Collaboration in the School Social Network

Social networks are fundamental to all people. Their social network describes how they are connected to others: close relationships, peripheral relationships, and those relationships that help connect them to other people, events, or things. As information specialists, school librarians develop a mu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Knowledge quest 2009-03, Vol.37 (4), p.20-25
Main Author: Schultz-Jones, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collaboration
Collegiality
Cooperation
Course Content
Educational aspects
Educational Environment
Information literacy
Information Services
Interviews
Learning
Librarian Attitudes
Librarian Teacher Cooperation
Library Research
Media Specialists
Network Analysis
Partnerships in Education
Pilot Projects
Practice
Reading Programs
School librarians
School Libraries
Social aspects
Social Networks
Students
Teaching teams
Texas
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Summary:Social networks are fundamental to all people. Their social network describes how they are connected to others: close relationships, peripheral relationships, and those relationships that help connect them to other people, events, or things. As information specialists, school librarians develop a multidimensional social network that enables them to build a presence within the school learning community, and connect others to information services and resources. How these networks operate was the subject of a recent pilot study of the collaboration networks of five school library media specialists (SLMSs) in north Texas. This article presents the results of the pilot study which indicate that while establishing and maintaining a social network within the school environment is fundamental to the position of a school library media specialist, the network varies in frequency and level of collaboration regardless of the length of service as an SLMS. This article discusses four major themes that emerged from this research, all related to the use of the network structure in the context of the school learning environment. The four major themes are: (1) Social capital; (2) Who's in your Fave 5?; (3) Strategic groups; and (4) Professional learning communities. (Contains 10 figures.)
ISSN:1094-9046
2163-5234