1. Be still and listen to the voices: From research to practice Dr Ross J Todd Associate Professor Director of Research CISSL Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey rtodd@scils.rutgers.educissl.scils.rutgers.eduwww.scils.rutgers.edu/~rtodd

2. Plutarch “The mind is not a container to be filled, but a fire to be ignited” INFORMATION VS KNOWLEDGE DEBATE

3. The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge Now I am really confused!

4. The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge No Wonder I am lost!

5. The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge A knowledge society? Such insight!!!

6. The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge McDeath, I guess

7. The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge Any one you might recommend for the job?

8. Why do we need school libraries? Food for the Mind?

9. School Libraries and Learning: 3 Core Beliefs Information makes a difference to people. Making a difference does not happen by chance: Teaching-learning role is the central dimension of the professional role of teacher-librarians INSTRUCTIONAL INTERVENTION Learning outcomes matter: belief that all students can learn, and develop new understandings through the school library, and demonstrate outcomes

10. What is an Effective School Library? Research tells us: It has a qualified teacher-librarian: both a leading teacher and a credentialed librarian: Learning Activist not a Classroom Escapee It has an explicit and tangible library policy focusing on learning outcomes It actively supports the curriculum through provision of up-to-date adequate resources (print & electronic) It provides individual and group instruction in information and critical literacies (teachers and students)

11. What is an Effective School Library? Research tells us: It has a vibrant literature / reading program for academic achievement and personal enjoyment and enrichment It collaborates with other libraries: public, government, community resources It provides leadership to students and staff in the use of electronic resources and integrating information technology into learning

12. How do effective school libraries help kids? Are school libraries a class act? 13000 students tell us!

14. “Student learning through Ohio School Libraries” identify how students benefit from school libraries – state wide though exploring the “help” construct provide statewide data on best practices and promising practices in school librarianship identify pedagogy for teaching and learning in information based schools encourage continuous improvement in effective library services which support academic content confirm for school librarians that their role impacts student achievement and life long learning identify professional development opportunities for reflective practice in order to build effective school library programs provide a framework for dialog among parent communities, school boards, administrators, school librarians, and teachers on the value of effective school libraries help school librarians develop evidence-based practice for their own school library

15. “Student Learning Through Ohio School Libraries” 39 school libraries participated from list selected by the Ohio Experts Panel using criteria of “effectiveness” validated by the International Panel Grades 3 – 12 Funded by State Library of Ohio Web-based data collection with security and ethical protocols built into process (Rutgers – 3 backup sites) Data collected from 28 th April to early June 2003 13,123 valid student responses (13,328 logged) 879 teacher / administrator responses (935 logged) Data “cleaned” - unable to match some to IRNs Analysis using SPSS (“Statistical Package for the Social Sciences”) Version 10.0 for Windows.

16. Getting The Data 2 Instruments Impacts on Learning Survey (Students) Perceptions of Learning Impacts (Faculty) “helps” measure of 48 statements of learning outcomes: (13,123 students) Critical Incident response to capture voice of students: to write about a time when school library helped them recently: what was the help and what did it enable them to do (10,316 responses) Evidence-based response to capture voice of faculty “how they know the library helps students”

17. 7 Constructs of “help” 1.how helpful the school library is with getting information you need 2.how helpful the school library is with using the information to complete your school work (l.L skills) 3.How helpful the school library is with your school work in general (knowledge building, knowledge outcomes) 4.How helpful the school library is with using computers in the library, at school, and at home 5.How helpful the school library is to you with your general reading interests 6.How helpful the school library is to you when you are not at school (independent learning) 7.General school aspects –Academic Achievement

18. 1. How helpful the school library is with getting information you need 11. The school library has helped me know the different steps in finding and using information 14. The school library has helped me know when I find good information 2. How helpful the school library is with using the information to complete your school work 21. The school library has helped me know how to use the different kinds of information sources (such as books, magazine, CDs, websites, videos) 24. The school library has helped me put all the ideas together for my topics 3. How helpful the school library is with your school work in general 38. The school library has helped me figure out my own opinions on things

19. 4. How helpful the school library is with using computers in the library, at school, and at home 44. The school library has helped me search the Internet better 45. The school library has helped me be more careful about information I find on the Internet 5. How helpful the school library is to you with your general reading interests 51. The school library has helped me find stories I like 52. The school library has helped me read more 6. How helpful the school library is to you when you are not at school 67. The school library has helped me when I have a personal concern or issue

20. 7.Now, some general things (ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT) 71. The school library has helped me do my school work better 72. The school library has helped me get better grades on my projects and assignments 73. The school library has helped me get better grades on tests and quizzes 74. The school library has helped me think harder about my school work 75. The school library has helped me feel more confident about doing my school work

21. ☺☺☺☺ = most helpful (you think you got a great amount of help) ☺☺☺ =quite helpful (you think you got a good amount of help) ☺☺ =some help (the help you got was OK, so so) ☺ =a little help (you think you got just a bit of help) If you do not know an answer, or if something does not apply to you, click the box "Does not apply".

