Outline of dissertation research questions, literature search, methodology, findings and analysis, with recommendations for future research.

1. March 16, 2013
ELIS PRACTICES OF SUBURBAN
TEENS IN A HIGHLY
TECHNOLOGICAL HIGH SCHOOL
LIBRARY: A CASE STUDY
Lori L. Franklin, Ph.D.
Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management (SLIM)

2. The Problem
• Rapid transformations are occurring in the social and
educational worlds inhabited by students today.
• Technology impacts the ways students work, learn,
socialize, collaborate, and play.
• In order to meet the needs of today’s learners,
educators must develop new pedagogy designed to
prepare students and their teachers for interacting
with a technologically modern, global society.

3. The research question:
• “What are the ELIS practices exhibited by
upper income students working in a highly
technological school library setting?”

4. The research subquestions:
• 1. How do students in a highly technological school library environment use
physical and virtual technologies and other information resources provided
by the school library?
• 2. What are the students’ most frequently expressed everyday life
information needs topics?
• 3. What people sources do the students consult when seeking information
for non-school purposes when seeking everyday life information in the
school library?
4. How do student ELIS practices in this upper income setting compare to
urban teen ELIS practices?
• 5. How do findings for this study affect implications for school librarians
administering best practices for working with students?

5. Literature review:
• Set within the interpretive paradigm.
• Relies on constructivism as a guiding theory.
• The literature review for this study draw together
selected theory from constructivism, the fields of
education and psychology, and from LIS research
streams and definitions of today’s learners.
• Past ELIS studies examined and analyzed.

6. LIS and ELIS research streams

7. Evolution of ELIS studies
• Savolainen (1995, 2008), noted for developing ELIS
theory, was influenced by Dervin’s Sensemaking
model.
• He adopted and adapted Bourdieu’s (1984)
discussion of habitus and way of life and mastery of
life theorizing into a Typology of ELIS model.
• He hypothesized that a combination of social and
psychological factors inform information seeking.
• Savolainen, in comparing two divergent groups of
workers, found that way of life directs information
seeking in a significant way.

8. The urban teen study
• Conducted by Agosto and Hughes-Hassell
(2006a, 2006b).
• Informants: 27 students (25 African-American,
1 Caucasian, 1 Asian) who lived in inner-city
neighborhoods, and who either visited or
volunteered at two public libraries.
• Researchers attempted to identify the teens’
ELIS behaviors.

9. Four disturbing disconnects
• 1: When there is a lack of access to devices (haves v.
have-nots).
• 2: When students’ perceived levels of proficiency
derail their intellectual progress.
• 3: When ICTs are prevalent yet ignored in
educational settings.
• 4: When practitioners depend on advocacy bids for
professional growth: “A profession without reflective
practitioners willing to learn about the advances of
research in the field is disconnected from best
practice and best thinking” (Todd, 2003).

10. AASL guiding documents 1
• AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner:
• Developed by AASL in 2007
• Students a) inquire, think critically and gain
knowledge; b) draw conclusions, make
informed decisions, apply knowledge to new
situations, and create new knowledge; share
knowledge and participate ethically and
productively as members of our democratic
society; and d) pursue personal and aesthetic
growth.

11. AASL guiding documents 2
• Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School
Library Media Programs:
• Developed by AASL in 2009 as a guiding document
to support the learning standards.
• Delineates these school librarian roles:
1. Leader
2. Instructional partner
3. Information specialist
4. Teacher
5. Program administrator

13. Methodology
• Purposive sampling: used because of knowledge
of the population and purpose of study; group is
chosen because they serve a specific purpose.
• Designed to align with some aspects of the urban
teen study.
• Methodology guided by constructivist
metatheory (within the interpretive paradigm):
goal was to find information representing the
perspectives and voices of the participants.

14. Methods

16. Study generalizability
• Generalizability is not a goal for this study.
• Transferability - Lincoln and Guba (1985)
suggest that inferences about homogeneous
populations may be made, and that
generalizations are not necessarily the
expectation for qualitative studies.

17. Study credibility
• Glaser & Strauss (1967) recommend
researchers conducting qualitative research
strive for credibility.
• Creswell (2007) recommends these validation
strategies: triangulation, peer-review,
clarifying researcher bias, member checking,
rich description, all of which were used in this
study.

18. Study triangulation
• Triangulation: is enabled when
• multiple and different sources and methods
were used.
•  observation
•  school librarian interviews
•  student focus group sessions
•  survey data (Edmodo online polls)
•  print and virtual documentation

19. Study Limitations
• Does not provide a wide view across several
highly technological high school sites.
• Participants represent a homogenous group.
• Just two librarian at school (may have
influenced one another – bias).
• Did not interview paraprofessional staff.
• Another study at this site is not replicable –
students, staffing, and policies have changed.

