Against the Flow: A Continuum for Evaluating and Revitalizing School Libraries

Abstract

School libraries face challenges as they strive to meet their changing roles in today's schools. To remain relevant in the school, the teacher librarian must enhance the presence of the library within the school's educational mission. Our research explored exemplary elementary school library programs, and we found that context was an essential component in determining the roles and relevance of the library in the school. Context was multifaceted and the interaction among factors facilitated or hindered the implementation of exemplary practices and explained variations. A continuum of school library structures and practices was developed to evaluate current school library programs in a more flexible manner than existing standards of practice.