IASL 2001

The 2001 IASL Conference

Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 July

ASPECTS FOR DISCUSSION:

From Ross Todd:

I would like the focus of discussion to be on approaches to evidence-based practice.

Participants should share:
Examples of initiatives that provide evidence of the power of the educative role of the school librarian: describe the initiative, how you collected some evidence, what you found.

This does not have to relate to technology -- but initiatives where impact, benefit can be demonstrated: it might centre on reading, literacy, information literacy, information technology, communication, perceptions of seld as learners, improved test scores.

KEYNOTE PAPER: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE SESSION

Transitions for preferred futures of school libraries:
Knowledge space, not information place
Connections, not collections
Actions, not positions
Evidence, not advocacy

DR ROSS TODD

ABSTRACT

The fusion of learning, libraries and literacies is creating dynamic, if not confronting challenges for teacher-librarians, teachers and administrators, particularly when set against the backdrop of learning and information environments that are complex and fluid, connective and interactive, and ones no longer constrained by time and space. It is both an opportunity to evaluate and chart impacts and achievements, as well as an invitation to examining new ways of looking and thinking, being and doing. This presentation will argue that action and evidence-based, learning-centered prac tice, rather than position and advocacy, are key mindsets for the profession if it is to achieve its preferred future, particularly in the context of the develo pment of digital collections and services. It will elucidate a shared-learning framework as the fundamental building block for the articulation of roles, selec tion of resources, the nature of the instructional program, and for evaluating the power of the library in achieving the school’s learning objectives.

INTRODUCTION

Two statements from different times and contexts form the heart of my address. Winnie the Pooh has been attributed with saying: “There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about”. The German philosopher Goethe, once said: “Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute. What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and mag ic in it. Only engage and then the mind grows heated. Begin and then the work will be completed”. In a time of intense educational change and profound growth in accessible information, both somewhat driven by networked information technology, the challenge for teacher-librarians to chart a preferred future for the information environments of schools is both complex and potentially confronting. It is time to acknowledge our past, reflect on our achievements, and chart a course for the future.

I have begun writing this address in one of the world’s magnificent libraries, the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C. The scale and grandeur of the physical place and the enormity of its collection are difficult to comprehend. The collection includes more than 28 million catalogued books and other print materials in 460 languages, and has the largest rare book collection in North America, as well as the world’s largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound reco rdings. Marble, gilt, brass inlay, vaulted ceilings, mosaics honoring the professions, magnificent paintings depicting the creation and diffusion of knowledge and the role of literature and learning, sculptures featuring life and thought and honoring those who over centuries have made distinguished contributions – all these make it visually an awesome and inspiring place. I am working in the domed Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Wing, barely able to concentrate.

A mural by Edwin Blashfield depicting the great epochs of civilization adorns the apex of this enormous and embellished dome. In the cupola of the dome is another painting by Edwin Blashfield, and it is this that captures my attention. Here is painted a female figure, visible only to those in the Reading Room below, representing Human Understanding. Human Understanding. And atop this dome, on the outside of the building, is the “Torch of Learning”. It is my view that at the pinnacle, the c entre, the heart of a library is the development of human understanding. My central claim in this paper is that the school library in the 21st Century is about constructing sense and new knowledge, and building an information infrastructure and information resources to enable this. This is the idea of the library as a knowledge space, not information place. In order to achieve that, I believe we need to focus on three things: connections, not collections; actions, not positions; and evidence, not advocacy.

FROM INFORMATION TO KNOWLEDGE

The information environment of the 21st century is complex and fluid, connective and interactive, diverse, ambiguous and unpredictable, and one no longer constrained by physical collections, time, place and national boundaries. The e-environment, at a time when social commentary focuses on “the dot.com age”, “the dot.con age”, “the dot.come-and-gone age” is increasingly giving attention to the development of “the knowledge society”, “the clever country”. This does not happen by chance. Not does it happen by having magnificent information collections, inspiring physical environments, or advanced information technology networks. These are important, there is no question about that, but I do not believe that these are the hallmarks of the school library of the 21st Century. Giving information is not the same as giving knowledge, and turning information into knowledge is potentially the most complex, challenging and rewarding task of all educators.

In order for school libraries to play a key role in the information age school, I believe there needs to be a fundamental shift from thinking about the movement and management of information resources through structures and networks, and from information skills and information literacy, to a key focus on knowledge construction and human understanding, implemented through a constructivist, inquiry-based framework. The notion of humna understanding is the essence of the word “information”: inform.ere informo, informare, informavi, informatus = inward forming. School libraries are aboutproviding the best information opportunities for people to make the most of their lives as sense-making, constructive, independent people. They know how to connect with, interact with and utilize their information rich world to enable them to understand their world around them, to think through issues and to make decisions to sustain and enrich their own lives. Information is the heartbeat of meaningful learning in schools. But it is not the hallmark of the 21st century school. The hallmark of a school library in the 21st century is not its collections, its systems, its technology, its staffing, its buildings, BUT its actions and evidences that show that it makes a real difference to student learning, that it contributes in tangible and significant ways to the development of human understanding, meaning making and constructing knowledge. The school library is about empowerment, connectivity, engagement, interactivity, and its outcome is knowledge construction. This must be at the centre of our philosophy, the mandate for our role, and the driver of all our day-by-day teaching and learning actions. Information is not power. It is human understanding and knowledge that is power, and information is how you get it. Professor Kuhlthau's address earlier this week argued that inquiry-based learning provides both a philosophical and action-centred constructivist framework for building an appropriate learning environment in an information-rich school, one that has construction of meaning and understanding as its outcome, where students are engaged in "an active personal process" fitting information in with what one already knows and extending this knowledge to create new perspectives (Kuhlthau, 1993:4). This is the significant context for my paper today.

