Media Literacy in the Third Space School Library.

Abstract

This article shares the findings from a study which applies a theory of change for dynamic media literacy to foster resilience and promote positive consequences in the media ecosystem through a collaboration between academic/educational media literacy practice and the UK School Library Association. The research generates transferable findings to support capacity-building for school librarians to work with young people in third spaces to foster media ecosystem change through third space media literacy work. This article: 1. Synthesises the intersection of libraries in general and school libraries in particular with media literacy using the theoretical concept of ‘third space;’ 2. Describes the project’s methods, activities and data collection; 3. Shares the findings with regard to situating school libraries as third spaces in which to enable the positive impact of media literacy development on the capabilities and resilience of young people. This research was funded by the Nurture Network (eNurture). eNurture is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI: Grant reference: ES/S004467/1). The research was conducted by the authors in collaboration with Alison Tarrant, CEO of the UK School Library Association and Ali Kennedy, TASIS: The American School in England.