Keeping Current

School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXIII, Number 10/June 2007

Data on the Instructional Role of the Library Media Specialist—Are Schools Getting Their Money's Worth?

by Daniel Callison

School libraries work! That conclusion can be drawn by those who have read the summaries and may have even taken the time to examine the full reports of the many "state studies" on the academic impact of library media programs (http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/printables/downloads/slw_2006.pdf). This is a general finding most library media specialists not only want to hear but want many others, including parents and administrators, to hear as well.

New Questions

Even after dozens of studies over the past decade, many questions remain concerning library media centers. Some of these questions include:

• Do library media centers work as best (effectively and efficiently) as they can?
•  Is the current measured impact of library media centers sufficient for what is invested? What are the differences as well as possibilities in academic influence, impact, and change?
• Would library media centers have substantially more impact if additional resources and staff were provided or if resources, instruction, and staff were managed differently from current practices?
•  Are researchers and evaluators measuring with the right methods, and are they defining impact in the right terms?
• Are there other approaches to multiple-resource education that result in greater student and teacher academic performance than through current library media programs?
•  Would there be more impact on student standard test performance if the millions of dollars invested annually by schools for library media programs and professionals were invested elsewhere?
•  Should educators focus on academic performance that is more meaningful, exciting, and futuristic than the measures defined through "No Child Left Behind?"
•  Should a profession and academic field that can provide methods to implement a broad-ranging inquiry curriculum tie itself to correlations with basic skills only, no matter how strongly positive those correlations may seem?
•  Are there more powerful instructional methods for the integration of information literacy than presented currently?
•  How can information skills instruction move from irrelevant trivial pursuit activities to levels of inquiry that demand higher thinking skills?

These questions are not ones that can be easily addressed with statewide surveys of resources and staff hours. Testing, experiments, and measurements over time may give some answers. The most recent state studies, however, may help educators understand why this additional set of questions needs to be given more attention.

If we assume that library media centers work, can we also assume that library media specialists work? Work at the right tasks? Work consistently and extensively on a professional basis? Work in the most effective and efficient ways to increase the quality of the learning and teaching environment? Work willingly in an effective instructional role? Or, are there many cases when the barrier to more time and attention for the instructional role rests with the resistance, unwillingness, and inability of the library media specialist rather than with the reluctance of administrators to grant time, encouragement, and funding?

Investing in the Right Stuff

Investment in library media programs involves two major cost factors. The first is the physical or capital items such as materials, technology, furniture, and facilities often seen as long-term, tangible, and lasting investments. Funds for these items are often likely to be raised annually or periodically as needed. Ironically, the shelf life of relevant resources and technologies has become shorter over recent years, and lagging library media center budgets have resulted in more out-of-date resources than state-of-the-art collections.

The second major investment is for professional and support staff. This is also a long-term investment but not nearly as easy as the first to change when it is necessary to address funding shortfalls. Therefore, administrators often move very cautiously before making a commitment to a recurring annual salary that includes benefits and professional development expenses. This is seen as a high investment.

The most expensive "item" in the library media center is the professional library media specialist. A certified professional is paid at the same level as other classroom teachers. It would not be unusual to find the annual investment in library media professionals and staff to cost a school district five times or more the amount invested in tangible collections and technologies. Is such an investment worth it? Data from recent state studies suggest that while exemplary examples of library media specialist as an effective teacher are present, administrators often have higher expectations than what is commonly found in practice (Callison 1998, Shannon 2002).

Investing More Time on Instruction

A recent study in Illinois (Lance, Rodney, and Hamilton-Pennell 2005) compared the highest and lowest achieving schools surveyed in that state. Findings showed that in the highest achieving schools the library media personnel invested the following:

• 50% more time identifying materials for teachers,
•  240% more time planning with teachers,
•  347% more time teaching with teachers,
•  42% more time teaching information literacy to students,
•  115% more time providing in-service training to teachers,
•  65% more time motivating students to read, and
•  90% more time serving on school [academic] committees.

Although it was not possible for this study to document the quality and effectiveness of the instruction time invested by library media specialists, these numbers strongly suggest that in learning environments, where many factors support higher student achievement, library media specialists are expected to frequently perform their instructional role.

Based on this Illinois study as well as previous state studies by this research team, key characteristics of a library media specialist have been identified as the following:

•  a school leader who meets regularly with the principal,
•  a program administrator who oversees a competent staff,
•  an information navigator who selects and guides effective and efficient use of both print and nonprint resources,
•  a technology facilitator who guides selection and use of online resources and other technologies, and
•  a collaborative teacher and learner in the planning and delivery of instruction.

A Wisconsin study reported that the typical library media specialist spent more time on tasks related to basic management of the library media center than in teaching and learning activities (Smith 2006). Planning instructional units with other teachers was typically under 3% of the weekly time investment and teaching cooperatively with teachers was typically under 7%. This pattern seemed to be consistent with all grade levels although library media specialists in higher achieving secondary schools reported a much greater time investment in instructional roles than did those in lower achieving secondary schools. The study concluded that along with other factors, the amount of library media specialist interaction with teachers and students has a positive correlation with basic skill performance at all grade levels.

