1. Cut-to-the-Chase
Research
Why & How to Pursue
Evidence-Based Practice in
Your School Library
Keith Curry Lance

2. • Core beliefs about
evidence-based practice
• Challenges ahead
• Key actions to be taken
Evidence-Based Manifesto for
School Librarians
2007 Leadership Summit
School Library Journal, April 2008

3. • Fusion of learning, info & technology
presents challenges
• School libraries essential to addressing
standards, learning & quality teaching
• Certified librarians best equipped to
apply research to practice
• School libraries equip all students to
achieve & learn more
• Library instructional interventions help
students transform info into knowledge
Core Beliefs

4. • Value of school libraries can be (&
has been) measured
• Existing evidence is not seen or
understood
• Accountability is essential to sustain
development of school librarianship
• Requires shift of focus from process
to outcomes
• If we do not show value, we will not
have a future
More Core Beliefs

5. • How to make research-based
evidence more accessible &
applicable?
• How to build stronger
participation in research?
• How to share & accumulate local
evidence?
• How to deal with negative
evidence?
Challenges

6. • How to build commitment to EBP?
• How to train librarians in EBP?
• How to address “not enough time”
perception?
• How to persuade administrators to
support EBP by librarians?
• Does librarian need “authority” to
engage in EBP?
More Challenges

7. • Shift from advocacy to
outcomes focus
• Just do it
• Share outcomes rather than
seek permission
• Establish EBP
mentorships, partnerships
Key Actions To Be
Taken by School Librarians

8. • Gain access to test score
data
• Get involved with school
improvement
• Build research into practice
• Work within school’s data
structures
More Key Actions To Be
Taken by School Librarians

9. • Make advocacy
evidence-based
• Construct evidence
portfolio
• Identify professional
development needs
More Key Actions To Be
Taken by School Librarians

10. Existing formal research
Evidence FOR
Practice
Literature
Local evidence
Evidence IN Librarian-observed evidence
Practice Data from practice combined with formal
Applications/Actions research
User-reported evidence
Evidence OF Learner changes as result of inputs,
Practice interventions, activities, processes
Results: impact, outcomes,
evidence of closing gaps
Evidence-Based Practice Model
Todd’s School Librarianship & EBP in
Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 2009

11. • CISSL’s SLIM (School Library
Impact Measure) Toolkit
• Nancy Miller’s IMPACT Excel-
Based Software
EBP
Evidence-Building Tools

12. • Demonstrated how NJ
libraries helped students
become
• More skillful & confident • Use SLIM’s 4 guided-
as info seekers inquiry instruments to
• More engaged, interested document how students
& reflective learners
• gain practical skills in
• More critical thinkers inquiry-based learning &
about info sources & independent info seeking
purposes
• experience conceptual
change regarding info
The Impact of School Libraries on
Student Learning (NJ)
SLIM (School Library Impact Measure) Toolkit

13. • Communicate value of • After you record units of
what you do via: instruction and teaching you
have been doing, this Excel-
• Collaborative planning
based software transforms
• Information literacy what you do into charts
• Links to state standards • Also collapses data across
schools to provide district
overview
• http://www.LMCsource.com
IMPACT!
Documenting the LMC Program for Accountability

14. • Familiarity with, use of published research?
• Usage data you collect for library program?
• Engagement with test score data?
• Observations you make of teacher & student
users of your library?
• Outcome data you collect?
• Outcome data you could be collecting?
• What outcomes are you intending?
What You Are Already Doing?

15. • Articles and Books About Evidence-
Based Practice
http://www.oelma.org/EBPBiblio.htm
• American Association of School
Librarians, Crosswalk of the
Common Core Standards and the
Standards for the 21st-Century
Learnerhttp://www.ala.org/aasl/guidel
inesandstandards/commoncorecrosswa
lk
Other EBP/Action Research Resources

16. • Daniel Callison, Action Research, School Library Media Activities
Monthly, June 2007
• Lesley S. J. Farmer, How to Conduct Action Research: A Guide
for Library Media Specialists. Bottom Line series. American
Association of School Librarians, 2003.
• Carol Gordon, A Study of Three-Dimensional Action Research: A
Training Model for School Library Media Programs. School
Library Media Research 9, 2006. http://www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR
• David V. Loertscher with Ross J. Todd, We Boost Achievement!
Evidence-Based Practice for School Library Media Specialists. Hi
Willow, 2003.
• Leslie Preddy, SSR with Intervention: A School Library Action
Research Project. Libraries Unlimited, 2007.
• Judith A. Sykes, Action Research: A Practical Guide for
Transforming Your School Library. Libraries Unlimited, 2002.
More EBP/Action Research Resources

17. If being an effective
school librarian was
a crime, would there
be enough evidence
to convict you?
Closing Thought