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ERIC Number: EJ1045947
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1094-9046
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Community Collaboration for Inquiry Success
Fuller, Cherry; Kearley, Donna; Byerly, Gayla; Ramin, Lilly
Knowledge Quest, v43 n2 p56-59 Nov-Dec 2014
Synergy may be defined as the collaboration between two or more parties to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate parts. That is exactly what happened in Denton, Texas, when all types of librarians collaborated on a community reading initiative. In 2007 Denton Reads--a One Book, One Community organization--was formed with librarians from the Denton Independent School District (Denton ISD), the Denton Public Library, the University of North Texas (UNT), and Texas Woman's University (TWU). The Denton Reads program ran successfully for three years. During their years of collaboration, the librarians at all levels realized the emphasis of instruction was on database use; critical information literacy skills were not being addressed. In addition, a number of outside forces caused librarians to reexamine their library instruction such as AASL's "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner," the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills, and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) information literacy standards. With so many standards and state programs embracing inquiry and information literacy skills, the librarians saw opportunities where their collaboration would benefit K-20 goals to improve student performance and to graduate a stronger workforce. The solution to meeting these needs for 21st-century learners was to create a K-20 information literacy curriculum that included an inquiry focus. This article describes how Donna Kearley, Denton ISD library services coordinator, and Annie Downey, department head of UNT Libraries Research and Instructional Services, worked to positively impact both student performance and career readiness by using a spiraled K-20 information literacy curriculum integrating an inquiry process. With their administrators' enthusiastic endorsement, again all of the Denton librarians, joined together to create a new organization, the Denton Inquiry 4 Lifelong Learning (DI4LL). At this point, librarians from Denton Public Library and faculty from both TWU and UNT library schools joined the group to create this unique collaborative organization. The article concludes that the DI4LL team continues to refine the K-20 information literacy curriculum units, ensuring they meet the K-20 standards expectations and the Guided Inquiry process is clearly integrated. Lessons, projects, and resources are being added to the units, providing quick access to resources. Academic and high school librarians continue to build relationships that promote collaborative opportunities, all focused on improving students' research skills.
American Association of School Librarians. Available from: American Library Association. 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Tel: 1-800-545-2433; Web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/knowledgequest.cfm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A