20. Analysis: nonparticipant observations: findings
• Savolainen’s described Mastery of Life
observed.
• Students’ use mobile devices tools as a
structuring structure observed.
• Blend of work and play observed. (example:
Monopoly app on smartphone)
• Reliance on mobile devices for meeting ELIS
needs before seeking help from other humans
observed.
• Need for guidance observed.

21. Analysis: SL interviews 1

22. Analysis: SL interviews 2
• Core categories help to organize and place school librarian interview
data within the research questions for this study.
• The category of Learning and ELIS is influenced by roles exhibited by
school librarians, the very nature of 21st century learners, the culture of
the new school (placed within a larger district culture), and familial
expectations.

23. Findings: SL interviews: RQ
What are the ELIS practices exhibited by upper income students working in a highly technological
school library setting?
• The school librarians embrace mobile device usage in the library, but
have not yet developed ways to infuse device usage into instruction,
especially in the area of ethical use of information.
• Students at this site demand instructional models.
• Students at this site monitor and advocate for educational assessment
and growth.
• Students prefer to use their devices in the library so they may blend
work with play.
• A rule-bending culture exists for all participants.
• Students bypass the district-mandated filtering system through use of
personal mobile devices.

24. How do the students in a highly technological school library environment use physical and virtual
technologies and other information resources provided by the school library?
Findings: SL interviews: SQ 1
• Students primarily visit the school library to print
assignments. Locating print books is not a
primary reason for visiting the school library.
• Students use the library as a place to relax and
use their mobile devices. It is an inviting place.
• Students use the Windows OS desktop computers
more often than the Macintosh OS desktop
computers.
• Students access librarian-created LibGuides
created for assignments.

25. What are the students’ most frequently expressed everyday life information needs?
Findings: SL interviews: SQ 2
• Academics, daily life routine (hours of
operation, meeting times and dates), fashion,
college, social activities (sports, clubs, dances),
cars, gaming, travel, current events, popular
culture, and social/legal norms.
• Topics of cars, travel, and gaming represent
new additions to the reported urban teen
study ELIS topics.

26. What people sources do the students consult when seeking information for non-school purposes when
seeking everyday life information in the school library?
Findings: SL interviews: SQ 3
• Reliance on mobile devices before consulting
friends and other human sources.
• Friends also sought as people sources.
• Librarians stated they were approached nearly
always to solve issues relating to technology
questions – not ELIS needs.

27. How do student ELIS practices in this upper income setting compare to urban teen ELIS practices?
Findings: SL interviews: SQ 4
• Urban teens’ average home computer access: 68 percent.
• Suburban teens’ average home computer access: 100 percent
• Suburban teens own the latest devices, are strongly motivated to make excellent
grades to help assure entry into top tier colleges and universities. They frequently
check their online reporting of grades and argue with teachers if grades appear
incorrectly reported.
• Urban teens and suburban teens both seek information about daily life routines,
social activities, creative performance, academics, current events, goods and
services, friend/peer/romantic relationships, popular culture, fashion, college, job
responsibilities, social/legal norms, creative consumption, and school culture.
• Suburban teens did not seek information about familial relationships, emotional
health, religious practice, self-image, philosophical concerns, heritage/cultural
identity, civic duty, physical safety, and sexual safety

28. How do findings from this study affect implications for school librarians administering best practices
for working with students?
Findings: SL interviews: SQ 5
• School librarians must learn more about mobile
devices and use them collaboratively with
students and teachers in ways that encourage
learning scenarios that ask students to reach for
deeper answers, and to learn how to seek and
use information ethically.
• Per AASL (2009) guiding documents, school
librarians are charged with helping students to
pursue aesthetic and personal growth.

29. Analysis: SFG sessions 1

30. Analysis: SFG sessions 2
• Core categories help to organize and place student focus group session
data within the research questions for this study.
• Core categories show that 21st century students, at this site, exist within a
resource-rich environment surrounding their ELIS practices, and this in turn
impacts their work as student learners.
• Students at this study site manage ELIS practices whenever and wherever
they desire, as their mobile devices provide (most of) them with unfettered
access to information resources.

