References
1) Cahill, Maria, and Moore, Jennifer. "A Sound History: Audiobooks Are Music to Children’s Ears." Children & Libraries 15.1 (2017): 22. Web. Retrieved from https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1bsq4kj/TN_cdi_crossref_primary_10_5860_cal_15n1_22Audiobooks provide a variety of benefits related to reading. This article explores the feasibility, desirability and importance of audiobooks integrated into school library collections, through a brief history of their creation, establishment, and development over the years. Audiobook’s integration into mainstream education as a method for students to gain knowledge of the content and material inside of books, through an alternative channel, has transformed the book industry and allowed students who otherwise would not or could not read, acquire the ability to stay abreast of the information. Audiobooks could improve students listening skills, while also motivating them to learn the material inside their required reading lists for their courses. As one audiobook listener testified: “Audiobooks changed my life. I can listen to them anywhere and I can enjoy new stories and new types of books without the trouble of having to carry around a lot of stuff with me or fighting with confusing words or font sizes, and I rarely have to worry about getting to my book when I want because the book is usually available.” (Cahill et al., 2017) According to the article, the audiobook industry is “financially viable”, with a roughly “83% increase” in production since 2011, due to the formats identified relevance and importance in the learning process. While reading interest for children has decreased, the utilization of audiobooks has increased. (Cahill et al., 2017) A recent study found that about “14 percent of American adults” use audiobooks, with almost “a quarter of these listeners” within the 18-to-24-year age range. (Cahill et al., 2017) Additionally, “most audiobook listeners” prefer to check out their materials from the library, rather than purchasing the titles. (Cahill et al., 2017) Users of audiobooks generally prefer the library, while users of print and digital books often prefer to purchase the titles of interest to them. (Cahill et al., 2017) The article also recognizes the affordability and attainability of audiobook reading material. (Cahill et al., 2017)2) Connors, Kelly C., and Educational Resources Information Center. “Audiobook Format A Patron's Choice.” S.l.: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse, 1999. Web. https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/m1uotc/CP99179345501853User preferences for the content found within Audiobooks influences their checkout behavior of the resource. This article studied the relationship between abridged and unabridged audiobooks through a 225-respondent survey, indicating that patrons generally preferred the unabridged version with all the content contained within the listening resource, rather than the abridged version. (Connors, 1999) Patron usage over time was reviewed, as well as their responses on how they viewed the library collections with respect to unabridged or abridged audiobooks. (Connors, 1999) Users would prefer to see more unabridged listening resources in the library, according to the study. (Connors, 1999) With respect to genres, mystery was highly preferred, while the “best sellers” were “biographies, history and general/current fiction.” (Connors, 1999) Overall, the study also indicated preference over longer time periods, and how users generally preferred unabridged versions if they were regular Audiobook users. (Connors, 1999)
3) Dotson, Kaye B, et al. “Factors of Engagement: Professional Standards and the Library Science Internship.” TechTrends, vol. 59, no. 3, 2015, pp. 54–63. Retrieved from https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1bsq4kj/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_1675592608
School librarians are educators, leaders, organizers, planners, and librarians. There are a lot of emerging trends in the profession and standards that are consistently being reevaluated and updated, to meet the changing times, challenges and needs of students today. Two standards are recognized in this article, including the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Coaches, which help prepare and educate school teacher librarians on effectively servicing the student population. Since there are many skills required of students in today’s technology-driven atmosphere, teacher librarians are learning to educate on information literacy, as well as technology literacy. By utilizing professional standards, instruction will be strengthened and school librarians will be able to continue connecting their services to the classrooms where students require the resources. School librarians collaborate with the teachers, and play a “pivotal role in supporting teachers with understanding and use of technology.” (Dotson 2015) This article exams the “standards interns in library science graduate programs practiced in order to prepare pre-service librarians for their future librarian roles.” (Dotson 2015)
4) Elkins, Aaron J., et al. “School Librarianship: A Profession in Four Acts.” Knowledge Quest, vol. 47, no. 2, Jan. 2018, pp. 48–54. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1195499&site=ehost-live&scope=site.School libraries have transformed and adapted to changing times, since the original incorporation of the National Education Association and North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools standards were established in the 1920’s. (Elkins et al 2) The original standards lay a foundation for how school libraries should influence the student learning process and engage with the community they serve. (Elkins et al 2) This article focuses on four school library professionals who have grown and developed in the field, at different stages of their librarian careers. (Elkins et al 2)
