Dr. Margaret Merga

The library as a safe space in contemporary schools: An international study

March 2025, IFLA Journal
Author: Margaret K. Merga

ABSTRACT: Fostering students' well-being is a priority in many contemporary schools, given the impact of well-being-related factors on other facets of students' lives, such as academic attainment. While school libraries can make a notable contribution to student well-being, there is a lack of international research exploring how they may act as a safe space and provide access to current and credible health-information resources. The International School Library Workforce Survey captured quantitative and qualitative data on school libraries as well-being-supportive spaces from 971 respondents in 63 countries. The majority of the respondents believed that developing students' well-being is typically a priority for schools in their country and, in the vast majority of cases, the school library is used as a safe space.

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Needs Analysis for Resource Development to Fuel School Library Advocacy for Writer Visits

March 2025, Journal of Library Administration 65(1)
Author: Margaret K. Merga

ABSTRACT: Writer visits can encourage young people to meaningfully connect with books and their authors, potentially fostering greater reading engagement. While school library professionals facilitate writer visits in schools, the research gap around the benefits of these visits may make it difficult to advocate for these events. A focus group with school library managers was undertaken to inform the creation of a new tool to fuel school library advocacy for writer visits. Findings will underpin the creation of this tool, but also have relevance for writers and publishers, and for school library professionals seeking to use focus groups for needs analysis.

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School Library Professionals' Perceptions of Students' Digital Information Literacy

March 2025, Journal of Library Administration 65(2)
Authors: Margaret K. Merga & Saiyidi Mat Roni

ABSTRACT: Young people need strong digital information literacy (DIL) skills to effectively source, interpret and evaluate the credibility of online information. As DIL educators and advocates within contemporary schools, school library professionals can provide cross-contextual insights into their students' DIL knowledge, skills and learning opportunities. Data from the 2024 International School Library Workforce Survey suggest that developing DIL may not be a typical priority in all schools and countries. Students' DIL was felt to be low. School library professionals may be underutilized for supporting DIL learning in 35% of contexts, highlighting the need for greater understanding of this professional role.

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"An uphill battle": school library professionals fostering student reading engagement

February 2025, English in Education 59(4)
Authors: Margaret K. Merga & Saiyidi Mat Roni

ABSTRACT: Reading engagement influences students' literacy attainment. School library professionals provide resources, environments and guidance to promote reading for pleasure, but little is known about how this role is currently supported or challenged. Drawing on mixed methods survey responses from 971 school library professionals from 63 countries, integrated findings suggest that younger students had greater access to the library, and that limiting access may negatively influence student engagement. The educative value of reading aloud and reading for pleasure may be poorly understood in some schools. 

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“I Really Try to Model Good Practices”: Reflecting on Journal Article Publication From Mid‐Career

February 2025, Learned Publishing 38(2)
Authors: Margaret K. Merga, Shannon Mason & Julia Morris

ABSTRACT: Publishing research in scholarly journals takes up much time and energy for many academics, and the early career phase may be particularly challenging, as researchers navigate the processes and politics of academic publishing for the first time. We previously explored these challenges as early‐career researchers in a collaborative autoethnographic study in 2018. Now, 6 years later, we have once again reflected on our shared and divergent experiences, this time from our positions as mid‐career researchers, socialised into the world of scholarly publishing and with longer histories of success and failure in scholarly publication.

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School library professionals’ perspectives on current and future workforce challenges

January 2025, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science
Authors: Margaret K. Merga & Saiyidi Mat Roni

ABSTRACT: While school library professionals work across many nations, supporting student learning and wellbeing, there is limited current research capturing shared issues faced by this educational workforce. The International School Library Workforce Survey collected insights from 971 respondents across 63 countries derived from analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Findings suggest that in an international context, school library professionals are experiencing notable issues that impact upon their morale and their ability to enact their professional roles.

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TikTok and digital health literacy: A systematic review

November 2024, IFLA Journal
Author: Margaret K. Merga

ABSTRACT: Individuals need digital health literacy in order to locate, comprehend and evaluate the credibility of online health information. Users of the social media platform TikTok may commonly encounter health information whether they seek it or not. The interplay between TikTok and digital health literacy is not well understood, and thus 170 million US-based users are approaching a nationwide ban on TikTok without a solid research-informed understanding of what this means for those using this platform to source health information and to engage with an online health community relevant to their health needs.

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