Writing in the preface to Effective libraries in international schools (Markuson, 1999), I make this statement: "Preparing our students today for tomorrow's unknown world, being able to predict an uncertain future, and moving into it with confidence, takes courgae and conviction. Indeed the best way to predict the future is to work towards creating it, and creating it begins today, not tomorrow. This means that although we respect and are informed by our past, we also have the courage and determination to think and act divergently" (1999, 9). I like this quote, from an unknown source: "If we always see as we've always seen, we'll always be as we've always, and we'll always do as we've always done." So what is the problem? I am going to stick my neck out here. I am not convinced that empowerment for knowledge construction and the development of human understanding is the central concern of teacher-librarians today. Over my 25 year period of engagement with the profession, as a practicing teacher-librarian, educator and researcher, I have sat in numerous meetings, forums and conferences, and listened to the concerns and challenges of teacher-librarians around the world I still remain unconvinced that action and evidence-based, learning-centred practice focusing on engagement with information for human understanding and knowledge construction, are key mindsets for the profession -- philosophically and in practice. Certainly they are reflected in the rhetoric about roles and responsibilities, in other words, espoused values. But I would argue that the central public concerns of teacher-librarians continue to be expressed in terms of collections, position and advocacy, and I believe that this is the major limiting factor of the profession today. I strongly believe that our mindset needs to shift to evidence-based, learning centred practice that has as its heart the central concepts of knowledge construction and human understanding. This should be the locus of our concern and the fundamental challenge that drives us, and the rest will look after itself.

PERCEPTIONS OF CHALLENGES

Let me give some simple evidence for this. Recently I sent out a message to two Australian electronic lists for teacher-librarians: OZTL_NET and InfoSpec. (a discussion list for the Parramatta Diocese school libraries staff). I requested teacher-librarians to email me and tell me what they thought were the most important challenges facing them at this time. This could be broad or narrow -- on the educative role, on technology, on the status of their position, on their image value; on anything they think important. I asked them to list these in priority order, from the most important or highest priority. It was not intended to be a formal study, and the results I mention here need to be perceived in that context -- however, they show some interesting patterns. I received 74 written replies. I did provide some prompts, as stated above, based on my own hunches, and these were taken up, and others identified as well. I undertook a content analysis of those replies, first by identifying individual statements of challenge. 249 individual statements of challenge were provided. Some of these were expressed broadly, which enabled me to establish 11 categories for grouping these challenges; others were expressed quite specifically, which serve to illustrate the breadth and depth of each category.

Key Challenges Facing Teacher-Librarians

Concern Number of Statements % of Total Statements
Impact of information technology on library and role of teacher-librarian 47 18.87
Perceived lack of understanding of the nature and dimensions of the role 32 12.85
Perceived lack of value, importance and appreciation 28 11.24
Negative perceptions of the image of teacher-librarian by others 23 9.23
Perceived lack of support for the role of teacher-librarian 20 8.03
Not able to do the job I want to do as teacher-librarian 27 10.84
Perceived low status 17 6.84
Student learning -- processes and outcomes 15 6.902
Advocacy of position and role 12 4.82
Funding 10 4.03
Professional development 7 2.81
Other 11 4.42
TOTAL 249 100%

The most significant challenges were in terms of information technology, and challenges related to other's perceptions of the image and role of the teacher-librarian, the lack of understanding by others of the role, and dealing with less-than-desired perceptions of the importance and value of the contributions made by them. The bullet points below each category are some of the individual statements made by teacher-librarians, to illustrate the dynamics, breadth and depth of the challenges.

Impact of information technology on library and role of librarian

  • Another issue is the problem of responsibility for technology. As more equipment is being placed in the library -- networked printers, scanners, colour photocopiers, ID cards -- more pressure / expectations are being placed on the TL to maintain / service the needs of the equipment and the users.
  • Taking on more and more tasks like web master, network password administrator, PD organiser for staff, mentor to "reluctant" staff, computer technician, with no extra staff provided nor time allowance to cope with the load. The pace just keeps hotting up; some days the descent into chaos is positively scary.
  • In the use of technology, many teachers lack the skills to assist students, so they are relying more on the TL to be involved with their classes, which leaves less time for management tasks.
  • TLs are hampered by technology in every sense of the word; They receive the cast noff machines from the Administration areas; There is little or no technological support; the latest software does not work with older machines; The technology is forever changing; the students think they know about technology -- but they do not know how to research.
  • Information technology drains the library budget (is money going to computers etc instead of the library).

Perceived lack of support for the role

  • We see lots of excellent school-based staff getting very frustrated because the job they do isn't supported or appreciated.
  • The energy of the battle is not worth the little support we gain.
  • We seem to have to spend a lot of time fighting for any support we get.
  • Support seems to be given grudgingly, often to shut me up.
  • If I become too strident over library needs, I get into all sorts of strife if I don't get strident, the library gets nothing or leftovers, after years of asking.

Perceived lack of value and importance and appreciation

  • Not perceived by peers as being relevant (in part die to the increasing problem of being sidelined by the IT agenda in a school). Why do we need a library (TLs) when we're "connected" to the world.
  • Lack of official value -- school annual reports can be written with no library or T-L but happily report on the multi-purpose shelter & the bus as facilities.
  • Showing my value and being valued as a teacher librarian -- a special role in the school -- so as not to be replaced by a librarian.
  • Encouraging classroom teachers to see me as a valuable resource in their classrooms as well as in the library.
  • Recognition for cooperative work done with teachers with an adequate time allocation for this.

Perceived lack of understanding of the nature and dimensions of the role

  • Perpetual misunderstandings of one's role (not a new one).
  • Principals in general do not have an understanding of the importance of the library to teaching and learning.
  • The boss consults the computer class teacher on what equipment should go into the library and since this teacher rarely even uses the library, his vision and mine seldom overlap.
  • Having administration and colleagues understanding the role of the t/l in the 21st century.
  • If our colleagues in the profession could see how valuable we could be in a more collaborative role beyond "give me all you have on transport" and storytelling to the littlies then things might change.
  • From where I sit one of my biggest concerns is the apparent lack of understanding by administrators and teachers, of the place that the library and a good teacher librarian can play in the learning process. This is especially evident with the advent of the Internet with the tendency in many schools to think that online information can replace the book stock and trained library staff.
  • The administration of schools only seem to know that the library is a problem when something has gone wrong or a parent complains.