Act 1 is a school librarian who utilizes the National School Library Standards to guide his professional career, and the advice he offers to students and teachers. (Elkins et al 3) This school librarian worked as a teacher for 18 years, focused on developing curriculum documents that reflected the necessary standards for the state, before making the transition to school librarian. (Elkins et al 3) He noticed that there was a disconnect between student action and the beliefs and actions of educators. (Elkins et al 3) By reviewing the standards, he was able to compare them to his own beliefs, to make sure he was on the same page with other school librarians. (Elkins et al 3) To better connect to other school librarians, he focused on 6 action steps represented in the National School Library Standards and planned to incorporate the lessons in his next collaborative discussion with other school librarians, at the district level. (Elkins et al 3) He also acknowledged how he was keeping up with social media trends and changes, to stay abreast of emerging technology and transitions in the field. (Elkins et al 3)
Act 2 is a school librarian who went straight into the field, fresh out of her master’s program in school librarianship, confident that she could blaze a trail and be completely transformative. (Elkins et al 4) This school librarian entered the field with passion, dedication and the misconception that everything she learned in school would effectively prepare her for the rigors and challenges of the actual profession. (Elkins et al 4) While she reviewed many different circulating sources on how to effectively serve as a school librarian, it was the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) focus on research-based best practices that was most substantial to her learning process as a school librarian. (Elkins et al 4) She learned about these practices in the 1998 edition of Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. (Elkins et al 4) The lessons learned from Information Power charted a path for her trailblazing career, focused on becoming technology proficient and building partnerships. (Elkins et al 4) She also discusses traveling down new and uncertain trails of school librarianship, inspired by the information received from colleagues, as well as the AASL, Standards for the 21st Century Learner and other maps that school library standards were built and developed upon. (Elkins et al 4) She believes her pathway has been about the journey, not about the destination. (Elkins et al 5)
Act 3 is a school librarian, who spent 8 of his previous years teaching English and coaching at the middle school and high school levels, before traveling between states to build and develop his career. (Elkins et al 5) While in Texas, he agreed that AASL’s 2007 Standards for the 21st-Century Learner “served as a national benchmark by which” he could measure his states progress and development, at the school library level. (Elkins et al 5) He traveled from Texas, to Oregon, and to Colorado to develop his career. (Elkins et al 5) He utilized the 2017 AASL Standards to guide him in Oregon, as the only librarian in the district to serve a population of about “20,000 students and 1,500 teachers across 35 campuses”. (Elkins et al 5) He was highly focused on teaching information literacy skills to the students, teachers and the principal. (Elkins et al 5) In Colorado, he worked as the Central Library Technical Systems manager, in Denver Public Schools. (Elkins et al 6) He addresses the importance of using the AASL Standards Framework for School Librarians to create innovative learning products. (Elkins et al 6) He also addresses librarians with wanderlust interests, who likewise travel between states to develop their careers. (Elkins et al 6)
Act 4 is a school library faculty member, who values teaching, scholarship and service as the major three aspects of academic school library work. (Elkins et al 6) While he recognizes that the professional standards for these three areas of academia vary based on the institution, the basic framework influences his work as a teacher librarian faculty member. (Elkins et al 6) In teaching, he utilizes the standards to effectively prepare the next generation of school library professionals to perform in the field. (Elkins et al 6) In scholarship, he is interested in learning more about which professional standards were most important and which one’s school librarians were most actively involved in, for his graduate dissertation. (Elkins et al 6) In service, this means working on committees at the “departmental, college and university levels, but could also include work in the community or for professional organizations,” where he focuses on bridging the gap between professional standards and the curriculum. (Elkins et al 6) He serves on the AASL’s Standard Implementation Committee and is actively involved in the development and implementation of updated standards. (Elkins et al 6)
Overall, these differing school librarian experiences represent how much the field has evolved and developed over the years. The standards have influenced each librarian, whether as a “guiding document, compass, foundation, or lens.” (Elkins 7) We learn from these stories for our own professional growth and development in the field.
