Content area
Full text
Evidence is required to ensure the future viability of school libraries and teacher-librarians. Education policy makers and school principals need detailed, reliable evidence to support informed decision-making about school library resourcing and staffing. Teacher-librarians need evidence to guide their professional practice and demonstrate their contribution to student learning outcomes. This review, which arises from recent Australian research (author, 2013), collates international and Australian research about the impacts of school libraries and teacher librarians. It strengthens the evidence base, and recommends how this evidence can be best used to advance school libraries and teacher-librarians and enhance student learning.
Introduction
The future viability of school libraries and teacher-librarians depends in large part upon reliable evidence of their positive impact on student outcomes. Evidence of this kind is essential to securing adequate and continuing funding for school libraries, especially when school budgets are severely stretched and administrators face multiple, competing needs. For school-based management, school principals and leadership teams require this evidence to support informed decision-making about the library. Teacher-librarians also need this evidence to guide their professional practice and demonstrate their contribution to student learning.
Evidence about library practice can take many forms (Gillespie, 2013; Koufogiannakis, 2011). This review presents evidence from formal research that involved purposeful data collection and rigorous analysis. It espouses principles of evidence based practice in seeking to provide best available evidence of what works, coupled with a focus on evidence of outcomes and impacts of services in relation to the goals of the educational environment in which it is situated (Todd, 2009, p.88).
This review, which arises from recent Australian research (author, 2013), collates international and Australian research about the impacts of school libraries and teacher librarians. It has two purposes: to strengthen the evidence base; and to recommend how this evidence can be best used to advance school libraries and teacher-librarians and enhance student learning. It is in five main parts:
* Need for evidence
* Presenting the evidence: International research
* Presenting the evidence: Australian research
* Using the evidence to advance school libraries
* Appendix: Overview of international and Australian research
Terminology
The following terms are used consistently in this literature review:
* school library includes resource centre, school media centre, etc.
* teacher-librarian denotes a professional with...