Introduction: A Gentle Manifesto on the Relevance and Obscurity of School Libraries in LIS Research

One area in many library and information science (LIS) education programs consistently occupies the far end of the prestige spectrum: school librarianship. As Evelyn Daniel wrote in the Reader in Library and Information Services, “School librarianship [is] frequently regarded as a low status and alien activity by both the education and library professions” (1974, p.57). To gain necessary recognition and continue to develop as a field, she concluded, awareness and understanding of the complexities of school libraries must come from library and information science educators, practitioners, and researchers (Daniel, 1974).

The intent of this issue of Library Trends is to begin to shift staid conceptions of school librarianship in the LIS academy to the idea of dynamic educational informatics in schools; this shift in perception can have tremendous impact upon preparation curriculum, professional practice, and research trajectories in all areas of library and information science. At present, few opportunities to encounter school library-related research exist in the information science community. School librarianship has only two peer-reviewed journals, School Library Media Research and School Libraries Worldwide. Research articles about school libraries appear infrequently in information and library science periodicals aimed at a broader audience.

Schools as Research Contexts

Schools are organized around the intersection of information and communications technology (ICT); teaching and learning; and information creation, provision, and use: topics applicable to many areas of current studies in library and information science. This intersection more aptly defines the study of information contexts in schools as a research-driven educational informatics rather than practice-driven school librarianship. The budding field of educational informatics encompasses the human effect of using digital information resources, services, systems, and media for learning and education and the development of practical and organizational knowledge relevant to using information and communication technology (ICT) and digital resources (Ford, 2004; Levy et al., 2003) and has yet to be applied to K-12 schools. The content of this issue of Library Trends sets the scene for just such an application.

Myriad current policy and social pressures affecting schools have created a prime opportunity for fresh academic exploration of the flow and effect of information for learning, teaching, and administration. Educators are faced with choices resulting from sweeping changes in their practice and culture; school libraries are at the nexus of these changes. Schools have been radically altered by governmental educational man-dates like No Child Left Behind and its focus on standardized testing. Testing has narrowed the curriculum (Cawelti, 2006), constrained pedagogical approaches (Valli & Bueses, 2007), and left little classroom time for exploration and inquiry (Cornelius-White, 2007; Engel & Randall, 2009).

The consistently high enrollments in master’s-level school librarian preparation programs (Shannon, 2004) suggest that interest in information practice in schools persists in the midst of an uncertain job market (Boltz, Daniel, & Powell, 2006). Indeed, calls are coming from within the educational establishment to reclaim the energy children are directing at learning activities outside of classroom (Cilesiz, 2009) by reformatting and regaining time in school with more unstructured time that allows children to explore their interests and build prior knowledge (Archibald, 2006; Bolliger, 2006; Hirsch, 2006). An ideal site for self-directed learning is the school library.

What Are School Libraries and School Librarians?

The LIS academy’s ambivalence toward school librarianship (Esser, 2004) may stem from a lack of information about the function of current school libraries and the information professionals who lead them. Often, people overlay their personal experiences onto their perceptions of school libraries and librarianship (Hartzell, 2004) without considering the decade or more of progress that has occurred between those contacts and the current time and the bountiful research opportunities that school libraries provide.

Today, school libraries are as varied as the communities their schools serve. School librarians are prepared for and guided by principles that emphasize collaboration with teachers, contribution to the overall excellence of the school, development of children’s leisure and academic interests, promotion of career possibilities, facilitation of creative expression, and support for student learning in the classroom (AASL, 2007, 2009). Monikers such as “learning leader...