Shawn M.'s Public Library

continual disciplined inquiry conducted to inform and improve our practice as educators"

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  IOP  Peer Review Process

The lack of research completed by current library practitioners is a recognized concern in the library and information science (LIS) field.

As school library funding becomes an increasingly important issue, school librarians will need to answer whether or not school libraries make a difference in student achievement. School library research provides the basis for effective school library practice, and there is abundant evidence to show the positive impact that school library media specialists (SLMSs) and school libraries have on the academic achievement of students (Haycock 1995).

revalent research methods and topics within school library research were identified. Which grade levels have been the subject of school library research in the past years was also determined. Studying the articles available on these online sources allowed for an analysis of the content that is readily available to almost any education professional or researcher with Internet access.

Recognizing and building on past research studies can provide a framework for school libraries' continued effectiveness and possibly even the continued existence of school libraries. The completed research may also lead to relevant findings regarding the field of research in school libraries, and it may provide a way to identify gaps in the research that could be addressed by future studies.

The research indicated that overall, the survey method was the most used research method (40 percent), followed closely by qualitative methods (38.7 percent—see figure 1). These methods were followed by literature review (26.7 percent), other methods (5.3 percent), experimental (2.7 percent), and content analysis (1.3 percent). Only 1.3 percent of the articles in the study used more than one method. Because some studies used more than one method, the totals for this portion of the research added up to more than 100 percent. This was done to get a full understanding of all of the different types of methods that were used in the research on school libraries.

  

SLMR journal, the topic of clientele was addressed most often

While figure 2 shows the breakdown of topics between the articles found in ERIC and in SLMR, figure 3 shows the total results of the topics on school library research from both resources. The topic of clientele proved to be the most prevalent of the five categories (39 percent of articles), followed by the library media center (27 percent) and SLMS (21 percent). This finding seemed to correspond to the prevalent methods used, in that these types of topics would seem to be well-suited to research using survey and qualitative methods. Research on technology (8 percent) and information resources (5 percent) was very small in comparison to the other topics. The low number of technology research articles was surprising considering the increasing role that technology has played in the school library setting.

unspecified” (twenty-six total articles, see figure 4). This category referred to studies that did not indicate a specific grade level to be discussed in the research. Both the SLMR and ERIC articles had the largest portion of their articles fall into this category (10 and 16 articles respectively). This seems to indicate that the research conducted on school libraries often is researching general information without focusing on a specific group in the research, or that the grade level is not significant enough to indicate in the research findings.

  

Research completed on the K–12 grade levels was the next highest in this study (seventeen total articles). Again, both the SLMR articles and ERIC articles shared this category as their second highest category (ten and seven articles respectively). The fewest studies were completed on the middle school (five total articles) and secondary age groups (five total articles).

The finding that surveys were the most commonly used method was not surprising, considering that this was the most popular method identified by a number of other studies on LIS research. Clyde's study on school library research from around the world indicated that 39.1 percent of the research articles from 1991 to 2000 used the survey method (2003, 10). Grover and Fowler's study on school library research showed that 40.5 percent of research articles used a survey (or questionnaire) method (Grover and Fowler 1993, table 1). The current research showed comparable results from the data sample with 40 percent of all research articles utilizing the survey method (see figure 5).

  

The second most commonly used method from the current research was the qualitative method. Clyde's study indicated that in the research articles from 1991 to 2000, qualitative methods were used in 19.6 percent of the studies, which was also the second most common method in that study (2003, 10). Clyde's research also indicated that the use of qualitative methods increased over the time period studied. Interviews accounted for only 2.7 percent of the research methods found in Grover and Fowler's study (1993, table 1). The current research may provide some evidence that Clyde's analysis has merit, as 38.7 percent of the research from the current study used qualitative methods. However, the current research included case studies and action research as part of the qualitative field, while Clyde separated those categories. If case/action research was added to qualitative methods in Clyde's study, the total (28.7 percent) would be closer to the current research findings.

The use of the survey method may indicate that there is more to be researched after the survey is completed. There are many types of questions that can only be determined by the use of a survey instrument, however, the trend seems to continue for library researchers to rely on this type of method without delving into solving the problems that may be relevant to the school library.

As for the research topics in school library research studies, the results were fairly similar between the current study and Grover and Fowler's study (see figure 6). The percentage of research articles that dealt with technology in Grover and Fowler's study was 8.2 percent, while the current research determined that 8 percent of the articles studied focused on technology. The Grover and Fowler study also found that 24.3 percent of the research dealt with the school library media center, and 27.7 percent of the research dealt with the SLMS (1993, table 3). The current research determined that 26.7 percent of the research examined with the school library media center and 20 percent of the research focused on the SLMS.

  

The two major differences in topic areas came from studies about clientele and information resources. Grover and Fowler determined that studies focused on the library clientele 22.2 percent of the time, while the current research found that 40 percent of the studies focused on clientele. Studies on information resources were not as large a part of the research in the current study (5.3 percent), as compared to the study by Grover and Fowler (17.5 percent). These results may suggest that research on clientele has become more important to researchers in the recent past, and that information resources have become less important to the research on school libraries. Further studies would be needed to follow up on this hypothesis.

research collected by the current study would indicate that this has not been achieved in the years since Grover and Fowler's study. In terms of the importance that technology has in the school setting, especially in the area of the school library, it seems that more research should be completed on how technology is used by students. Topics related to technology such as the search process and use of information from technology sources such as the Internet should be topics of future research.