School Librarians Transferring What They Learned in Their Preparation Programs to Practice: Three Case Studies

ALA/AASL/CAEP standards are used to determine what preservice school librarians in nationally recognized programs are taught in their preparation programs. School librarian preparation programs follow standards to ensure their graduates are prepared and ready for their positions. The standards provide consistency in how school librarians are prepared across the country as preparation programs must provide data to demonstrate how their students have met those standards for national recognition. However, once the students complete the program and move on to their positions in K-12 schools, what happens? Do students transfer what they have learned in their preparation programs? What challenges or opportunities might stop them from transferring what they learned? By exploring three case studies, the study looked at how three elementary school librarians transferred what they learned in their preparation program to their practice. For each case, the researcher spent two full days in the school, collected artifacts, and interviewed the key stakeholders – school librarians, principals, and teachers. Each case used the ALA/AASL/CAEP rubric to look at how the school librarian transferred what they learned in their preparation program to their practice. Then, each school library was analyzed using the Rummler and Brache Framework to determine what in the system (school library) could be impacting (positively or negatively) their transfer of their learning. Each case was reviewed individually and examined commonalities between the three cases. The study found that in each of the standards the librarians at each school had transferred their learning to their practice. When looking through the Brache and Rummler framework, the key part of the system that could improve the transfer was setting goals for all areas in the job of the school librarian (beyond the teaching role). The library schedule and budgets were also contributing factors that impacted the school librarian’s ability to transfer their learning from their preparation program.