31. What are the ELIS practices exhibited by upper income students working in a highly technological
school library setting?
Findings: SFG: RQ
• Suburban teens prefer to use personal mobile devices in
lieu of school-provided computers.
• District-mandated filtering is an annoyance for them, but
they quickly bypass this barrier by depending on their
private mobile devices and data plans for accessing desired
information.
• Some ELIS practices occurring at school are driven by
academic assignments (searching for reporting of grades,
for example).
• Completing academic work alongside play (through access
to mobile devices) affords students opportunities to take
“work breaks.”

32. How do the students in a highly technological school library environment use physical and virtual
technologies and other information resources provided by the school library?
Findings: SFG: SQ 1
• While at school, suburban teens first use mobile devices (by
virtue of school library policy that allows use in the library)
and then use school-provided desktop and laptop computers.
• Students use devices other than mobile phones in the library,
with the understanding that they may have to connect
through the school’s network for (filtered) Internet access.
• Students reported reading newspapers, book, and magazines
in the school library.
• One student stated that he obtains club meeting information
through viewing of the school broadcast news program.

33. What are the students’ most frequently expressed everyday life information needs?
Findings: SFG: SQ 2
• Academics, social activities, creative
consumption (finding images for creating
newer, mash-up style projects), gaming, cars,
and travel.
• Gaming, cars, and travel are new additions to
the urban teen typology.
• Example: student locating best cruise price for
family. “I’m the technology.”

34. What people sources do the students consult when seeking information for non-school purposes when
seeking everyday life information in the school library?
Findings: SFG: SQ 3
• Suburban teens first seek themselves, using
their mobile devices as a conduit to seek
information, as information sources when
finding ELIS topics of interest.
• They also reported seeking help from school
librarians, and friends.
• One student said he seeks help from parents.
• Mention of school librarians may have been a
reactivity effect (aware of study/setting).

35. How do student ELIS practices in this upper income setting compare to urban teen ELIS practices?
Findings: SFG: SQ 4
• Urban teens’ average home computer access: 68 percent.
• Suburban teens’ average home computer access: 100 percent
• Suburban teens have membership in affluent families living in mostly
large homes. Urban teens lived in inner city neighborhoods, and fall
within a lower socioeconomic classification.
• Note: suburban teens did not identify themselves as members of an
upper-income group.
• Both groups had access to mobile devices; suburban teens owned the
latest devices with home-provided data plans that allowed them to send
and receive text messages, and to use Internet access for surfing and
shopping.
• Suburban teens subvert barriers to information access through use of
personal mobile devices.

36. How do findings from this study affect implications for school librarians administering best practices
for working with students?
Findings: SFG: SQ 5
• AASL (2007) Standards require that students be
taught ethical use information resources.
• Allowing mobile device use in the library is a first
step; librarians need to be forward-thinking about
they will incorporate such devices into
instruction.
• The school library setting for this study provides a
prime example of both availability of and access
to mobile devices that would allow for
collaborative lesson-planning to occur in ways
that accomplish both of these critical instructional
requirements.

37. Surveys: Edmodo online polls 1
• Five brief, checklist-style polls were administered in an
online format to students on five separate dates.
• Potential pool of 42 student participants affected on
each polling date by varying types of absenteeism.
• Poll 1 = 29 students
• Poll 2 = 29 students
• Poll 3 = 10 students
• Poll 4 = 7 students
• Poll 5 = 10 students
• Total poll respondents = 85

38. Edmodo online polls: analysis
• Analysis for online survey polls consisted of
counting responses and classifying them
into categories for comparison.
• Polls were designed to help obtain
additional information from student
informants.
• Polling results for Poll 4 were removed
because of low participation.

39. What are the ELIS practices exhibited by upper income students working in a highly technological
school library setting?
Findings: Edmodo polls: RQ
• 100 percent computer access at home reported.
• Text messaging is a pervasive form of
communication.
• Music and television are important aspects of
their media lives.
• Suburban teens reported using mobile phones,
television, iPod devices, videogaming systems,
online television on the previous day.
• Online television viewing and videogaming
represent a new addition to the urban teen
typology of media sources.

40. How do the students in a highly technological school library environment use physical and virtual
technologies and other information resources provided by the school library?
Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 1
• Students heavily use mobile devices, followed
by iPod or other MP3 player devices, and
television watching is a part of their daily lives.
• They prefer computer use over laptop use;
many reported owning computers at home
using more than one operating system.
• Some students indicated they use
instructional video to help meet their
information needs.

41. What are the students’ most frequently expressed everyday life information needs?
Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 2
• Poll 4 provided answers for this subquestion.
Poll results were removed because of the low
number of participants.

42. What people sources do the students consult when seeking information for non-school purposes when
seeking everyday life information in the school library?
Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 3
• Suburban teens ranked friends first, and then
parents, teachers, school librarians, and
guidance counselors.

