Introduction

Thank you in advance for your participation in this short pre-screening survey. The survey is intended to aid in the recruitment of school librarians interested in taking part in a study to understand their digital curation practices, and specifically the curation of Open Educational Resources (OER). If selected to participate in the study, you will be compensated for your time. 

This pre-screening survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your name and your responses will remain confidential; neither individuals nor schools will be identified in any summaries of the survey data.

Please complete the survey by January 30, 2018.  If you have questions about the survey or the study, please contact Cynthia Jimes, ISKME Director of Research, at cynthia@iskme.org.

Below are the key terms you will encounter in the survey:
  • Open Educational Resources (OER) - OER are curricular resources that may be freely accessed, copied, reused, adapted and shared. They are available under an open license or are in the public domain for use by anyone, without paying licensing fees. OER can include entire courses, textbooks, lecture slides, lesson plans, assessments handouts for students, videos, online tutorials, podcasts, diagrams, and any other freely available, adaptable material for use in teaching and learning. For the purposes of this survey, OER excludes open access journals and articles.
  • Digital Curation - Curation is defined in this survey as the selection, description, organization, and promotion of online and digital resources for curriculum and instruction to match the needs of the targeted school or school system audience.

Note About the Study
"Exploring OER Curation and the Role of School Librarians” is a 2-year project, supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (http://www.imls.gov). The aim of the project is to study K-12 school librarian digital curation practices. Based on information collected on existing practices, the project will develop a set of practical recommendations for facilitating school librarian curation and promotion of open educational resources (OER) to enhance teaching and learning.

School librarians from five states, CA, FL, MI, NH, and WA, will be selected to participate. Findings will be widely disseminated to school and district leaders, school and public librarians, researchers, educators, professional networks, and policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels to serve the diverse needs of communities across the nation. Ultimately, the project seeks to propel K-12 education forward by meeting the crucial need for invaluable instructional content that carries no or low cost.

The study is being led by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (www.iskme.org) in partnership with Florida State University School of Information, and a national Advisory Board of leading experts in library practice.

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