Two new SLR articles explore school librarian instructional partner role and school library impact on students

For Immediate Release
Tue, 10/14/2014

Contact:

Jennifer Habley

Manager, Web Communications

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

312-280-4383

jhabley@ala.org

CHICAGO – Two new research articles are now available in the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) peer-reviewed online journal, School Library Research. The articles cover the topics of how preparation programs prepare pre-service school librarians to fill the role of instructional partner and an examination of how school libraries support students based on the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment. Articles can be found on the AASL website at www.ala.org/aasl/slr.

"We welcome two new and very different research papers into Volume 17 of School Library Research," Ruth Small, SLR co-editor. "One reports on a mixed-methods case study that challenges conventional knowledge and practice in and stimulates our thinking about the preparation of school librarians as instructional partners. The other addresses an important and timely issue in school library research, namely the need for empirical evidence demonstrating the causal relationship between school libraries and student achievement."

The research team of Judi Moreillon, Sue Kimmel and Karen Gavigan examined the extent to which school librarian preparation programs prepare pre-service school librarians for the role of instructional partner in their article “Educating Pre-Service School Librarians for the Instructional Partner Role: An Exploration into University Curricula.” The team reviewed programs of study submitted by instructors and sent follow-up questionnaires for details regarding readings, textbooks and assignments. They found school librarian preparation programs tend to assign different priorities to the five roles of the school librarian as identified by AASL.

In her article, “U.S. Students, Poverty, and School Libraries: What Results of the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment Tell Us,” Denice Adkins examines the results of the assessment to gauge the effects of school libraries on students’ test performance, with specific focus on the average of students’ family wealth in a school.  Results indicate that disadvantaged students make more use of the school library than their wealthier peers and these families are less likely to have information and cultural resources than wealthier students’ families.

School Library Research (ISSN: 2165-1019) is the successor to School Library Media Research (ISSN: 1523-4320) and School Library Media Quarterly Online. The journal is peer-reviewed, indexed by H. W. Wilson's Library Literature and by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology. The purpose of School Library Research is to promote and publish high quality original research concerning the management, implementation and evaluation of school library programs.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.