Perspectives of school administrators related to school library media programs after participating in an online course, 'School Library Advocacy for Administrators'

This mixed methods study examines the experiences of two groups of administrators who participated in the online course, "School Library Advocacy for Administrators," respectively, in the summer of 2005 and the fall of 2006. The course was offered through Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. It was developed to educate administrators about school library media programs and the role of the library media specialist, and to subsequently create administrative advocates for school libraries. The purpose of this study is to explore how these administrators perceive that the course made a difference in what they know about school library media programs and how the information impacted their perspectives and actions in relationship to the library media programs in their buildings.;Employing a mixed methods approach, this study makes use of standardized responses from surveys, action plans, feedback sheets and demographic information. In addition, it uses descriptive/phenomenological methods to examine the lived experiences of the participants through interviews. Participants' perceptions, shared through semi-structured interviews, are the result of their individual interpretations of the meanings assigned to events and to acquired knowledge. The interviews show how participants make meaning of their experiences related to a Mansfield University online course and how they put the resulting action plans to work.;Findings indicate that the Mansfield University online course provides an impetus for participating administrators to change their perceptions toward library media programs and make changes in their school library programs to some degree. Based on these findings, the Mansfield online course appears to offer a viable solution for informing educational administrators about school library programs. It also provides an avenue for filling a gap that exists in university level educational administration coursework.