Open AccessExploring Research Topics in the Field of School Librarianship based on Text Mining
Author(s) -
Soohyung Joo,
Maria Cahill
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
school libraries worldwide
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2816-3788
pISSN - 1023-9391
DOI - 10.29173/slw8214
Subject(s) - latent dirichlet allocation , school library , information literacy , reading (process) , library science , field (mathematics) , literacy , computer science , mathematics education , topic model , sociology , pedagogy , psychology , political science , information retrieval , mathematics , pure mathematics , law
This study used text mining to explore research topics in the two leading research journals in the field of school librarianship, School Libraries Worldwide and School Library Research. Titles and abstracts were collected from 225 articles of the two journals for the 10 years, 2006 through 2015. Term frequency analysis and topic modeling based on Latent Dirichlet allocation were employed to analyze the collected data. The findings showed the most frequently observed terms and imply the importance of learning, education and programing in school library research. Topic modeling extracted 20 research topics in the field including: school library programming; information literacy; professional roles; digital and technology leadership; research design; policy and management; and others. This study confirmed that programming related topics have been the most widely researched in school librarianship. In both journals, programming is a popular topic. Additionally, professional role, technology, and inquiry skills are amongst popular topics in School Libraries Worldwide, while information literacy, reading, and learning are more common topics in School Library Research.