Academic integrity, copyright in K-12 schools

 569 school library practitioners in 85 countries participated in a study to investigate the current landscape of academic integrity and copyright literacy policies and instruction in K–12 schools. The researchers identified challenges and opportunities in this crucial domain, underscoring the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to teaching academic integrity and copyright literacy regardless of the specific curriculum followed by each school. The study found that many K-12 schools lack policies on academic integrity and copyright, with variability in teaching practices, highlighting the need for improved education and collaboration between school library professionals and teachers. 

Hossain, Z., Celik, O., & Hertel, C. (2024).  Academic integrity and copyright literacy policy and instruction in k-12 schools: a global study from the perspective of school library professionals. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 4, article no. 4.

https://edintegrity.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s40979-024-00150-x

Global Digital Reading Report

Sora, the student reading platform from OverDrive, published “its first annual reading report of worldwide student digital reading data for the 2022-2023 school year.” “The State of K-12 Digital Reading,” which is available to download for free after registering, “reveals compelling regional differences, double digit growth in Comics and Graphic Novels and a surprising insight on which months tracked the most time spent reading.”

Key findings include the following:

Digital reading in K-12 schools has increased significantly over the past few years. Since 2019, total usage (based on digital book checkouts) has grown 286 percent as the number of schools using the Sora platform more than doubled. In 2022-23, usage continued the trend with 12% growth.

Reading sessions on the Sora reading app were up more than 8 percent compared to the previous school year (2021-2022), with total books read per student increasing by 3 percent.

The ebook format accounted for 84 percent of titles opened during the ’22-’23 school year, while audiobooks remain popular with 14 percent. Comics and graphic novels have contributed to the strong ebook usage, more than quadrupling in checkouts and jumping from 31 to 42% of total ebook checkouts since 2019.

For more information, read the press release at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/student-ebook-usage-breaks-records-302105186.html.

2024 School Library Budget and Spending Survey

 The School Library Journal's annual budget and spending survey's 2024 findings show stable budgets (although depending more on state and federal money than on local funding) and more spending on print books less spending on ebooks, now that most schools are back to in-person instruction. School librarians also spent money on upgrading their furniture. With book bans and challenges becoming more prevalent, school librarians are sometimes needing to get more approvals for spending choices. More details can be found in the full article.

Cockcroft, M. (2024, April 4). Spend it if you can. School Library Journal. 

https://www.slj.com/story/spend-it-if-you-can-SLJ-2024-school-library-budget-survey