Perceived low status of position

  • The challenge is to get enough status to get the money to ring the changes that move us forward whatever the current sticking point may be.
  • Top of my priorities at the moment is the perception of the status of TLs in Australian schools, and specifically, of course in my own school.
  • I have less status than I have ever had in this school. I am fearful that if I studied for a PhD, as I have wanted to, that I would find myself cleaning the toilets.
  • Trained TLs are being replaced by other, untrained teachers who sometimes do quite extraordinary things to collections such as abandoning the Dewey system for home-made ones.
  • Status as an educator -- I'm an assistant principal/TL and still have to fight for time, resourcing and status of the library. It is convenient to have me in this dual role, so I can be on call whenever there is a more urgent need for me to wear my AP hat -- which if allowed, would be 90% of the time. I have 3 days TL and 2 days AP.

Negative perceptions of the image of School Librarian by others

  • Tag of librarian -- still has the image of somewhat old fashioned keeper of the books and daggy.
  • Librarians have a negative image, and no matter what you do, it doesn't seem to shift.
  • TLs are often seen as second grade in a school, with nothing to offer but control of the shelves with a stern face.
  • The image of the librarian -- attitudes of the old days still persist as strong as ever.
  • No matter what I do or say, I am still tarnished with the past image of the librarian.

Advocacy

  • Encouraging good quality training courses for new TLs with an emphasis on education, not just library management.
  • The need to convince all stakeholders (politicians, society, academics, teachers, parents and students) that Information Literacy is an essential responsibility of schooling. If it is established that if graduates can access and efficiently use information, and be critical thinkers, data can become knowledge, and knowledge can be transformed into wisdom, I think most of our challenges will be diminished somewhat.
  • I think it is a worry that there do not seem to be any courses on offer in Victoria to train teacher librarians.
  • Information skills are an important part of our work and many tertiary institutions are realising the importance of conducting classes for their students, perhaps there should be more consultation between the two sectors.

Student learning -- processes and outcomes

  • TLs are frustrated by the lack of technical skills amongst the students and staff. Users rush in waving a disk and want material printed out yesterday. They have used Word 2000 on Mac and we have windows 95 etc etc.
  • Teacher librarians do not contribute to the debate on the place of information technology and and its effects on curriculum, and teaching and learning, and as a consequence the implications for the role of the teacher librarian and the resource centre then they run the very serious risk of being sidelined.
  • Encouraging teachers to see the ICT Competencies, especially the Info Lit component, should be across the curriculum, not just considered in the IT classes.
  • Incorporating ICT resources into the library collection in a way that doesn't downgrade more traditional resources i.e. persuading students that the Internet isn't the only place to go for research. Maintaining the value of print resources.
  • Need to explore electronic aspects to info process -- not the locating and selecting, but the cut and paste organisation aspects, (my own area not explored, still give the kids paper and pencil).
  • Curriculum development for composite classes.
  • Student assessment.

Funding

  • Funds -- probably linked to above -- some libraries are starved of fundsto make them the vibrant places they should be.
  • Maintaining our library budget and library staffing ratios in tight times and in tough competition with other needy areas of the school, or new "must have or we'll look bad" school trends in the region.
  • Funding and resources: once the need for information literacy is established, the challenge to provide adequate resources in the way of staffing, hardware, technology and technology support, information sources, and funds for ongoing research and development, will be on the way to being met.
  • Chronic under-funding is another major problem.
  • Libraries are considered a waste of funds.

Not able to do the job I want to do

  • Find TIME, TIME, Time. Find enough time to do all that I want to do.
  • I spend more time than I think I should need to on: student management (first year at this school so still not known by students); student discipline (we are in a difficult demographic area); paperwork related to purchasing, getting signatures and faxing (must be a better way); too many meetings (at school and network level -- usually valuable but too many); house-keeping as in shelving, and training and selling cards for the photocopier!!
  • Time management... to do less better. Finding the time to teach AND monitor authority files & the nitty-gritty that makes the database effective.
  • Would like more time available: for planning and implementing a meaningful research skills plan for students; for teaching teachers about the value of our college intranet and how it can make teaching and learning a more positive experience.
  • Time -- to do own professional development, present it to colleagues, discussion for co-operative, read latest literature on shelf, be available to students outside "lesson" time, to debrief with peers!

Professional development

  • Education of the staff on the need for integrated, systematic Information Skills classes across the curriculum.
  • Remaining at the forefront of new information technology as it pertains to information management and teaching.
  • Change and the ability to keep up (espcially when you are the only one in the library); keeping up with and gaining in-service training.
  • Continuous training and development; once the pivotal role of Information Literacy and the fact that school/university libraries are in a prime position to enahnce and develop it, is established, hopefully the provision of quality, free, ongoing training will also become less of a struggle, for those working in the field and undergraduates.
  • Learning new skills myself and implementing ideas for literature programs: frustration at students' poor research skills; read more of the latest adolescent fiction; teach myself how to use PowerPoint, etc.

These are important challenges, ones not just local to Australia, and ones that need to be addressed. Many of these challenges have been expressed for decades. These were the issues I thought about when I did my training in teacher-librarianship in the early 1980s. Yes, even technology, as we grappled with the integration of the audio-visual technologies into learning. What is particularly interesting is that challenges related to the processes and outcomes of student learning received lower priority. There may be a number of reasons for this: these challenges are well under control for the majority of teacher-librarians, or they don't exist or don't matter, or it is perceived that solutions to the other challenges need to be in place before the real work of student learning can be accomplished. Maybe there is something in the old proverb: "Energy goes where the attention flows". We tend to send our energy where our attention is. The attention we are giving and needing to the challenges expressed above may not bring about the desired effect. It is my view that we cannot wait around, hoping that someone out there will rescue us from this concerns. We need to shift our thinking to what we espouse as the real purposes of our roles, and demonstrate its power on the lives of the students we deal with. We need to move beyond the public relations approach, and focus on an evidence-based practice approach.

