Please excuse cross postings

 

FYI,

 

I’m sharing this information from the Youth Services Consultant at the Ohio State Library, one of the partnering agencies, along with The Kentucky Dept. of Libraries and Archives and Indiana State Library, involved in this study.

 

Based on findings from the Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded Storytimes for School Readiness and Community Needs project (LG-96-17-0199-17), a multi-state study of public library storytime programs designed for preschool children, two fully online asynchronous modules were created designed to support librarians’ learning. Both modules are freely available and accessible through November 30, 2021.

 

Enhancing Storytime Programs to Better Support Children’s Learning Outcomes is available via this link: https://www.hdilearning.org/course-catalog/?woo_category=409

(note: we had previously made this learning module available in Spring 2021)

 

Enhancing Storytimes to Promote School Readiness: Considerations for Selecting Books is available via this link: https://www.hdilearning.org/course-catalog/?woo_category=409  

 

Both modules consist of a narrated presentation and video demonstrations as well as self-reflection questions and responses embedded throughout.

 

We estimate Enhancing Storytime Programs to Better Support Children’s Learning Outcomes will take approximately 95 minutes to complete, and Enhancing Storytimes to Promote School Readiness: Considerations for Selecting Books will take approximately 2 hours to complete. Participants will be offered a certificate of participation upon completion of each module.

 

The modules are hosted on the Learn Dash learning management system licensed to the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute. To access the learning modules, you will be required to create a username and password.

 

As part of the learning modules, you will be responding to self-reflection and knowledge questions embedded throughout the modules. You will have the option to consent to allow researchers at the University of Kentucky to review your responses and include them as part of a larger study designed to help us understand more about librarians’ priorities when planning storytime programs. You may not get personal benefit from taking part in this research study, but some volunteers experience satisfaction from knowing they have contributed to research that may possibly benefit others in the future.

 

If you do not want to be part of the study, you may indicate that preference. You will still be able to utilize the learning modules, and you will still be eligible to receive the certificate of completion, but your responses will not be included in the study. Your employers will not know whether or not you have agreed to allow the data to be used by researchers.

 

There are no known risks to participating in this study.

 

Your responses to the questionnaires will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by law. When we write about the study you will not be identified. Your responses will be linked to your username; however, the researchers of this study will not attempt to connect your responses to your identity in any way. If you decide to stop participating after you begin the questionnaire, you can continue the learning module without responding to additional questions and still be offered a certificate of participation upon completion of the module.

 

The information collected in the responses may be used for future research or shared with other researchers without your additional informed consent.

 

We hope to receive completed questionnaires from about 1,000 people, so your answers are important to us.  Of course, you have a choice about whether or not to complete the questionnaire, but if you do participate, you are free to skip any questions or discontinue at any time. You will not be penalized in any way for skipping or discontinuing the questionnaire.  

 

Please be aware, while we make every effort to safeguard your data once received from the online learning management company, given the nature of online surveys, as with anything involving the Internet, we can never guarantee the confidentiality of the data while still on the learning management company’s servers, or while en route to either them or us. It is also possible the raw data collected for research purposes will be used for marketing or reporting purposes by the learning management/data gathering company after the research is concluded, depending on the company’s Terms of Service and Privacy policies.

 

If you have questions about the study, please feel free to ask; my contact information is given below. 

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this important project.

 

Sincerely,

Maria Cahill, PhD

School of Information Science, University of Kentucky

PHONE:  859-218-2293

E-MAIL:  ...@uky.edu" style="color: #2199e8; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">mari...@uky.edu

 

If you have complaints, suggestions, or questions about your rights as a research volunteer, contact the staff in the University of Kentucky Office of Research Integrity at 859-257-9428 or toll-free at 1-866-400-9428.

 

Maria Cahill, PhD Associate Professor University of Kentucky School of Information Science, College of Communication and Information Educational Leadership Studies, College of Education Lexington, KY 40506 859-218-2293 ...@uky.edu" style="color: #2199e8; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">mari...@uky.edu

 

Janet Ingraham Dwyer

Library Consultant

274 E. 1^st Avenue

Columbus, OH 43201

Tel: 614-644-6910

...@library.ohio.gov" style="color: #2199e8; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">jdw...@library.ohio.gov

library.ohio.gov

library.ohio.gov/youth-services

 

 

Forwarded by:

 

Sharon Rawlins, MLS, she/her/hers

Youth Services Specialist for Lifelong Learning

NJ State Library

185 West State St.

P.O. Box 520

Trenton, NJ 08625-0520

...@njstatelib.org" style="color: #2199e8; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">sraw...@njstatelib.org

609-278-2640 ext. 116

609-278-2650 – fax