1. Online Pedagogy and K-12 School Librarianship

"Online Ready: Designing Culturally Competent and Impactful K-12 Online Learning" is a three-year design-based exploratory study to examine, assess, and address school librarianship knowledge gaps in the design and delivery of targeted and culturally competent online learning. In partnership with Kristin Fontichiaro, University of Michigan, and Melissa P. Johnston, University of West Georgia, I am investigating two critical needs in school library research: a) a need to design, test, evaluate, and share rigorous and impactful online pedagogy techniques with practitioners; and b) a need to identify training models that help practitioners infuse online teaching techniques with cultural responsiveness, a set of skills and abilities to effectively research, understand, and connect with diverse learners. We launched the Fall 2021 Online Ready Webinar Series ​and are prepping our first cohort. This research is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, #RE-250017-OLS-21.

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2. Guided Inquiry Design

"Educational Quality through Instructional Partnerships (EQuIP): Assessing the Efficacy of Collaboratively Implemented Guided Inquiry Design on K-12 Student Learning" examines how student completion of a Guided Inquiry Unit, designed and delivered by EQuIP-trained school library-classroom teacher instructional partners, affect student mastery of target curricular learning outcomes. The study addresses a severe gap in school library research that examines the effect of pedagogical practices for fostering inquiry (in the case of this project, Guided Inquiry Design) when these are applied within the context of instructional partnerships between school librarians and classroom teachers. Data from the 1st EQuIP cohort has been collected and analyzed. Initial findings will be presented at AASL 2021 and SITE 2022, and are scheduled for publication in Spring 2022. This research is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, #RE-14-19-0001-19.

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3. A Review of LGBTQIA+ Research in School Librarianship

To date, an exhaustive examination of LGBTQIA+ topics in international school library research has not been conducted. Studies on the topic tend to privilege North American school library settings, and are frequently based on previous works published in English, often not considering the varied contexts and cultural issues at play in different countries. This in-depth systemic review will aggregate and present school library research on LGBTQIA+ students, communities, policies, and issues in an accessible and thematic manner. The study's findings aim to: a) identify gaps in school library research on LGBTQIA+ topics that need to be addressed, and b) highlight both problematic and successful approaches, settings, procedures and methodologies in the examination of LGBTQIA+ topics. In partnership with Jenna Spiering, University of South Carolina, and UofSC PhD students Jesselyn Bowman and Yi Wan, a team with multilingual resources and abilities, research published in the last decade is being culled from journals printed in IFLA's seven official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. This study is funded by the International Association of School Librarianship 2020 Takeshi Murofushi Research Award.

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