The Actions of Teacher-Librarians Minimize or Reinforce Barriers to Adolescent Information Seeking

Julie McKenna

摘要

A Review of: Meyers, Eric M., Lisa P. Nathan, and Matthew L. Saxton. “Barriers to Information Seeking in School Libraries: Conflicts in Perceptions and Practice.” Information Research 12:2 (2007): paper 295. Objective – To study high school teacher-librarians and whether their actions and reactions are aligned with their perception of the role they play in creating an information seeking and learning environment. Design – Triangulation qualitative research undertaken over a 16 month period (Fall 2005 – 2007). Setting – Six high school libraries in the Puget Sound region of the state of Washington, United States. Subjects – Six teacher-librarians, each with a minimum of ten years experience and classroom teachers and students. This sample represented the range of school sizes, the rural, urban, and suburban mix, and the range of significant socioeconomic conditions (qualification for subsidized lunch and English as an additional language) in the region. Methods – Four interviews of one to two hours were held with each teacher-librarian during school hours. Initial interviews were recorded by hand and a set question protocol was used (and included in the appendix). Questions were asked about their professional background and training; their job duties, day to day activities and priorities; their perceptions as to how others (e.g., peers and administrators) support the library; the goals of their library’s services; how students use the library; and their critical assessment of their role. Subsequent interviews were undertaken within two days of a classroom visit to the library and also followed a set protocol of questions (Appendix D). The second set of interviews was audio recorded and transcribed. Two classroom teachers from each school were interviewed for 30 minutes and audio recorded using a set interview protocol (Appendix C) within two days of class participation in library instruction. Library observations ranging from two to three hours each occurred during a minimum of seven randomized times at each library. These observation sessions typically included class instructional sessions of thirty to ninety minutes. The observation protocols are described in an appendix to the study. Consistent note-taking, varying of observation times and days of week, use of triangulated methods, comparison of emergent themes with other studies, audio-taping interviews, inter-coder checks, analyzing data for observer effect, and a number of other approaches ensured validity. Kuhlthau’s theory of intermediation and Zone of Intervention was used as a theoretical framework to categorize the teacher-librarians’ perceptions of their roles and their observed activities. Harris and Dewdney’s principles of information seeking behaviour were used as an analytic framework to study the difference between the teacher-librarians’ perceptions of their roles and their observed practices. These five roles are organizer of information; expert in locating material; identifier and instructor of general sources; advisor of search strategy; and mediator in the process of constructing meaning (Kuhlthau). Main Results – The findings were framed in the six principles of information seeking (Harris & Dewdney) and were presented through use of narrative captured in both the observations and interviews. Principle 1: Information needs arise from the help-seeker’s situation. The high school students in the library to complete assignments about which the teacher-librarians were not apprised; therefore the teacher-librarians were unable to assist the students in meeting information needs. Principle 2: The decision to seek help or not seek help is affected by many factors. Principle 3: People tend to seek information that is most accessible. Issues of control were the greatest barrier to students’ successful information seeking behaviour. In the environments observed, the greatest balance of power was within the control of the teachers, including when and if the students would have access to the library, and whether the teacher-librarian would be informed of the assignment. Within the library facility, the teacher-librarians demonstrated a high need for control and power over the students’ activities and behaviour, and the students themselves had almost no power. Principle 4: People tend to first seek help or information from interpersonal sources, especially from people like themselves. Principle 5: Information seekers expect emotional support. The interpersonal style of each teacher-librarian had an affect on the nature of the students’ information seeking behaviour. The narratives demonstrated how the practices of staff, in particular, those actions that set expectations for student behaviour, had an affect on the actual information seeking activities undertaken by students. Principle 6: People follow habitual patterns in seeking information. The narrative used to recount the unsuccessful instruction and research session demonstrates that unless s

机译：评论：Meyers，Eric M.，Lisa P. Nathan和Matthew L. Saxton。 “学校图书馆寻求信息的障碍：感知和实践中的冲突。”信息研究12：2（2007）：论文295。目的–研究高中教师图书馆员，以及他们的行为和反应是否与其对他们在创建信息搜索和学习环境中所扮演角色的看法相一致。设计–在16个月内（2005年– 2007年秋季）进行的三角定性研究。地点-美国华盛顿州普吉特海湾地区的六个高中图书馆。科目–六位图书馆主任，每位至少有十年经验，并有课堂老师和学生。该样本代表了该地区学校规模的范围，农村，城市和郊区的组合以及重要的社会经济条件（获得补贴的午餐和英语作为其他语言的资格）的范围。方法–在上课期间，对每位教师图书馆员进行了四次为时一到两个小时的访谈。手工记录初次访谈，并使用设定的问题规程（并包含在附录中）。询问了有关其专业背景和培训的问题;他们的工作职责，日常活动和优先事项;他们对其他人（例如同行和管理员）如何支持图书馆的看法;他们图书馆服务的目标;学生如何使用图书馆;并对他们的角色进行严格的评估。随后的访问是在课堂访问图书馆的两天内进行的，并且遵循了一系列问题规程（附录D）。第二套采访是录音和转录。来自每所学校的两名课堂老师接受了30分钟的采访，并在课堂上参加图书馆教学的两天内使用一套访谈协议（附录C）录制了音频。每个图书馆至少要进行7次随机观察，每次观察需要2至3个小时。这些观察课通常包括三十至九十分钟的课堂指导课。在研究的附录中描述了观察方案。一致的笔记记录，观察时间和星期几的变化，三角测量方法的使用，新兴主题与其他研究的比较，录音采访，编码员间检查，数据分析对观察者效果的影响以及许多其他方法的保证有效性。库尔斯（Kuhlthau）的中介理论和干预范围理论被用作对教师图书馆员对其角色和所观察活动的看法进行分类的理论框架。哈里斯（Harris）和杜德尼（Dewdney）的信息寻求行为原则被用作分析框架，以研究教师图书馆员对其角色的看法与所观察到的实践之间的差异。这五个角色是信息的组织者。定位材料的专家;一般来源的标识符和讲师;搜索策略顾问;和调解员在建构意义的过程中（库尔索）。主要结果–研究结果以信息搜寻的六项原则（Harris＆Dewdney）为框架，并通过在观察和访谈中使用叙述来呈现。原则1：信息需求来自寻求帮助者的处境。图书馆中的高中生要完成作业，而老师图书馆员则没有被分配;因此，图书馆管理员无法帮助学生满足信息需求。原则2：寻求帮助或不寻求帮助的决定受许多因素影响。原则3：人们倾向于寻找最容易获得的信息。控制问题是学生成功寻求信息的最大障碍。在观察到的环境中，权力的最大平衡在于教师的控制范围，其中包括学生何时，是否可以使用图书馆，以及是否将有关任务通知图书馆管理员。在图书馆的设施中，图书馆管理员对学生的活动和行为表现出强烈的控制和控制权，而学生本身几乎没有权力。原则4：人们倾向于首先从人际关系中寻求帮助或信息，特别是从像他们这样的人那里寻求帮助或信息。原则5：寻求信息的人期望得到情感支持。每个教师图书馆员的人际关系风格都会影响学生信息寻求行为的性质。这些叙述表明，教职员工的行为，特别是那些对学生行为产生期望的行为，如何影响学生进行的实际信息搜索活动。原则6：人们在寻找信息时遵循习惯性模式。叙述失败的指导和研究会议的叙述表明，除非

The Actions of Teacher-Librarians Minimize or Reinforce Barriers to Adolescent Information Seeking

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