An Examination of the Communities of Practice of Elementary School Librarians in Rural Settings

This basic interpretive qualitative study utilized the case study approach to examine the experiences of eight elementary school librarians participating in communities of practice in rural settings. Data was collected through a brief demographic profile, interviews, and observations. Several main themes and three subthemes were identified through an analysis of the interview and observation data. The major themes included communities of practice in rural settings, Regional Educational Service Area (RESA) as an organizational community of practice, use of communities of practice for professional development, overcoming isolation, and initiating a local community of practice. Subthemes included mentoring, technology, and collaboration. The data analysis indicated RESA serves as a primary source of networking and professional development for rural school librarians. Professional development was delivered primarily through the district RESA organization followed by redelivery of the professional development by attendees at the RESA training meetings. Local communities of practice reflected a very loosely organized, need to know now type of structure relying on the knowledge base of individual school librarians to provide assistance as needed. Mentoring was offered as a result of a personal response to a need. References to technology mainly related to administrative responsibilities such as the implementation of new library automation systems. Comments about collaboration were focused on collaboration and assistance given to school librarians peers rather than between teachers and school librarians. Additional research is needed to investigate the impact communities of practice have on the daily practice of school librarians using a larger sample size as well as isolation within the practice of school librarians.Chapter I: INTRODUCTION 1 Variations in the Role of the School Librarian 6 Conceptual Framework 9 The Study 11 Purpose of the Study 11 Research Questions 12 Significance of the Study 12 Definition of Terms 14 Summary 15 Chapter II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 16 Perceived and Actual Roles of School Librarians 17 Collaboration as a Role of the School Librarian 24 Professional Development and Technology Integration 28 Mentoring as Professional Development 30 Communities of Practice as a Form of Professional Development 31 Online Communities of Practice as an Extension of Professional Development 35 Collaboration with School Librarian as Form of Professional Development 36 Summary 40 Chapter III: METHODOLOGY 42 Qualitative Research 43 Basic Interpretive Qualitative Research 45 Case Study 46 Participant Selection 47 Instruments 48 Informed Consent and Demographic Profile 48 Interviews/Transcriptions 49 Observations/Field notes 51 Data Collection 52 Document Review 53 Data Analysis 53 Participant Profile 54 Themes 54 Credibility and Trustworthiness 55 Validity 56 Limitations 57 Ethics 58 Chapter IV: DATA AND RESULTS 59 Demographic Information 61 Demographic Data: School Districts 61 Demographic Data: Participants 63 Interviews 65 Media Day 98 Document Review 102 Themes 104 Theme 1: Communities of Practice 104 Theme 2: Role of RESA as a Community of Practice 107 Theme 3: Professional Development 109 Theme 4: Overcoming Isolation 111 Theme 5: Starting a Community of Practice 112 Chapter Summary 113 Chapter V: OBSERVATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS 115 How the Data Relates to the Research Questions 117 Summary 122 Reflections and Implications 123 Recommendations for Future Research 125 REFERENCES 127 APPENDICES 135 Appendix A: Demographic Profile/Online Survey Questions 135 Appendix B: Interview Guide 138 Appendix C: Observational Protocol 141 Appendix D: Valdosta State University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) Protocol Exemption Report 143 Appendix E: Initial E-mail 145Dees, DianeTsemunhu, RudyRaiford, SimmieWiley, EllenEd. D.Curriculum and Instructio