I spoke at the 4th National Information Literacy Conference in Adelaide, Australia, in December 1999, and made the comment that information literacy is often seen by others as "a clarion call by committed protagonists to improve literacy and learning outcomes" (Todd, 2000: 29), rather than as an action-centred process where tangible outcomes could be demonstrated. I cited Foster who claimed that information literacy is "an exercise in public relations" and "an effort to deny the ancillary status of librarianship by inventing a social malady with which librarians as 'information professionals' are uniquely qualified to deal" (Foster, 1993, 346), and Miller who observed: "the word 'literacy' carries with it the connotations of illiteracy, and the continuing implication that librarians are dealing with clients on a basic or even remedial level" (Miller, 1992). Foster's and Miller's remarks are undeserved and many people were angered by my comments.

However, the advocacy, role, status, image and position messages are the messages that school executives, system administrators, school library educators, and school library professional associations have been hearing for decades. Why haven't they been heard to the extent that the teacher-librarian's position today is the most exalted, cherished and sought-after position in the school? I believe that one key element in this answer is that these are all self-centred and ego-driven dimensions. People -- administrators, classroom teachers and parents -- sometimes do not see the links between what you do on a day-to-day basis and how that enables the learning outcomes of the students. I am going to be blunt here. I hope I am wrong. But you will not be heard until your day-to-day practice is evidence-based; a practice that is directed towards demonstrating the real tangible power of your contribution to the school's learning goals -- goals that while expressed in many different ways, have at their heart concepts of knowledge construction and human understanding. The evidence of your direct, tangible contribution to improving learning in your school should be the substance of your message, the substance of your public concern, the substance of your negotiations.

In my short survey, one teacher-librarian commented:

"I teach with some wonderful, dedicated teachers, and we use scads of ingenuity in finding the resources we need, and teaching our students. This is still the best job in the world, either teaching on its own, or being a teacher librarian, and there is great satisfaction to be had from finding a needed, elusive fact, or introducing a child to a book that brings them back for 'more of the same, please'. But there is so much more we could do."

I would suggest that the answer to the concluding remark, "But there is so much more we could do" needs to foocus on evidence-based practice. We might argue that there is a great deal of evidence out there that highlights the empowering role of the school library. Yet even with this evidence, it is sometimes difficult to convince school executive of the nature, scope and importance of this role. Why? I think there is a simple answer to this. The evidence is not local, immediately derived from the day-to-day teaching and learning going on in a specific school. Principals, teachers, parents, want to hear local success, local improvement; they want to know how their students in particular are benefiting, not how others are doing. Yesterday (June 14th), the US Senate approved the first major overhaul of the country's education policy in 35 years. The Bill calls for annual testing of students in reading and methematics, and requires each school to demonstrate progress in eliminating academic achievement gaps. Failing schools will receive aid to improve, but will face the loss of funds and other penalties if they fail to make adequate progress. If a school does not make enough progress after two years, it must allow students to transfer to other public schools. Schools with a continuing record of failing may also be required to replace staff or restructure. However we might react to this approach, it clearly shows that local outcomes will matter; local improvements will be monitored, watched, listened to, and it highlights the importance of teacher-librarians being engaged in evidence-based practice that shows that their role in the learning goals of the school makes a difference. Oberg (2001) makes this timely comment: "Many people, including educators, are suspicious of research and researchers. Research conducted closer to home is more likely to be considered and perhaps to be viewed as trustworthy".

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

Another teacher-librarian provided this longer reply to my challenges request:

"Information technology has provided the means for teacher librarians to present themselves to the world in a way clearly valued to the world. We employ our information management skills to manage information and knowledge across a whole spectrum of formats. We are at the forefront of taking information technology from a frightening spectre to place it within the context of education in a controlled and meaningful way. We look at the curriculum needs, and work with teachers to plan their courses and lessons, than set about finding the best information in whatever format, including websites, and applying the most suitable information technology -- from simple pathfinders on a website to highly complex webquests. We then teach teachers and their classes how to use it. Schools and teachers are convinced that we know what we are doing because we use every opportunity to be involved in curriculum planning and to sell our skills to the school community: on councils, meetings, in-service, assemblies, workshops. We use our websites to best effect for the school and to present our knowledge and information management to the school and the broader community. We monitor education and librarianship email discussion lists and channel relevant emails to our colleagues. We publish good news about our libraries in every venue possible. We send our library staff to as many professional development sessions as possible."

There are some worthwhile initiatives here. The fundamental question needs to be asked: what difference did this make to student learning? The focus here is on "doing", and undoubtedly, some fine doing. What did this do in terms of students "being" and "becoming"? For students, teachers and parents, what was the "experience"? What were the differences, defined and expressed in ways that say: "hey, we want more of this!". This is evidence-based practice.

Evidence-based practice focuses on two things. Firstly, it is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the performance of your role. It is about using research evidence, coupled with your own professionsl expertise and reasoning to implement learning interventions that are effective. Without current best evidence, practice runs the risk of not only being out of date, but detracts from the real purpose, to the detriment of learners. Secondly, evidence-based practice is about ensuring that your daily efforst put some focus on effectiveness evaluation that gathers meaningful and systematic evidence on dimensions of teaching and learning that matter to the school and its support community, evidences that clearly convey that learning outcomes are continuing to improve. Some may claim that evidence-based practice is impossible to practice, given the seemingly limited time for keeping abreast, let alone implementing strategies, or that it is only possible to be done by those in ivory towers. My view is that evidence-based practice is fundamental to future survival. Unless teacher-librarians engage in carefully planned evidence-based practice, I see the continuing erosion of the role. It is about action, not position; it is about evidence, not advocacy, and at the heart of this is inquiry-based learning for knowledge construction.

THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE

There is a considerable body of evidence aslready existing that provides direction in terms of where the evidence-based focus of a school might lie. This research evidence is well documented in substantive reviews undertaken over a number of years, for example, by Didier (1984), Haycock (1992, 1994), Loertscher and Woolls (1999), Oberg (2001), as well as many individual and large-scale research studies, such as Kuhlthau's research on inquiry-based learning and the Information Search Process (1993, 1994, 1999), and the Colorado Studies by Lance and colleagues (1992, 1999, 2000, 2001). It is imperative that teacher-librarians continue to engage actively with this leterature, and use it as a way of determining how each individual school might establish its library program, identify learning needs, and chart its own evidence.

As I examine this literature, I see at least 8 important generalizations about the relationship of school libraries to learning, each underpinned by specific research-based evidence. These are:

  • A shared educational philosophy centering on inquiry learning provides an appropriate and common climate for engaging teacher-librarians and school staff in collaborative, integrated learning opportunities. A "shared philosophy of learning" (Kuhlthau, 1993) underpins a shared vision for the learning outcomes, and a commitment to a shared collaborative process.
  • A process approach focusing on the systematic and explicit development of students' abilities to connect with, and utilize information to contruct personal understanding results in improved performance in terms of personal mastery of content.
  • The systematic and explicit development of students' abilities to connect with, interact with, snd utilize information to construct personal understanding results in more positive attitudes to learning, increased active engagement in the learning environment, and more positive perceptions of themselves as active, constructive learners. Kuhlthau has in particular studied attitudes and feelings of certainty and confidence in the search process, and demonstrates how feelings of uncertainty and poor self-concept can change positively through engagement in active inquiry-centered learning.
  • The development of student competence is most effective when it is integrated into flexibly delivered classroom instruction at the point of need.
  • Active reading programs foster higher levels of reading, comprehension, vocabulary development and language skills.
  • There are benefits to students when school and public libraries communicate and co-operate more effectively. Evidence suggests that students who are active school library users are more likely to have more positive attitudes to public libraries and using those libraries.
  • Successful school library programs are ones that set clear expectations and manageable objectives, establish realistic time lines, and gather meaningful and systematic feedback from students and teachers on the impacts of the programs.
  • School leaders tend to be more supportive when they can see the library actively engaged in the teaching and learning process, and when they can articulate specific impacts of this engagement. Such evidence to them demonstrates people-centered, learning-cerntered empowerment.

We should be greatly encouraged by such findings, but it is not good enough to simply tout these findings particularly in the context of shoring up image, position, role, power, or status, or a clarion call for more funding for teachnology or resources. I believe central to our role is the major task of developing our own school evidence that supports these findings -- building the local case in the context of more global findings, as well as identifying specific local learning dilemmas, and exploring how the school library program might contribute to their solution.

SOME OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

One key area that teacher-librarians might focus on relates to students' engagement with information technology. There are m,any important learning dilemmas emerging from available research evidence, and these might form the centre of carefully planned, evidence-based practice. The Table below highlights some learning dilemmas faced by students when engaging with the World Wide Web. I have analyzed this literature from an information literacy perspective, where information literacy is conceptualized as centering on people connecting with information, interacting with information and utilizing information as part of the learning process for knowledge construction. The research, primarily American, provides insights into the cognitions, behaviors and emotions that are commonly experienced during the process of interacting with electronic information. This research, in contrast to the commonly held view that young people are gurus in this vast digital world, suggests that the intuitiveness, ease, certainty, and success as input and outcomes attributes of searching the World Wide Web are highly questionable, and highlights significant learning dilemmas in this arena.

INFORMATION
LITERACY
DIMENSION		 RESEARCH FINDINGS
Connecting with information Atkin (1998); Watson (1999); high levels of information overload; inability to manage and reduce large volumes of information;
Bilal & Watson (1998); McNicholas & Todd (1996); Todd (2000): failure to retrieve documents based on aboutness; formulating ineffective search queries; failure to utilize Boolean operators
Kuhlthau (1991); McNicholas & Todd (1996); Watson (1999): considerable insecurity and uncertainty when searching;
McNicholas & Todd (1996); Kafai & Bates (1997); problems with working with search engines;
Hertzberg & Rudner (1997); Nims & Rich (1998); tendency to conduct simple searches, crafting poor searches; considerable guessing of appropriate terms;
Nims & Rich (1998): high expectation of the technology's ability to make up for poor searching techniques
Fidel (1999): examine only first screens of most sites
Schacter, Hung & Dorr (1998): preferred browsing techniques to systematic, andlytic-based strategies;
Hirsch (1999, 1997): motivation for searching decreases when site load time is slow, and especially in relation to graphics -- technical implications
Interacting with information Atkin (1998): coping strategies -- filtering, simplification, errors, delegating; feelings of confusion and frustration;
Bilal & Watson (1998); Hirsch (1999): not thinking critically and evaluatively in searching; limited use of thesaurus
Hertzberg & Rudner (1997): typical user only performs 2 or 3 inquiries per search; very small number of citations examined (5-6); abort searches quickly;
McNicholas & Todd (1996); Schacter, Hung & Dorr (1998); Hirsch (1999): inability to judge quality of information
Watson (1999): inability to question the accuracy of Web information
McNicholas & Todd (1996); Wallace & Kuperman (1997); Hirsch (1999): not able to judge relevance of information;
Fidel (1999): often inappropriately favoring visual cues; minimalist behaviour -- made quick decisions at all stages of search process; looked at pictures rather than textual information as signs of relevance; use of "landmarks" rather than in-depth critical analysis of sites to judge relevance and quality
Utilising information McNicholas & Todd (1996): project management issues of time, workload management, meeting deadlines
Hertzberg & Rudner (1997): median amount of time spent in searching was 5-6 minutes; willing to construct answer on limited information; users satisfied with any somewhat-relevant hit
McNicholas & Todd (1996): tendency to plagiarize

