Boosting the research mindset of school librarians: a case study from Croatia

This study explores the functionality of the Moodle-based professional development program, Research in School Libraries (RSL), created for school librarians in Croatia. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the RSL program as well as the suitability of the e-learning platform Loomen for running professional development programs for school librarians. In this case study, multiple sources of evidence are used: RSL program, statistics of RSL program participants’ activities from the Loomen platform and responses from the online survey conducted with the program participants. The findings show that school librarians in Croatia actively participate in the RSL program, highly rate the quality of the program and find it useful. Furthermore, school librarians find the Loomen platform suitable for their professional development and value its many advantages. Based on this research, it can be concluded that the model for professional development used in the RSL program works well for school librarians in Croatia. Therefore, following the ideas and principles behind this model, the RSL program will be further developed and new modules will be introduced and added to the program.