Classroom Teachers Team with Teacher Librarians: The Testing of an Unobtrusive Measurement Tool.”

“Dr. Loertscher’s proposal focuses on one of the most important issues facing children, education and the profession of librarianship,” said jury Chair Mary Pagliero Popp, “tying school libraries to educational outcomes at a time when school libraries and librarians are being eliminated in almost every state throughout the U. S..  This research has the potential to demonstrate the real value of teacher librarians and teachers working together on curriculum activities to affect, positively, learning outcomes, and will provide impact data to librarians, educators and boards.

“This project builds on school library activities already occurring in most schools and is in an area where Dr. Loertscher is an acknowledged expert,” Popp continued. “He has decades of experience in working with school libraries. The simple change proposed would be easy to implement and lends itself to reviews of its effectiveness.  The researcher’s opportunities to influence the national research agenda will ensure wide discussion of the outcomes of the project.”