As can be seen from the above analysis, students are experiencing a substantial range of learning dilemmas associated with the World Wide Web. Any one of these learning dilemmas provides a rich opportunity for teacher-librarians to intervene, and through collaborative, inquiry-centered approaches, demonstrate that their practice makes a real difference to student learning. This does not imply that information technology alone provides the opportunities; opportunities exist with all facets of the library's information literacy, reading, and literature programs. What is important is that the learning needs are identified, instructional strategies developed, and considerations given to how this will be evaluated. This is evidence-based practice. It might be in the form of statistics, or stories, or documented case studies, or analyses of reflective student interviews or feedback processes. It does not need to be complicated, but manageable, and clear. Oberg (2001) identifies a range of evidence-based practices. In this paper, she asks: How can we show that school libraries are making a difference in student learning? She explores key approaches, some of which have already been touched on here. They are:

  • Using research findings from the school library field; as indicated, these highlight an extensive range of learning dilemmas that have a clear information literacy focus.
  • Analysing the results of national, state or provincial testing programs: these provide opportunities to see what key learning needs are, and how the library can intervene to improve these. Often such results are accompanied by reports on the local school, and sometimes these make explicit suggestions relating to critical thinking skills, reading abilities, transfer of knowledge to new situations, ability to interpret information, ability to structure and organise information. These are opportunities begging the library program to intervene.
  • Using locally available library and test data: the school library's automated system can provide data about circulation of library materials; these data can be correlated with learning programs, test scores, assignment results to see if there are patterns that indicate that using the library makes a difference. For example, it might show that the class that has the highest circulation, or the class where collaborative inquiry learning processes have been implemented have scored higher on reading comprehension or content mastery.
  • Carrying out action research or teacher-researcher projects: at the heart of this is an identified learning problem, and developing a cycle of collaborative planning, acting, evaluating and reflecting to address it. The problem might be low motivation for reading, plagiarism, weaknesses in skills of analysis and synthesis, or it might relate to World Wide Web issues, such as issues centring on the evaluation of web information. I want to commend to you the 1996 Volume 3 Issue 2 of School Libraries Worldwide, which documented a range of perspectives and strategies on action research. Action research projects provide real, creative, and collaborative opportunities for teacher-librarians to initiate and document learning improvements. I want to commend to you the forthcoming book
  • Using statistical data that is available or easily obtained: this approach might include census data or educational system data, so that a specific school situation might be compared to regional or state or national levels, and opportunities identified for the school library program to intervene.

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

At the heart of evidence-based practice, and driving this practice, are 10 principles of learning. I have been greatly influenced in my thinking by a paper called "Powerful Partnerships: Shared Learning" (1999), developed by the American Association for Higher Education and other associations, which articulates these principles of learning as a basis for collaborative learning where students, teachers and community are all stakeholders. I will briefly outline these. These principles form an exciting basis from which a library program can be derived; they define the functions and roles of the library team working transformatively for knowledge construction; they become the basis of the criteria for the selection of resources; they shape the allocation of physical space in thelibrary; they are the basis of developing school-wide ownership of the library program. In addition, they become the marketing framework of the library, and are the basis for demonstating the evidence of the power of the library. Each of these learning principles forms a basis around which evidence might be collected to show the power of the library program.

