Online Instructional Support Provided by High School Librarians

This study sought to discover influences on the types of online instructional support provided by high school librarians. Inquiry focused on the participant librarians¿ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of implementing different types of online instructional support. Additionally, the study investigated the participants¿ experiences of the relationship between the online instructional support that they provide and instructional partnerships. A purposive sample was sought through a posting in a statewide library media listserv, which led to five participants, each from a different school district. The most valuable source of data collection was a semi-structured interview; other supporting data came from prompted participant journal entries, and from artifacts related to the participants¿ online instructional support. Individual cases examined in this qualitative study are not intended to produce generalizable knowledge; however, they provide examples documenting what is possible for high school librarians seeking to provide online instructional support.