School libraries - too essential to lose

Today I talked to guests Sean McNamara, CEO of CILIP Scotland, Dr Dorothy Willaims, Emeritus professor from Robert Gordon University and school librarian Anne De’Ath about the essential role of school libraries and librarians within education looking at the impact of school library closures across Scotland. 

Great School Libraries Campaign website https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/

 

Some of the research that Dorothy was talking about:- 

Lance  K.C. and Kachel D.E. (2018)  Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us.  Phi Delta Kappan, 99 (7), pp 15-20.   Available at:  https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

Teravainen, A & Clark, C. 2017 School Libraries:   A literature review of current provision and evidence of impact. National Literacy Trust, 2017 https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/school-libraries-literature-review-current-provision-and-evidence-impact-2017/          

Williams, D A, Wavell, C and Morrison, K  (2013) Impact of school libraries on learning.  Critical review of published evidence to inform the Scottish education community. https://scottishlibraries.org/about-us/our-publications/special-studies/impact-of-school-libraries/  Or  https://scottishlibraries.org/media/1211/impact-of-school-libraries-on-learning-2013.pdf  (Also available via the School Library Association website and RGU’s OpenAIR repository)

Research portals to USA studies

• Overview of USA studies https://antiochlis.libguides.com/schlibcert/research
• The Lance studies - https://www.lrs.org/data-tools/school-libraries/impact-studies/
• The Todd studies - https://cissl.rutgers.edu/research/impact-studies/

School Library Association - Impact of school libraries.   Links to research reports, summaries and infographics from the School Library Association’s webpage: https://www.sla.org.uk/impact

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