Next discussion: Thursday 11th May at 8pm UK time (3pm EST).
Article: School libraries, political information and
information literacy provision: findings from a Scottish study. Smith, L.N.
Journal of Information Literacy, 2016, 10(2), pp.3-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.11645/10.2.2097
Thank you to Lauren for her article and for writing this kick-off post for our discussion.
Bio: Lauren Smith is a Research Associate at the University
of Strathclyde. Her research interests include the role of information in
supporting the development of agency, including political participation.
About the paper: This paper presents the findings of
research which explored Scottish school libraries’ information provision and
information literacy (IL) support in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish
Independence Referendum (SIR) and the 2015 General UK Parliamentary Election
(GE). I was keen to identify what kinds of activities might have been taking
place in and through school libraries, what kinds of information were being
provided, and where this wasn’t happening, what the issues might be. School
libraries in the UK are not statutory, so there is a limited amount of standard
setting as well as resource provision and funding. Additionally, there is very
limited research into how libraries contribute to students’ lives, in terms of
academic performance as well as the development of skills for life as an
engaged and knowledgeable citizen, and limited work around how school libraries
connect to the wider school environment. I think it is important to conduct
research into what’s happening in school libraries, what impact they have in
supporting young people’s development in various ways, and what practical and
political/philosophical/ethical issues need to be explored in order to do the
best work possible. In my doctoral research I found that students have a wide
range of political information needs and identified ways in which school
libraries could support this - in this study I wanted to identify where things
may already be happening and what problems or barriers librarians might be
encountering.
In conducting this research I aimed to explore the role of
school libraries in supporting political knowledge and participation. To do
this, I set up an online survey, asking what political information seeking
secondary school students engaged in through school libraries, what information
provision and IL support was available to students relating to political issues
and events, and what barriers school libraries faced in providing these aspects
of political education. I also wanted to find out (within the limited study)
what kinds of questions students were asking librarians about political
participation.
To encourage participation I sent emails directly to school
librarians and posted the link to the survey on various mailing lists and on
social media, and sought help from library managers, the Scottish Library and
Information Council and CILIPS, who kindly promoted the survey and encouraged
school librarians to complete it. I think all of these things contributed to
the high response rate.
The respondents to the survey gave a wide range of examples
of the work going on in Scottish school libraries, and I think this work should
be celebrated. I also think we need to work out how to share what’s going on
more, because this could empower school librarians who want to do things but
don’t know how or if they could or should to learn from people already doing
it. Some of the barriers identified by the respondents are quite significant,
but I don’t think all of them are insurmountable.
In terms of further research, I was keen to find out more
about librarians’ perceptions about political information provision in schools,
and their opinions about whether libraries have a role to play in this. A
colleague and I conducted and analysed follow-up interviews, drawing out some
of the key themes that had emerged from the survey data. One of the main
problems librarians identified when it came to engaging with political
information provision was the ‘neutrality’ of libraries, and I am in the
process of writing a paper discussing this theme in more depth. The perception
of libraries as neutral spaces seems to be used as a reason not to provide
political information, and there are lots of issues around this that I think
are worth exploring in more depth, in order to be able to develop guidelines for
school libraries, better understand the role of the librarian within schools
and wider society, and for librarians themselves to take control of their work.
For our blog conversation, the following questions might be
relevant starting points:
- Do you think school libraries have any role in providing political information and support with applying information literacy in political contexts?
- Do the barriers to engagement ring true in your experience? If so, how have you tackled these?
- Do you have any examples of best practice that you would like to share?
- How could you use these examples to demonstrate the impact of school libraries?
- Do the recommendations from the paper sound realistic? If not, what are the issues or barriers?
- What could be the next steps for school librarians who want to support students’ political learning and participation?
