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Purchasing Subscription Reference Databases In The Iowa Elementary Public School Library, Michaela B. Seeman

Honors Program Theses

With so many reference materials available for the elementary public school library, making subscription reference database purchasing decisions can be an overwhelming task. The purpose of this research study was to examine how the 15 participating Iowa teacher librarians made subscription reference database purchasing decisions and the use they observe of various reference materials by students and staff influencing these decisions. To answer these questions, I conducted a survey asking Iowa public elementary school teacher librarians how they decided what to purchase and criteria they used for examining reference materials such as subscription reference databases. The population used for this …