School Libraries in Pre-service Teacher Education

A Research Program Examining the Inclusion of School Libraries and Information Literacy in Pre-service Teacher Education from National and International Perspectives

Abstract

This paper describes a multi-stage research initiative focused on the place of school libraries in teacher education and how pre-service teachers learn to teach information literacy. Given the multinational agenda of governments and business of the creation for a knowledge-based society and economy, the research is premised on the prime opportunities of school libraries to support development of the skills and abilities essential to fulfilling these agendas by ensuring new teachers are informed and equipped to collaborate with teacher-librarians. Results and implications of one national study are given and the challenges of revising the research instruments for use in other countries are described and examples provided.