Most of the literature surrounding makerspaces is designed by researchers in isolation or in partnership with adults working in makerspaces and centers adult voices, even when focusing on spaces and programs designed to serve youth. Rarely does this literature position youth as collaborators or co-researchers in investigating makerspaces. Researchers of youth participation in makerspaces have the opportunity, however, to go one step further, working with youth as collaborators and co-researchers rather than just as participants. Given the multiple marginalizations many youth face, it is critical that researchers design their research and collaborate with library and makerspace professionals to design library makerspace and research experiences that are decolonizing and participatory. This work must be taken up consciously and intentionally, as both libraries and makerspaces have histories of prioritizing dominant white, middle-class, Western values and practices (Honma, 2005; Vossoughi, Hooper, & Escudé, 2016).
This study analyzes the course listings of ALA-accredited school librarian training programs and their inclusion of special education training for preservice school librarians. Fewer than a quarter of school librarian training programs require special education training. Of those that do require it, three-quarters require it only for students without a teaching credential. Only two of the recommended or required courses address special education in the school library setting specifically.
As makerspaces continue to proliferate in academic and public libraries, researchers and educators are increasingly concerned with ensuring these STEM-rich learning environments are inclusive to historically marginalized student communities. This article offers a new framework, the Description Framework of Makerspaces, to outline the relationship between the spatial qualities of makerspaces and the user population it attracts. This study represents the first phase of a 5-year research program dedicated to analyzing the everyday life information seeking practices that students (un)intentionally make when deciding to engage with a STEM-rich learning environment such as a makerspace. Using constructivist grounded framework to analyze interview data from 17 academic makerspace leaders, we theorize 2 propositions from the main findings: (a) the act of defining a makerspace is difficult and in tension with several imaginings of a makerspace: imagined, ideal, and experienced and (b) a makerspace is significantly composed of affective features that are often unarticulated and abstract. By conceptualizing makerspaces as environments that are configured by both physical and affective characteristics, we reveal insights regarding a baseline conceptualization of the features of a conventional academic makerspace and the design decisions that makerspace leaders make and are confronted with.
This literature review explores the Everyday Life Information-Seeking needs of adolescents. Adolescents are at a unique stage in their development and have needs that distinguish them from both younger children and adults. This review first defines Everyday Life Information-Seeking and adolescence. It then explores arguments that ELIS needs grow out of developmental needs. It describes several typologies of adolescents’ ELIS needs. Finally, it examines the ELIS needs of specific adolescent populations.
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