Ruth V. Small

Ruth V. Small, PhD, is Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor and Director of the School Media Program in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University (iSchool @ Syracuse). Her expertise is in the area of motivation, which she applies to a variety of information contexts, including inquiry teaching and learning in libraries. She has received two major national awards for her research in this area and has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications, including six books. Her current research focuses on the librarian’s role in fostering children’s creativity and innovative thinking; she shares some of her findings in this book. As founding director of Syracuse University’s Center for Digital Literacy, Ruth has led or co-led more than 20 funded projects, including S.O.S. for Information Literacy, a multimedia database of lesson plans and teaching ideas, PLUS: Preparing Librarians for Urban Schools, a program for preservice librarians committed to working in high-needs school libraries, and Project ENABLE: Expanding Nondiscriminatory Access By Librarians Everywhere, a project to train school librarians on ways to design and implement effective programs, resources, and services for students with disabilities. She has 12 years of experience as a K–12 classroom teacher and school librarian.