Building Consensus for School Librarian Collaboration: A Delphi Study
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Authors
Harland, Pamela
Ballard, Susan
Small, Rachel
Date
2025
Type
Article
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Building Consensus for School Librarian Collaboration
Abstract
This Delphi study engaged 38 national experts in school librarianship to develop a consensus-based model of school librarian collaboration (SLC) that reflects current practice. Through three iterative rounds the panel achieved strong consensus on a definition of SLC, a framework representing a continuum of collaborative practice, and necessary conditions for success. The resulting definition of SLC is "an educator-to-educator partnership to enhance student learning through complementary expertise that develops over time and is built on mutual trust, shared goals, and open communication." The seven levels continuum of SLC are: Autonomy, Curation, Contribution, Coordination, Integration, Partnership, and Assurance. These levels allow practitioners to identify current collaborative practice and plan for growth. This work extends prior theoretical models by incorporating critical environmental, cultural, and dispositional factors that impact collaborative efforts and by creating tools to operationalize the consensus model for practitioners.