43. How do student ELIS practices in this upper income setting compare to urban teen ELIS practices?
Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 4
• Urban teens’ avg. home computer access: 68 %.
• Suburban teens’ avg. home computer access: 100 %.
• A proliferation of mobile devices, particularly including
cell phones, smartphones, and MP3 players, are used
by suburban teens, while urban teens used more
traditional sources of communication and other media,
such as telephones, television, books, newspapers,
magazines, automated telephones, and school
notebooks.

44. How do findings from this study affect implications for school librarians administering best practices
for working with students?
Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 5
• Because the students listed teachers and
guidance counselors as primary people
sources, after friends and parents, it would
behoove school librarians to include these
additional people sources when forming the
earlier recommended learning partnerships
with students.
• Teachers, coaches, and guidance counselors,
and even administrators, must be educated in
order to help stakeholders understand the
digital world today’s students inhabit.

45. Print documentation 1
• 16 print documents, including:
• State Department of Education report card
• District-published materials
• Newspaper articles
• School materials for students
• Print documents examined to help place the
school library within district, neighborhood,
and city contexts.

46. Virtual documentation 1
• The library web page functions as a portal site
for gaining quick access to social networking
sites hosted by the library, and to the library
LibGuides and online subscription resources.
• Web 2.0 presence: Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Viddler, Flickr, and Poll Daddy.

47. Theoretical Model of Urban Teen Development

48. Suburban teen “selves”
• Suburban teen ELIS topics are: academics, social
activities, daily life routine, current events,
fashion, college, creative consumption, gaming,
goods and services, cars, entertainment, travel,
pop culture, and social/legal norms.
• The identified urban teen selves are: cognitive,
social, reflective, emotional, physical, creative
and sexual.
• For suburban teens, evidence of all selves exists
in comparison to the Theoretical Model of Urban
Teen Development, except for the “sexual self.”

49. Evidence of a “playful self”
• Gaming represents a new ELIS topic. Gaming
inhabits some of the urban teen selves: social,
cognitive, and emotional.
• Other evidence (observation, SL interviews,
SFG sessions) points to suburban teens
inhabiting a newly discovered “playful self.”
• The playful self modified the existing model
and an adapted Theoretical Model of
Suburban Teen Development is created.

50. Theoretical Model of Urban Teen Development

51. Comparison of urban teens and suburban teens

52. Conclusions and recommendations
• Themes emerging from this study.
• Recommendations for future research.
• Recommendations for school librarians
working with 21st-century students.

53. 1. Suburban teens demand instructional models.
Theme 6
2. Suburban teens prefer to use personal mobile devices to school-owned hardware for meeting ELIS needs while in the
school library.
3. Suburban teens actively manage their educational assessment and growth.
• As instructional partners, school librarians
4. Suburban teens first seek information on their own when engaging in personal information quests, and then rely on
must form interconnected learning
friends and other people sources.
partnerships with students, teachers, and
5. Suburban teens use their mobile devices to blend play with work when completing assignments in the school library.
6. As instructional partners,staff in order to guide student ELIS teachers, and
school school librarians must form interconnected learning partnerships with students,
school staff in order to guide student ELIS practices in meaningful ways.
practices in meaningful ways.

54. SL recommendation 1
• School librarians working with suburban teen
populations must thoroughly educate
themselves about emerging technologies in
order to develop instructional opportunities
that move beyond using mobile devices and
tools and instead promote ethical, productive,
and intelligent incorporation of them into
lifelong learning.

55. SL recommendation 2
• School librarians must form interconnected
partnerships with the very stakeholders
affected by findings from this study: teachers,
students, and other school personnel.

56. SL recommendation 3
• School librarians working with suburban teen
populations must develop an action plan that
considers research-based findings; such a plan
includes development of best practices for
administering library programs, and includes
ongoing development of collaboration,
instruction, and advocacy efforts.

57. Future research:
• How do adolescents from middle-income families conduct ELIS practices
while working in school libraries?
• Are there library programs currently providing collaborative, facilitative
learning experiences that incorporate the use of mobile devices in ways
that move beyond tool access and usage?
• In what ways to students conduct ELIS practices in school libraries where
mandated filtering programs are in place?
• Would a similar study with a wealthy class population provide
comparable findings as in the suburban teen study? In examining study
themes, what differences might exist between these two groups,
especially in areas of cultural expectations and the blending of work and
play?
• Is the preference to rely on mobile devices when seeking information of
a personal nature, rather than first seeking friends and other humans, an
anomaly or does it represent a new information behavior?