Characteristics of library media specialists who displayed actions that influenced instruction in a positive manner in the Wisconsin schools included the following:

•  regular meetings with the principal and other school and district administrators,
•  service on building or district curriculum planning and management committees,
•  attendance at faculty and staff meetings and professional development in-services, and
•  regular meetings with library media colleagues in the district.

Agents to Support Learning

Student and teacher survey responses were extensively gathered in 2004 among Ohio schools with selected, exemplary library media programs (Todd and Kuhlthau 2005). Although the survey instrument skewed the responses toward positive choices with no options for critical feedback, the results clearly identify the effective library media specialist as an educational change agent who delivers assistance on a regular and effective basis to support and enhance learning while addressing a wide spectrum of teacher and student needs. The most effective library media specialists seem to establish a program that actually transforms the learning environment.

Smith modified the Ohio survey to gather similar data in Wisconsin (2006). Even with a scale allowing greater flexibility to respond negatively and a sample representing a greater range in the quality of library media programs, the Wisconsin data serve to confirm that a near majority of teachers and students recognize the support of library media specialists who take actions for instructional support on high levels of "very helpful."

The data from these two studies (see Table 1) can be used as a baseline for library media specialists as they gather information locally. A score below 40% as "very helpful" can be an indication of a need to improve instructional services. A drop below 30% is a likely indication that the overall library instructional support program is in need of dramatic revamping. Concentration on instructional interventions may result in teacher and student ratings that reflect the improvement in the instructional role. Such evidence documented for principals can serve as an important part of the library media specialist's annual review.

More data and complete instruments can be located in the specific study reports. Statements and measures can be adjusted to measure individual instructional units of student research or overall library media instructional programs.

Case Studies and Testimonials

Researchers in recent state studies (http://www.LRS.org/impact.php) contain testimonials from specific case studies of strong instructional library media center support found in some schools. Statements have been documented from teachers, students, and administrators. Such documentation gathered locally for written annual reports as well as for oral or multimedia presentations to teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, and the local school board may serve to further strengthen the case for the library media specialist as an effective instructional professional. Presentations such as these may serve to secure funding for additional library media personnel.

Detailed portfolios of student achievement through skills taught in collaboration between the library media specialist and other teachers also serve to provide exciting examples of student learning. Library media specialists who find it difficult to gather such testimony or examples of student work may realize that it indicates more of their time needs to be devoted to their instructional roles.

As might be expected, not all testimonials from student and teacher surveys and interviews will be positive. Comments from students even from exemplary school library programs in Ohio can be critical although these negative comments can be useful in improving instruction (http://www.oelma.org/StudentLearning/SLFindings.asp). In addition to many outstanding examples of information literacy instruction, student and teacher interviews also underscored a problematic nature in some library media instruction programs. Some commented (paraphrased here in instructional terms) the instruction was repetitive not scaffolded or not based on previous knowledge, often out of context with the assignment, and not clearly linked to the assigned research project using the most relevant and recent resources. One Ohio student, for example, stated, "I would rather not have any information at all than to come to the library and listen to the same speech on how to use computers over and over again. I waste more time listening to these speeches than I do looking up information!"

In order to move to higher levels of instructional intervention, many library media specialists will need to adjust their priorities from clerical-related tasks toward the teaching role. Such new priorities will activate a richer learning environment not only in the library media center but across the entire learning community. In some cases, this may require not only more support from the local principal but a change in the attitudes and abilities of the local library media specialist. State surveys, as previously shown, indicate that it is more likely the principal who is ready to support such changes than it is the library media specialist. There is evidence, however, in the most recent state studies that a new generation of library media specialists is more open to the instructional role than their predecessors have been.

Positive and insightful testimonial examples can be found in the recent studies in Ohio (Todd and Kuhlthau 2005) and Wisconsin (Smith 2006) as well as from the preliminary findings in a new study in Indiana (Lance 2006) to be released in 2007. In each study, comments imply that the library media specialist is the program. The personality, energy, ability, knowledge, and vision displayed by the professional are more powerful for promotion, advocacy, and instructional impact than any other resources, facilities, or technologies.

References

Callison, Daniel. "History of the Research on Issues Related to School Library Media Programs and Services 1925–1995." In The Emerging School Library Media Center: Historical Issues and Perspectives, edited by Kathy Howard Latrobe, 91-136. Libraries Unlimited, 1998.

Lance, K. C. How Teachers & Principals Benefit from Strong School Libraries: Preliminary Findings. Association of Indiana Media Educators, 2006.

Lance, K. C., M. J. Rodney, and C. Hamilton-Pennell. Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners: The Illinois Study. Illinois School Library Media Association, 2005.

Shannon, Donna. "The Education and Competencies of School Library Media Specialists: A Review of the Literature." School Library Media Research 5 (2002). http://www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR

Smith, E. G. Student Learning through Wisconsin School Library Media Centers. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2006.

Todd, R. J., and C. C. Kuhlthau. "Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries, Parts I and II." School Libraries Worldwide 11, no. 1 (2005): 63-110.

Todd, R. J., and C. C. Kuhlthau. "Listen to the Voices: Ohio Students Tell Their Stories of School Libraries." Knowledge Quest 33, no. 4 (2005): 8-13.

---

Copyright 2011 Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC-CLIO. | Privacy Policy