22. Critical Incident “Now, remember one time when the school library really helped you. Write about the help that you got, and what you were able to do because of it” To validate – “witness” quantitative data; to elucidate “helps” not identified in 48 statements; to provide the “voice” of the students 10,328 written statements were received, and these were cleaned to 10,316 valid statements “it help me sell my body for fruit snacks” “I am black and I like fried chicken” “zfzswdegegegeeeee”

23. Sample Characteristics Boys 48.0% Girls 51.1% Ages 7 – 20 Grades 3 –5 17% Grades 6 – 9 45% Grades 10 – 12 38% White 78.5%, African-American 5% Urban/Suburban 81%, Rural 10 %

24. “Yeah, the school library rocks” Some Findings

25. Celebrate School Libraries Only 73 respondents out of 13,123 indicated that none of the 48 statements applied to them – that the perceived helps, as listed, of the school library with their schooling and learning at home did not apply to them. ( 0.56% of the total sample) In other words, 99.44% of the sample (13,050 students) has indicated that the school library and its services, including roles of school librarians, have helped them in some way, regardless of how much, with their learning in and out of school as it relates to the 48 statements. 1n a total of 106 students in the 3 categories where the respondents said “does not apply” in 48, 47 or 46 of the statements, 72 (68%) are boys and 34 (32%) are girls. More than 60% of them are in grade 9, 10, and 12.

26. Celebrate School Libraries I’m in Grade 8. I don’t get it. Why do I need to do this survey? Isn’t it obvious to everyone that we have to have our school library to do all our school work. It’s impossible to do it without it, that’s for sure. (male) We all know that school libraries help students. Why must we have a survey about it? All schools need libraries, so let’s not worry about the surveys. (Grade 11 female) I do most of my school work at home, and not at school, but I do use the school library quite often when we need hard book references for things such as reports and Hyperstudio projects. Thank you for taking the time to read the answers to my survey, whoever you are. Your time, patience, and effort is greatly appreciated as we need good libraries. (Grade 10 male)

27. Q11: The school library has helped me know the different steps in finding and using information 96.84 % Q12: The information in the school library has helped me work out the questions for the topics I am working on 95.95 % Q13: The school library has helped me find different sources of information (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites, videos) for my topics 95.10 % Q43: Computers have helped me find information inside and outside of the school library 94.35 % Q34: The school library has helped me learn more facts about my topics 94.27 % Q21: The school library has helped me know how to use the different kinds of sources (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites, videos) 93.74 % Q14: The school library has helped me know when I find good information 92.81 % Q41: Computers in the school library have helped me do my school work better 92.41 % Q26: The school library has helped me think about how I should go about finding information next time 92.36 % TOPLEVELSOFHELPTOPLEVELSOFHELP

28. Q22: The school library has helped me work out the main ideas in the information I find92.07% Q33: The school library has helped me get the first facts about my topics92.05% Q27: The school library has helped me know that research takes a lot of work91.05% Q15: The school library has helped me find different opinions about my topics90.94% Q17: The school library has helped me feel better about asking for assistance when I go there90.73% Q16: The school library has helped me feel better about finding information90.58% Q35: The school library has helped me when I do not understand some things90.02% Q44: The school library has helped me search the Internet better89.63% Q28: The information I have found in the school library has helped me become more interested in my topics89.21%

29. Q54: The school library has helped me enjoy reading more76.71% Q75: The school library has helped me more feel confident about doing my school work76.56% Q73: The school library has helped me get better grades on tests and quizzes75.41% Q66: The school library lessons have helped me solve problems better75.39% Q56: The school library has helped me be a better writer74.90% Q64: The school library has helped me get more organized with my homework74.71% Q53: The school library has helped me get better at reading74.42% Q3A: The school library has helped me talk more in class discussions73.15% Q31: The school library has helped me remember my school work72.42% Q67: The school library has helped me when I have a personal concern or issue60.42% LOWESTLEVELSOFHELPLOWESTLEVELSOFHELP