5) Marchetti, Emanuela, Marchetti, Emanuela, Valente, Andrea, & Valente, Andrea. (2018). “Interactivity and multimodality in language learning: the untapped potential of audiobooks.” Universal Access in the Information Society, 17(2), 257–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-017-0549-5
Audiobooks have been studied to identify their professional contributions to students and teachers in a learning environment. In this article, three case studies are reviewed, focused on primary and secondary schools. (Marchetti et al., 2018) The studies purpose is to demonstrate the positive impacts of Audiobook use on teachers and students, in the areas of: 1) Their ability to be shared among users, 2) The interactivity of the format and, 3) The language benefits of adding “a social dimension to audiobooks”. (Marchetti et al., 2018) The data that was collected for the study came from “qualitative evaluations” and “ethnographic user studies”. The studies were built on “social semiotics”, emphasizing the ways in which Audiobooks could share literary information. (Marchetti et al., 2018) Different digital activities that incorporate Audiobooks were utilized to gain information on the format’s usability, including a mockup where an Audiobook was uploaded to YouTube. (Marchetti et al., 2018) The prototype findings found that Audiobooks could help in supporting varied learning styles, as well as engage students who are learning English. (Marchetti et al., 2018) By reviewing the benefits of Audiobooks, the article can make an argument for the reading formats integration and incorporation into school learning environments.
6) Mikidenko, Natalia, and Storozheva, Svetlana. "Audiobooks: Reading Practices and Educational Technologies." SHS Web of Conferences 97 (2021): 1016. Web. Retrieved from https://sjsu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/egdih2/TN_cdi_doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_8443e4bd2e464fa08aeff31f325f406a’
This article, although tailored to a University setting, focuses on the overall benefit of Audiobooks as digital educational resources, through a study conducted on students who utilize this format for their learning process. The stages include: 1) An audiobook reading of a title, with a review of its limitations, possibilities and use in educational settings, especially electronic libraries, 2) An “Empirical study of students ‘practices of accessing and using electronic libraries” for education, leisure and/or reading preferences, and 3) The results. (Mikidenko, 2021) In this article, the benefits of audiobooks are also explored, including their “resource saving" capabilities. The study is focused on how audiobooks have integrated their way into learning resources, with positive outcomes.
