Amelia Anderson, a Postdoctoral Scholar in FSU’s School of Information, and Abigail Phillips, currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences at Utah State University, both earned their Ph.D. in Information Studies from FSU’s School of Information.

In February, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) awarded the 2018 Frances Henne Research Grant to Anderson and Phillips for their research project, “Youth with Autism and Digital Citizenship in the Library: What They Need and What Brings Them In.” The $1,000 grant is administered by YALSA and funded by VOYA Magazine.

The project’s goal is to understand public library based digital citizenship programming would be receptive to youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

“We are grateful to the Frances Henne jury, YALSA, and VOYA Magazine for recognizing the value in our work and giving us the opportunity to pursue this study over the next year,” said Phillips. “Our preliminary work indicates a great need for support for teens on the spectrum in public libraries; and we’re hopeful that our findings will inspire librarians who, too, provide supports for teen as they engage in online environments. As former public librarians, we are excited to combine both our practitioner and researcher skills in this project.”

Anderson said, “We feel so honored that the committee found value in our work and are providing us with the resources and support to move forward with our research. From our backgrounds as public librarians, both Dr. Phillips and I feel strongly about research that has practical implications. We are excited to get started and to share our findings with the library community, ultimately providing them with information about how to better provide services for digital youth on the autism spectrum.”

Read the full press release here.