The Florida State University team of Janice Newsum and Dr. Marcia Mardis has received the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 2010 Frances Henne/YALSA/VOYA Research Award. The award provides $1,000 of seed money for small scale projects that reflect YALSA’s research agenda in the area of young adult library services.

“Are Boys Radically Changing? A Fresh Exploration of Boys’ Internet Use in Public Libraries.” is designed to contextualize data about boys’ online behavior within the framework of the Radical Change theory. Radical Change theory acknowledges the effect of digital media on young adult’s and children’s literature from the perspectives of interactivity, connectivity, and access.

“This is a very exciting accomplishment,” said Mardis, an assistant professor at the Florida State University School of Library & Information Studies. “First, in that YALSA only awards one such grant each year and that Janice, who is a first-year doctoral student, is the lead researcher. We are very proud of the quality or our students. And second, that this grant allows us to build on the excellent work of our colleagues at Florida State. We’re very excited to continue on their path to improve youth services.”

The research will replicate a 2002 study and will allow the researchers to examine why differences between past findings and the current study might exist. The researchers will also explore how the results can facilitate changes in research and practice.

The research award will be presented at the American Library Association annual meeting in Washington, D.C., summer 2010.

The School of Library & Information Studies at Florida State University is one of three schools comprising the College of Communication & Information. It is also home of Partnerships Advancing Library Media (PALM) Center, a joint effort of the College of Communication & Information, College of Education and Learning Systems Institute. Dr. Nancy Everhart is director and Dr. Marcia Mardis is co-director of PALM Center; Janice Newsum is a doctoral fellow there. PALM works to increase the visibility and focus on issues at the intersection of leadership, technology integration, and critical literacies, particularly in the PreK-12 education arenas that include school library media centers