30. Q43: Computers have helped me find information inside and outside of the school library49.01% Q41: Computers in the school library have helped me do my school work better41.58% Q46: Computer programs (like Powerpoint, Word, and Excel) in the school library have helped me do my school work39.67% Q13: The school library has helped me find different sources of information (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites, videos) for my topics34.02% Q44: The school library has helped me search the Internet better33.18% Q27: The school library has helped me know that research takes a lot of work32.26% Q21: The school library has helped me know how to use the different kinds of sources (such as books, magazines, CDs, websites, videos)31.51% Q34: The school library has helped me learn more facts about my topics31.33% Q47: The school library has helped me feel better about using computers to do my school work29.49% MOSTHELPFULMOSTHELPFUL

31. Additional “Help” Constructs 1. The school library saves me time with doing my school work 2. The school library enables me to complete my work on time 3. The school library helps me by providing a study environment for me to work 4. The school library helps me take stress out of learning 5. The school library helps me know my strengths and weaknesses with information use 6. The school library helps me think about the world around me 7. The school library helps me do my work more efficiently 8. The school library provides me with a safe environment for ideas investigation 9. The library helps me set my goals and plan for things.

32. Validation through Triangulation Triangulation: use of multiple data sources with similar foci to obtain diverse views Student quantitative responses Student qualitative responses Faculty quantitative responses Faculty qualitative responses

33. BLOCKMEAN FMEAN SRANKS 1 GETTING INFORMATION 3.21032.5351S 2F 2 USING INFORMATION2.74202.2513S 3F 3 KNOWLEDGE BUILDING 2.50802.0704S 6F 4 COMPUTERS3.30812.5292S 1F 5 READING2.65531.9076S 4F 6 INDEPENDENT LEARNING 2.31191.7727S 7F 7 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT 2.52831.9665S 5F Comparison of Mean Scores

34. Means of Reading Qs by Grade

35. The Students’ Voices When I was working on a project about science I had no idea what I was doing I asked my library teachers for help they helped and by the end of the day I felt so much better!!! And from that day on I knew what I was doing on that project and I got a A I was so proud of myself and my confidence went up a whole lot and now when ever I do a project I know I have a lot of power now to do well on projects!!! (Respondent 777 )

36. The Students’ Voices 1532 The school librarians don’t help me at all like they make me do all the stuff myself and wont tell me where the things are even when I already looked – they show me and make me learn how to find the stuff myself and its hard work!!!! You gotta use your brain, they say

37. Students’ Voices 1015 I I would have never have found the sources I needed for the paper if not for the school library, the public library, and the helpful people who staff those places. They even showed me steps to work through to do the research and complete it. They ran some classes specifically for us and they were very very very helpful 1075 Well one time was when we had to do a report on Animals and I had no clue how to find information about my animal. So Mrs. X helped me find the information on the computer. On the internet if its true or false – to learn that is very important at school.

38. Students’ Voices 3532 I was working on History project and we had to have several sources (primary documents) and the librarians instructed the students on how to go about finding the information we needed and compiling it into something worthwhile. I was able to combine everything together and earn a good grade. 100 I needed help doing a project for government that had to do with presidents and they had so many books and then the librarian helped me find web sites. But then they gave me ways of sorting through all the ideas to extract the key points so I could get my head around it all

39. 66 I needed to write a paper and I went to the Library where I was ultimately able to write a paper successfully. My ideas were a mess and talking to the librarian gave me a way to organize my ideas and present the argument. I did really well!! I’ve never forgotten that – used it to do many other assignments. 4155 I remember when I came up to the school library for math. We turned the library into a co-ordinate grid. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!!!!!!!!!!! And I could know about grids in my tests Students’ Voices

40. 433 It helped me find info on racism for a 10th grade project, and made me really think about that, especially I didn’t realize how racist some of my ideas were 6256 Sometimes I argue with my parents about things and use the library to check if my opinions are true 1408 One time, I wanted books on Teen Suicide and they were able to get some for me. It was helpful of them as my cousin died that way and I could figure it out a bit more for me. 6110 I guess I’ve discovered one thing. When I do my research well, and do the proper thing with note cards and writing in my own words, I seem to just get to know the stuff and that makes a big help when I talk about the stuff in class.

41. School Library as Dynamic Agent of Learning 1.Providing access to information resources - both print collections within the library and resources through databases and the World Wide web 2.Providing access to multiple viewpoints 3.Engaging students in an active process of building their own understanding and knowledge. Understanding how to do research effectively, understanding how to identify key ideas, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information, testing their own ideas, developing personal conclusions are fundamental to students constructing their own understanding of a topic.

42. School Library as Dynamic Agent of Learning 3.Instructional intervention: Students appear to indicate that the school library – not as a passive supply agency, but as an instructional agency – helps them substantially in their learning 4.effective school library not just as an INFORMATION PLACE, but also as a KNOWLEDGE SPACE

43. Agent for Information Inquiry: Key to Knowledge Construction Engaging students in an active and meaningful search process contextualized by specific learning tasks, enabling them to explore, formulate and focus their searches, and providing a supportive environment (personal, physical and instructional) for students to success in their research. Instructional intervention focuses on the development of an understanding of what good research is about, how you undertake good research, and knowing what the outcomes of doing good research will be in terms of academic success in research projects.

44. ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS: Skills and values that underpin learning across the curriculum Knowledge creation: Students achieve through being able to define problems, frame questions, explore ideas, formulates focus, investigate, analyze and synthesize ideas to create own views, evaluate solutions and reflect on new understandings. Knowledge production: Students can use technology and information tools to produce new knowledge and demonstrate achievement. They create information products that accurately represent their newly developed understanding. Knowledge use: Students develop transferable skills for sustaining knowledge creation across and beyond the classroom. Knowledge dissemination: Students can communicate ideas using oral, written, visual and technological modes of expression – individually or in teams. Knowledge values: Students are ethical, responsible users of information who accept responsibility for personal decisions and information actions. They demonstrate concern for quality information and value different modes of thought Reading literacy: Students have high levels of reading literacy. They become independent, lifelong sustained readers.

46. ISSUES How School Libraries Don’t Help? The problematic nature of library instruction Playing psychologist? Moral high ground? Personality issues Infringement of perceived rights / BESS Library systems and rules – who do they benefit? Who do they serve? What do we convey to students that is important?

47. The problematic nature of library instruction 3935 The school library has helped me find the information I need for my research papers. Other than that I don't see I do much of a use for it. Most of the stuff they talk about, I already know how to do. 9364 If anyone says, "Be careful what you read on the Internet" one more time, I'm going to die. We know how to judge the accuracy of information! Anyway, that's the end of my tirade - hopefully change will come out of this....we need drastic reform here. 3764 I have not really received ANY help at all from the library. We just hear the same speech about 100 times in a row.. I don’t need to hear it again learning Dewey yet again – year after year – for God’s sake, get off it and teach us something valuable, we all know how to do Dewey since Grade 3

48. Playing psychologist? Moral High Ground? 3046 When I was young, I like to read Goosebump books and the librarian told me not to read these books because they were a bad influence on me. I now hate to read because I stopped reading after that. I feel if I would have continued to read when I was young then I would enjoy reading now.

49. Personality Issues 1771 Well, they help me with about all of my projects, especially Social Studies and science. The science ones they helped me much on were my Kite project (helped me find the "how to make kites" books) and my Iron project (i was in deep doo-doo on that one until they helped me find a lotta books on Iron) Then in Social Studies they helped me find books on a lot of my projects (King Tut, Roman Catholic Church, etc.) It was pretty easy too, Very helpful to me! And then they just helped me find books....and loaned the book carts to my classrooms, to help us out. I just think they need to be nicer sometimes. 9793 I can't remember the last time the librarians helped me. The Librarians are mean and I am too afraid to talk to them because they intimidate me. They have unjustly yelled at me in the past so I am not going to them for help when I could go to the public library or use my own computer at home.

50. Infringement of perceived rights / Bess 2583 All the censorship issues the student encounter really hold back much of the possible research we can do. IT is really annoying that I can vote, be sent to war, and I cant even look at any pages on the internet. Bess the dog really holds the students back from their full potential. 3890 They should have a place were people could go and look up what they want instead of something school related. You should be able to look up non- school related. This should be important but Bessy babe puts an end to that

51. Library systems and rules 3960 The school library helped me to complete an entire English project during class time. However, the library rules are restricting keeping students from coming and going as they please and limiting the amount of time spent in the library. Though the library resources have the potential to be quite useful, it is inconvenient and not an inviting atmosphere. 2607 My librarian was deprived of a childhood, so she wants us all to be controlled by insane rules that just do not make sense. Like, the public library in our city has a café where we can buy food and relax and munch, but here, even if we dare bring in a candy, she can sniff it out like a police dog and she goes crazy. As you can imagine, I prefer the public library.

52. What do we convey to students that is important? 3726 Well I went into the library for some information and did not find what I was looking for and the librarians were busy gossiping so I sat at one of the tables and sorted out the information I already had and made a list of stuff I still needed so I could look it up at the city library computers after school. 9398 Once I needed to video tape the library and some students working for a project in one of my classes. The librarians yelled at me at kicked me out. I hate the library.

53. Without Effective School Libraries? What would happen if this help was not provided through school libraries? What would happen without the instructional intervention of teacher- librarians?

54. Opportunities and Options Evidence-Based Practice your fingerprint on student learning

55. Evidence-Based Practice is about celebrating the understood, not the found (Knowledge, not Information)

56. “It is hard to set in motion what is still, or to stop what is in motion” Cobham Brewer 1810–1897 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable