A Method to Identify How Librarians Adopt a Technology Innovation, CBAM(Concern Based Adoption Model): Focusing on School Librarians’ Concern about Digital Textbooks

Abstract

As new technologies change a society, librarians need to understand and adapt to technology innovations. However, most innovations that librarians are supposed to adopt are government-driven or top-down changes; and there have been very few studies conducted to identify any patterns or consistencies in librarians’ perceptions of innovation. This paper, therefore, has two research purposes. First, it introduces the Concern Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as one method to gain a deeper understanding of how librarians see such changes. Second, this study identifies school librarians’ concerns regarding digital textbooks in South Korea applying the CBAM theory. The test signifies that school librarians present a typical non-user profile, and the pattern anticipates a potential resistance to digital textbooks. Also, it discovers the less experienced and innovator librarians had higher concerns across every stage. The findings underscore a need of various interventions. The CBAM theory suggests, in terms of intense Stage 0 and 1, it is required for school librarians to have events to gain information about digital textbook implementation. Regarding targeted interventions, since the biggest gaps occurs in Stage 4, Consequence and Stage 5, Collaboration, according to school librarians’ experience and adoption style, new school librarians need stronger engagement with the community, which including associations, mentors or peer support, and collaborating with public libraries; innovator school librarians require opportunities to test and present their use of digital textbooks (Hall and Hord 1987).