Action research and autism explored in new School Library Research articles

CHICAGO – Two new articles covering the topics of action research in school libraries and introducing information literacy to students with autism are now available in the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) peer-reviewed online journal, School Library Research (SLR). SLR promotes and publishes high quality original research concerning the management, implementation and evaluation of school library programs. Articles can be accessed at www.ala.org/aasl/slr.

In “Action Research Empowers School Librarians,” Jennifer Robins describes her research designed to determine whether the school librarians viewed action research as being feasible, valuable and empowering. Robins, a professor at the University of Central Missouri, presents examples of the types of projects chosen by the librarians, aggregate outcomes from the projects conducted over a two-year period and the results from a follow-up survey completed by participating school librarians.

The research team of Patricia Markey, school librarian at Lower Merion School District, and Michel Miller, assistant professor at Drexel University, investigated the effectiveness of video peer modeling and least-to-most prompting intervention when delivering an information-literacy skill to students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In their article, “Introducing an Information-Seeking Skill in a School Library to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Using Video Modeling and Least-to-Most Prompts,” Markey and Miller focus on acquisition of academic skills in library instructional programs as effected by video modeling with least-to-most prompting, an area not covered in previous research.

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 and continues to welcome manuscripts that focus on 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.