Reaching All Learners: Understanding and Leveraging Points of Intersection for School Librarians and Special Education Teachers

This study investigated the information-seeking practices and interactions of school librarians and special education teachers to better understand how they support the learning of students with disabilities. The work of school librarians and special education teachers may appear divergent; however, as professionals in a rapidly changing educational environment, they share the need for resources in a variety of formats. In-depth interviews were conducted with six school librarians and six special education teachers representing a wide range of backgrounds and years of experience. Both groups expressed an increased need to learn more about accessing and using a wider range of multimodal resources and adaptive technologies. They also acknowledged the influence of the growing population of students with disabilities and the shift in PreK–12 public schools to more inclusive educational practices. Understanding the dynamics of their information-seeking behaviors may lead to additional entry points to use in helping all educators refine their information-seeking practices.

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