7) Myrick, Ellen. "Audiobooks and the Common Core: Engage the Ears and Minds of Students with Audiobooks That Reach Reluctant Readers, Support Listening Comprehension, and Model Oral-presentation Skills.(CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS: Kindergarten to Grade 8)." The Booklist (Chicago, Ill. 1969) 110.15 (2014): S29. Web. Retrieved from https://sjsu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/egdih2/TN_cdi_gale_lrcgauss_A365457456
Creating an audiobook list for the Jerome HS Library is an effort to engage a population of students who may be reluctant to read print titles for any number of reasons, as well as those with disabilities who may be unable to learn from a print title in the same way a non-disabled student could. According to this article, the Common Core State Standards have developed guidelines for how audiobooks could be incorporated into lesson plans, for students learning purpose. (Myrick, 1969) There was a period of time when students who utilized audiobooks were often considered cheaters, because they did not practice the reading skills their peers were so knowledgeable on. (Myrick, 1969) Today, the benefits of audiobooks are recognized as follows, they: 1) Relate to “point of view and “different text types”, 2) Help “students who tune out reading to find a way to tune in”, 3) “Provide a level playing field so that all students [could] interact with the text”, 4) Are good tools for “differentiated instruction”, 5) Could build “confidence, comprehension and vocabulary”, 6) Build listening skills, 7) Offer a method for learners to “take words that are heard and translate them into pictures seen in the mind”, 8) Help learners “decode complicated language, vocabulary and even character attributes” and 9) Help the reader understand the storyline by learning motivation and predicting outcomes. (Myrick, 1969) The article then provides recommended audiobooks to incorporate into collections and/or lesson plans: 1) “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock”, 2) “Because of Winn-Dixie”, 3) “Charlie Bumpers vs. the Teacher of the Year”, 4) “Dead End in Norvelt”, 5) “From Seed to Plant”, 6) “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village”, 7) “Guys Read: Funny Business”, 8) “A Long Walk to Water”, and many others. (Myrick, 1969) The recommended titles are supplemented with a summary and information about the author, as well as narrator. The specific common core standards or connections that are met through audiobook learning are mentioned at the end, and they include: “CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6. Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.6. Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.6. Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.” (Myrick, 1969)
8) Saricks, Joyce G, and Trott, John Barry. Audiobooks. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2011. Web. Retrieved from https://sjsu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/egdih2/TN_cdi_proquest_ebookcentral_EBC664538
Since the selection process for identifying relevant Audiobooks for a high school reading level is not easy, this article was included because it provided some background and insight on how to effectively accomplish this task. This title helps fill the gap between “reader interests” and “mood”, so that effective titles could be curated for a collection that is mostly patron driven. (Saricks, 2011) This resource, written by a reader’s advisory professional, provides a comprehensive list of annotations for more than “300 audiobook titles, grouped according to some 60 themes, fiction and nonfiction”. (Saricks, 2011) Fiction titles often circulate based on student popular interest, while nonfiction titles circulate based on subject and relevance for research. While this resource provides recommendations for audiobooks, with summaries that emphasize the plot and character development, the material also helps librarians “with collection development and readers advisory”. (Saricks, 2011)
9) Tattersall Wallin, Elisa, and Nolin, Jan. "Time to Read: Exploring the Timespaces of Subscription-based Audiobooks." New Media & Society 22.3 (2020): 470-88. Web. https://sjsu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/egdih2/TN_cdi_crossref_primary_10_1177_1461444819864691
Reading by listening to a narrator in Audiobook format, is becoming a much more acceptable format for acquiring the information found inside literature, for educational purposes. (Wallin, 2020) This article explores when readers of Audiobooks engage in the activity and how much they read in this format. (Wallin, 2020) The article also explores the differences in reading preferences between the genders and age group levels. (Wallin, 2020) A tool called BookBeat, “a subscription service for digital audiobooks”, is analyzed in this article to review the empirical benefits of acquiring the information found in literature by listening. (Wallin, 2020) Stationary reading and mobile reading concepts were introduced in this article, to explain the “difference in mobility” between the listening reading preference and traditional reading preference of print titles. (Wallin, 2020)
10) Thomas, Nancy Pickering., et al. Information Literacy and Information Skills Instruction: Applying Research to Practice in the 21st Century School Library. 3rd ed., Libraries Unlimited, 2011.
Information literacy is the ability to effectively locate, retrieve, access and evaluate resources for a personal, educational, professional and /or social need. This text focuses on best practices for educating on information literacy instruction, and emphasizing it’s value in classrooms. Teacher librarian’s need to know how to effectively motivate and instruct today’s “tech-savvy students”. (Thomas et al. 2011) Readers could learn about the Big6, Piaget’s cognitive developmental stages of growth, inquiry-based learning, a constructivist approach to teaching and many other strategies for connecting student’s with learning resources and materials that they need to be successful in their classrooms and outside of the classrooms, in the real world. (Thomas et al. 2011) By learning how student’s effectively acquire information, “best practices” could be utilized, teacher librarian standards developed and strategies to connect the library with the classroom are developed, implemented, integrated and utilized. (Thomas et al. 2011)