LEARNING PRINCIPLE WORKING FOR KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION:
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
1. Learning is an active search for meaning by the learner: it is about constructing knowledge rather than passively receiving it; involving learners directly in discovery of knowledge; enabling them to transform prior knowledge and experience, and to take responsibility for learning An inquiry-based learning approach is the central philosophy and practice of the school -- from it stems the information search process and the range of teaching-learning initiatives which focus on the development of the intellectual scaffolds for engaging with and using information for knowledge construction.
Inquiry based learning, not information literacy or information skills, is the educative platform.
Outcomes articulated in terms of learning gains, with evidence, becomes the strongest argument for library support
2. Learning is about making and maintaining connections: linking concepts, ideas, meaning; linking mind and environment; linking self and others; linking deliberation and action. Need to situate information literacy advocacy and initiatives within an empowerment model towards knowledge construction, rather than conveying a deficiency notion -- ie students are somehow deficient because they do not have these skills.
Ensuring instruction links needs to experience.
Giving learners responsibility for solving problems and resolving conflicts.
Creating a physical and virtual environment that is an invitation to connect, to get to know, to know more.
Making sure my instruction makes explicit the relationships of need to the curriculum.
Ensuring that I personalize interventions appropriate to learners' circumstances and needs.
Gathering evidence on which to base learning initiatives and decisions.
3. Learning is developmental: a cumulative process involving whole person. Intellectual growth is gradual: advancement, consolidation, reinforcement; fostering an integrated sense of identity. Planning for the progessive, developmental nature of each learning experience: instruction should be additive and cumulative -> greater richness, complexity.
Tracking student development of competence (gathering the evidence).
Providing opportunities for trialing, testing, reviewing, as well as opportunities for needs assessment, discussion, reflection.
Systematic approaches to gathering evidence.
4. Learning is both individual and social: Responsive to students' personal histories and common cultures; opportunities for co-operative learning; cultivating and inclusive community; valuing human differences. This might mean:
Opportunities for peer tutoring and learning from each other; enable students from different cultural backgrounds to experience each other's traditions -- choice of resources;
creative approaches responsive to different learning styles and development of self-learning packages to cater for different learning styles;
creating learning zones in the library, depending on social or individual needs;
librarians daring to have fun with their students -- in the library!
using school, home and community as resources for collaborative learning.
5. Learning is strongly affected by educational climate in which it takes place: value academic and personal success and intellectual inquiry; involve all constituents in contributing to effective student learning feeling connected, cared for and trusted. Ensuring that the library plays a key role in building a strong sense of community.
Library conveys a clear sense that it values intellectual inquiry and knowledge construction.
Library rules and regulations invite, rather than forbid.
Learning environment in which students feel connected, cared for, trusted -- and where they do not suffer from LH ("Loans Harrassment") or PFS ("Petty Fines Syndrome")
Clearly thinking about what you convey that is important to your students by your attitudes, values, and in-house behaviors.
Celebrate knowledge successes.
6. Learning requires feedback, practice, and use:
Feedback -> sustained learning
Practice -> nourishing learning
Opportunities to use -> meaningful learning		 Instructional design encourages goal setting, and opportunities for students to chart and measure their learning gain.
Grab every opportunity to provide information on their progress towards meeting learning goals.
Engage in a recurring process of needs analysis and improvement.
Be prepared to take risk and learn from your own mistakes.
Encourage development of learners as constructive critics.
Ensure demands for behavior modification and rules compliances are not your primary feedback, rather your feedback is the feedback of learning-partners.
7. Much learning takes place informally and incidentally:
Activities beyond the classroom enrich formal learning experiences;
Mentoring relationships beyond the classroom;
Learning in a variety of settings and circumstances.		 Creative and imaginative approaches to instruction -- not necessarily the group one-size-fits-all approach.
Rethink distributuion of responsibilities.
Engage school staff as Information Literacy support staff.
Identify strategies that ensure the library is a learning portal to information and enrichment.
Develop pathways to extension and enrichment on curriculum topics.
Provide a virtual or real space that links students with peers, staff, community mentors.
Create a physical environment that is an open invitation for mystery, intrigue, discovery -- where accidental discovery is highly likely: ie an invitation to dance the "knowledge dance".
Use of volunteers and activities.
Provide on-line help points: quick-fix.
Learning is grounded in particular contexts and individual experiences:
Requires effort to transfer specific knowledge and skills to new circumstances;
Grounded nature of learning: encounter alternative perspectives and other realities		 Provide opportunities to tailor education to individual rather than mass-produced delivery.
Explore how you can use educational technologies as tool for collaborative learning.
Make the library a hotbed of learning activism, a space where they can encounter alternative perspectives and other realities, challenge conventional views, test application of new knowledge, engage in dialogue with people of disparate perspectives and backgrounds -- in an environment of safety and respect.
Focus on the development of the experience, and reflection on the experience.
Provide students with opportunities to share their experiences with others that have shaped their identities and learning.
Understand factors which affect student cognition.
Curriculum co-ordination to contextualize learning experience.
9. Learning involves ability of individuals to monitor own learning:
Understand how knowledge is acquired;
Know how to work with capacities and limitations; Awareness of own ways of knowing; Ability to monitor own learning.		 Provide opportunities and processes to help students understand their strengths and weaknesses in learning.
Help students observe and record their own progress in learning.
Show students how to think about their learning and learning processes in a reflective way.
10. Learning is enhanced by taking place in the context of compelling situations:
Provides challenge and opportunity.
Stimulates brain to conceptualize, contemplate and reflect.
Amplifies the learning process.		 Students learn more when asked to tackle complex and compelling problems that invite them to develop an array of workable and innovative solutions.
Students tend to engage more when they produce work to be shared with multiple audiences.
Ensure instruction provides opportunities for active application of skills and abilities.
Effective instruction takes place when students are placed in settings where they can draw on past knowledge and competencies.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of what I have said, and in summary, I would like to suggest the following as a model of teacher-librarians creating an information-knowledge environment for learning, one that focuses on information connectivity and empowerment for knowledge construction and the development of meaning and understanding. At its heart is an educational philosophy and practice centering on inquiry learning, and which drives the transformative actions and evidence-based practices centering on knowledge construction and meaning making. This focus underpins the nature and scope of collaborations to achieve learning outcomes, and in the context of the educational role of the teacher-librarians, is likely to give emphasis to the information search process and enabling students to connect with, interact with and utilize information in the process of knowledge construction. This shapes and guides the selection of resources amd how information technology is utilized across the school. And this focus underpins the nature of the management role of the information-knowledge environment and its infrastructure to create a knowledge sharing community.

At the heart of a school library empowering learning are teacher-librarians and educators whose philosophy and actions empower learners to connect with, interact with and utilize information to develop their own understanding, to construct their own meaning, and who have the evidence to demonstrate this. It is about adding value and making a difference to people. Systems, structures, buildings provide infrastructure, frameworks, contexts, locations, and linkages are important, but they in themselves do not empower. It is people who empower, and people who are empowered.

Senge (1990) claims that empowerment is one of four components that are central to transformational leadership. These components are "the Four Es" -- Envisioning, Energizing, Empathizing, and Empowering. Caldwell & Spinks (1992) argue that transformational leadership is about leadership that transforms rather than simply maintains the status quo; it is about leadership that brings about meaningful and purposeful change; it is about leadership grounded in actions and evidence that create the desired reality. Transformational leadership is about creating and enabling preferred futures, and this is achieved through people who are empowered to take evidence-based action. It is commitment to making a difference through action. It involves envisioning, energizing, emphazing, and empowering. Central to this is a shared inquiry centered philosophy and process of learning.

This calls for conceptualizing the role of the teacher-librarian as partner-leader. Partner-leaders demonstrate:

  • Purposeful leadership: have a clear vuision of desired learning outcomes for the school;
  • Strategic leadership: have a clear blueprint for translating learning-centred vision into evidence-based actions;
  • Collaborative and creative leadership: are able to creatively combine capabilities, and mutually reinforce capabilities, to deliver real value to the school community;
  • Renewable leadership: are able to be highly flexible and adaptive, continuously learning, changing and innovating; and
  • Sustainable leadership: being able to identify and celebrate achievements, outcomes, and impacts -- showing, through evidence, the role of the teacher-librarian is the most prized role in the school.

