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Chelley Vukmanic
Professor Gail Bailey
RSM541
15 September 2013
Assignment 03: Literature Review on Action Research Topic
Description of Topic
One of the most rewarding and significant aspects of being a media specialist is
collaborating with content teachers. Reaching the highest level of collaboration with fellow
educators is beneficial to the faculty, staff, and most importantly, students. This is why I have
selected teacher-librarian collaboration as the focus for my action research project. The media
specialist I am working with claims that her favorite part of this career is participating in
effective collaboration with the teachers within her school. She explained to me that while the
teachers seem to respect her, they are not interested in embarking on the collaborative process
with her. She feels as though she could do so much more for the faculty and students if she
could persuade more teachers to work with her on collaborating lessons and assignments.

Annotated Bibliography
Article One:
Canter, Lora Lee Smith, et al. "School Librarians: The Forgotten Partners." Teaching
Exceptional Children 43.3 (2011): 14-20. ProQuest. Web. 11 Sep. 2013.
This article goes beyond addressing collaboration between school librarians and content teachers
by exploring the importance of collaboration between school librarians and special educators.
The authors display an organized chart comparing the professional standards of school librarians

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and special educators. There are many similarities in these two sets of standards, which leads to a
strong partnership between school librarians and special educators that will benefit many of the
students receiving special education services. The authors also provide a helpful guide containing
five action steps for these two groups of educators to follow in order for them to reach successful
collaboration.
Article Two:
Kilker, Jean. "School and Community Connections for Collaboration and Coteaching."
Knowledge Quest 40.4 (2012): 39-45. ProQuest. Web. 11 Sep. 2013.
Jean Kilker illustrates the importance of school librarians to initiate partnerships with the
teaching in their building. She explains different methods for building positive working
relationships and approaching the idea of collaborative projects with fellow educators. Kilker
proceeds to detail relevant examples of successful collaboration between school librarians and
teachers. One of her innovative ideas is the creation of a collaborative project form, which
teachers would fill out and return to the school librarian. These forms are a starting point for
future collaborative endeavors. She also explains how school librarians collaborating with
teachers can lead to connections throughout the school community.
Article Three:
Lance, Keith Curry, and Debra Kachel. "Achieving Academic Standards through the School
Library Program: Administrator Perceptions and Student Test Scores." Teacher Librarian
40.5 (2013): 8-13. ProQuest. Web. 11 Sep. 2013.

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The authors explain their execution and evaluation of an action research project regarding
administrative perception of the library programs within their schools and its correlation to the
schools test scores. Almost three hundred administrators completed a survey asking about their
perception of the schools library program and its key practices being implemented by the school
librarian. After reviewing their survey responses, the authors compared those responses to the
schools state test scores and the results indicate a correlation between the two. In schools where
administrators rate their librarians teaching and collaborative methods as excellent have a
higher percentage of students scoring advanced on the state reading and writing test.
Article Four:
Lance, Keith Curry, Marcia J. Rodney, and Bill Schwarz. "Collaboration Works-when it
Happens!: The Idaho School Library Impact Study." Teacher Librarian 37.5 (2010): 30-6.
ProQuest. Web. 11 Sep. 2013.
The authors of this article address the issue that even though school administrators acknowledge
the importance of teacher collaborating with school librarians, the collaboration does not occur in
many schools. The article continues by examining data that displays a correlation between the
amount of teacher-librarian collaboration and state test scores. Data collected by the authors
indicate that schools with librarians who report frequent collaboration with educators within their
building have higher scores on the state reading and language arts assessments. Therefore, the
authors recommend that administrators do more to encourage their faculty to collaborate with the
school librarian.
Article Five:

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Montiel-Overall, Patricia. "Further Understanding of Collaboration: A Case Study of how it
Works with Teachers and Librarians." School Libraries Worldwide 16.2 (2010): 31-54.
ProQuest. Web. 11 Sep. 2013.
Patricia Montiel-Overall acknowledges that there is an abundance of research on most beneficial
aspects of school librarians collaborating with teachers, so she explores the awareness that
educators have about the role of school librarians as collaborative partners in executing
curriculum. This article details the case study she completed involving an educators

understanding of the significance of teacher-librarian collaboration. Participants from two

school districts spent one school year involved in high levels of collaboration with their school
librarian. Data was collected in the format of notes from observations, artifacts from monthly
meetings, as well as pre- and post- interviews. The findings of this study show that elements,
such as shared knowledge, relationship building, and deep thinking are all necessary for
implementing a high level of successful collaboration between teachers and school librarians.
Article Six:
Montiel-Overall, Patricia and Hernndez, Anthony C.R. 2012. "The Effect of Professional
Development on Teacher and Librarian Collaboration." School Library Research 15.1
(2012): 208-232. Web. 8 September 2013.
This article focuses encouraging teacher and librarian collaboration through professional
development. More specifically, the article explores the extent of which professional
development workshops have an effect on the perceptions that teachers and librarians have about
how frequently they participate in collaborative activities and its importance to student learning.
The data shows that attending professional development workshops has a positive impact on an
educators perception of the significance of collaborating with a librarian, as well as the

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frequency at which an educator will engage in the collaborative process. The authors plan to
pursue this research further by expanding their findings from these preliminary results into a
second year of studying this topic.
Article Seven:
Southworth, Amy Jo. "Poised to Partner: The 21st-Century School Librarian." English Journal
102.5 (2013): 94-6. ProQuest. Web. 11 Sep. 2013.
Amy Jo Southworth writes this article in first-person singular as she addresses all teachers
regarding collaborating with their school librarian. She touches upon all of the benefits for
teachers who choose to collaborate with their school librarian, such as gaining assistance with
teaching Common Core Standards, greater access to a variety of research tools, customized
materials for individual projects, and tips on scaffolding research. This article is an example of
one method for addressing faculty members in the hope of persuading more to join the
collaborative efforts.

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Literature Review Graphic Organizer

Literature Review Graphic Organizer

Focus

"Poised to Partner: The 21st-Century

School Librarian."

2012

Test Score
Correlation

"The Effect of Professional Development

on Teacher and Librarian Collaboration."

Staff
Perceptions

Montiel-Overall,
P. and
Hernndez, A.
Southworth, A.

"Further Understanding of Collaboration:

A Case Study of how it Works with
Teachers and Librarians."

Methods

Lance, K. Curry,
Rodney, M. and
Schwarz, B.
Montiel-Overall,
P.

2011

Year

Initiating
Collaborati

Lance, K. and
Kachel, D.

"School Librarians: The Forgotten

Partners."
"School and Community Connections for
Collaboration and Coteaching."
"Achieving Academic Standards through
the School Library Program:
Administrator Perceptions and Student
Test Scores."
"Collaboration Works-when it Happens!:
The Idaho School Library Impact Study."

Compariso
n of

Canter, L. and
Smith, L.
Kilker, J.

Title

Benefits

Author

2013

2010

2010

2012

2013

X
X