[NORSLIS] Disputation on Monday, Dec 16, 2011

[Maija-Leena Huotari]

Public defence of a doctoral dissertation on Information Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Finland
Doctoral candidate: Master of Science (Health Care), Master of Arts Eeva Kurttila-Matero
Date: 19.12.2011, 12:00
Place: Linnanmaa, Kuusamonsali (YB 210), University of Oulu, Finland
Topic: School library: a tool for developing the school’s operating culture
Opponent: Dr. Ross Todd, Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL), Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, USA
Chair: Professor Maija-Leena Huotari
Dissertation ( http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/isbn978-951-42-9736-6 )
School library project developed teaching of information literacy.
The School Library of the Information Society project carried out in Oulu, Finland, in 2002–2004 had long-term effects on the schools’ operating culture. The most important change was an increase in collaboration between the teachers and the students, and with other schools, the public library, and Oulu’s Education Department.
Teaching information literacy and pedagogical use of information technology were developed in the schools. The school libraries were improved in terms of their facilities and collections and their role in the curriculum and students’ work was strengthened. An information acquisition curriculum was developed in some of the schools. However, library teachers’ resources were not increased.
The study focused on the eleven elementary schools that participated in the school library project. During the project the teachers and principals developed the schools’ operating culture with the goal of achieving better teaching practices. The study is based on yearly project reports and group interviews of the teachers and principals conducted in 2009.
The objective of the study was to increase understanding of the dimensions of the school’s operating culture and particularly its pedagogical practices in the context of the school library project. Development of the operating culture is described from the perspective of the teachers and principals. In this analysis the operating culture consists of the school library and teaching methods; rules and the curriculum; the community comprised of the school staff, students, and parents; and the resources for librarianship.
The activity theoretical Learning Commons Model developed in this study, which connects education authorities and the public library to the school’s collaborative network, can be used in analyzing learning environments and in developmental work research.



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