What role do social networking, blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 elements have in the daily lives of school librarians? That question will be examined for the first time in the American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) longitudinal study for 2008.

The survey will gather information about librarians' use of electronic tools, ranging from online chats and instant messaging to sites like MySpace and Facebook. "This kind of data will give us the background to say 'are we cutting-edge yet?'" says Sara Kelly Johns, AASL president.

"The new [AASL] standards are going to mean that librarians are going to have to model and use the new social networking activities and possibilities because the new standards are centered on student learning," explains Johns, who is a librarian at Lake Placid Middle/High School in Upstate New York. "Looking at the questions will give us data on how many schools can [use the new social networking tools] within their current technology setting."

Media specialists are encouraged to participate in the study, which begins data collection on January 11 and finishes on March 15. The study is designed to help AASL clarify the resources and practices of media specialists nationwide. The organization will then use the findings to fine-tune its advocacy work for school libraries at the local, state, and national levels. The data from the longitudinal study, which will be released later this year, will help both the profession and educational decision-makers understand the state of the nation's school library media programs.

The 2007 study found, for example, that half of the responding media centers had almost one full-time equivalent media specialist, typically working 37 hours weekly.

Half of the responding schools also reported collections of at least 11,500 books, or 18 volumes per student. The top quarter described collections of at least 15,000 volumes, or 25 titles per student. The top five percent reported 25,000 volumes, or 43 books per student.

More than 4,500 responses were completed in the inaugural year of the study, Johns, says, who hopes that, "We'll see twice the level of participation this year as we work to fill a significant gap in data about school libraries."

Conducting the study are the RSL Research Group, a Colorado-based library research company, and Keith Curry Lance, lead author of "How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards: The Second Colorado Study." More information is available online.

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