Research finds mentoring to build resilience leads to collaboration

CHICAGO – New research published in the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) peer-reviewed online journal, School Library Research (SLR), examines school librarians’ perceptions of the Continuum of Care model for assessment of need, program theory, program process, impact, and efficiency.  Articles can be accessed for free at www.ala.org/aasl/slr.

In “Enabling Collaboration through Mentorship: Examining the Role of the School Librarian,” researcher Rita Reinsel Soulen extends her prior research with an analysis of practices that enable school librarians to develop mentoring skills, which lead to more opportunities for collaboration with other educators. After the close of Soulen’s field study, reported in “A Continuum of Care: School Librarian Interventions for New Teacher Resilience,” school librarian participants completed a survey to examine their views of the care model.

Her study finds that actions taken by the school librarian may promote new teachers’ resilience, leading to better-defined best practice by school librarians helping new teachers. Soulen hopes the results of this new study informs future practice of school librarians entering a mentoring and collaborative relationship with new teachers and that the findings will increase knowledge of the influence of school librarians on the professional lives of new teachers.

School Library Research (ISSN: 2165-1019) is the successor to School Library Media Research (ISSN: 1523-4320) and School Library Media Quarterly Online. The journal is peer-reviewed and indexed by H. W. Wilson’s Library Literature and by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology. It welcomes manuscripts that focus on high-quality original research concerning the management, implementation, and evaluation of school libraries.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.