A personal philosophy of mine is "You begin the road by walking it". Today I present to you the road, the way ahead, and I challenge you to walk it.

REFERENCES

AKIN, L. Information overload and children: A survey of Texas elementary school students. School Library Media Quarterly Online. 1, 1998.

BILAL, D. & WATSON, J. Children's paperless projects: Inspiring research via the Web. Amsterdam: 64th IFLA General Conference August 16 -- 21, 1998. Available at http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/009-131e.htm

BILAL, D. Children's use of Yahoologans! Web Search Engine: 1. Cognitive, physical and affective behaviors on fact-based search tasks. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 51(7), 2000. 646-665.

CALDWELL, B., and SPINKS, J. Leading the self-managing school. London: Farmer, 1992.

DIDIER, E. Research on the impact of school library media programs on student achievement: implications for school library media professionals. In S. Aaron and P.R. Scales (Eds), School Library Media Annual 1984 (pp.343-361). Note: Also published in 1985 in School Library Media Quarterly, 14(1), 1984, 33-36.

FIDEL, R. et al. A visit to the information mall: Web searching behavior of high school students. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 50(1), 1999, 24-37.

Haycock, K. What works: Research about teaching and learning through the school's library resource center. Vancouver: Rockland Press, 1992.

HAYCOCK, K. Research in teacher-librarianship and the institutionalization of change. School Library Media Quarterly, 23, 1994, 227-233.

HERTZBERG, S. & RUDNER, L. The quality of searchers' searches of the ERIC database. Education Policy Analysis Archives. 7(25), August Available at: http://epaa.asu.edu/

HIRSH, S. Children's relevance criteria and information seeking on electronic resources. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 50(14), 1999, 1265-1283.

HIRSH, S. How do children find information on different types of tasks? Children's use of the science library catalog. Library Trends. 45(4), Spring, 1997, 725-745.

KAFAI, Y. and BATES, M. Internet Web-searching instruction in the elementary classroom: Building a foundation for information literacy. School Library Media Quarterly. Winter, 1997, 103-111.

KUHLTHAU, C. Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 42(5), 1991, 361-371.

KUHLTHAU, C. Student Learning in the Library: What Library Power Librarians Say. School Libraries Worldwide. 5(2), 1999, 80-96.

KUHLTHAU, C. Seeking Meaning: A Process approach to Library and Information Services. Ablex, 1993.

KUHLTHAU, C. Teaching the Library Research Process. Scarecrow Press, 1994.

LANCE, K., HAMILTON-PENNELL, C. & RODNEY M. Information empowered: The school librarian as an agent of academic achievement in Alaska schools. Juneau, AK: Alaska State Library, 1999.

LANCE, K., RODNEY, M. & HAMILTON-PENNELL, C. (in press). Measuring up to standards: The impact of school library programs and information literacy in Pennsylvania schools. Camp Hill, PA: Pennsylvania Citizens for Better Libraries.

LANCE, K., RODNEY, M. & HAMILTON-PENNELL C. How school librarians help kids achieve standards. castle Rock, CO: Hi Willow Research, 2000.

LANCE, K., WELBORN L. & HAMILTON-PENNELL C. The impact of library media centers on academic achievement. Denver, CO: Colorado Department of Education, 1992.

LAZONDER, A., BIEMANS, H. & WOPEREIS, I. Differences between novice and experienced users in searching information on the World Wide Web. Journal of the American society for Information science. 51(6), 2000. 576-581.

MARKUSON, C. Effective libraries in International Schools. Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1999.

MCNICHOLAS, C. & TODD, R. New kids on the box: is it worth the Investment. Scan, 15(4), November 1996, 40-42.

NIMS, M. & RICH, L. How successfully do users search the Web. College and Research Library News. 1998, 155-158.

OBERG, D. Demonstrating that school libraries improve student achievement. Access, 15(1), 2001.

OBERG, D. Research indicating school libraries improve student achievement. Access. 15(2), 2001 In press.

POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS: A Shared Responsibility for Learning: A Joint Report. American Association for Higher Education, American College Personnel Association; National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, 1999. Available at: http://www.aahe.org/assessment/tsk_frce.htm

SCHACTER J., CHUNG, G. & DORR, A. Children's internet searching on complex problems: performance and process analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 49, 1998, 840-849.

SENGE, P. The fifth discipline : the art and practice of the learning organization. 1st ed. New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990.

TODD, R. "From net surfers to net seekers: the www, critical literacies and learning outcomes". In: Education for All: Culture, Reading and Information. Selected Papers. Edited by S. Shoham &. M. Yitzhaki. 27th International Conference of the International association of School Librarianship, Ramat-Gan, Israel, July 5-10, 1998. Tel Aviv: Bar-Ilan University, 231-241.

TODD, R. Reconceptualising the Search Process in Electronic Environemtns. A discussion paper for Department of Education and Training Virtual Conference, 1999. Available at http://www.dse.nsw.edu.au/staff/F1.0/F1.8/teaching/3.htm

TODD, R. Information Literacy: Concept, Conundrum, and Challenge. In Booker, D. (ed). Concept, Challenge, Conundrum: From Library Skills to Information Literacy. Proceedings of the fourth national information literacy conference conducted by the University of South Australia Library and the Australian Library and Information Association Information Literacy Special Interest Group, 3-5th December, 1999. Adelaide: University of South Australia Library, 2000, 25-34.

WALLACE, R. & KUPERMAN, J. On-line search in the science classroom. Benefits and possibilities. Paper presented at AERA, Chicago, 1997. http://mydl.soe.umich.edu/papers/online_search.pdf

WATSON, J.S. Students and the World Wide Web: Issues of Confidence and Competence. In: Lighthall, L. and Howe, E. (Eds). Unleash the Power: Knowledge -- Technology -- Diversity. Papers presented at the Third International Forum on Research in School Librarianship. Seattle: International Association of School Librarianship, 1999, 191-200.

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