Mental models in action: academic librarians in the classroom DACYHELEN MARY 2017 The research found that a usable mental model about teaching forms links between an individual’s professional identity and the needs they perceive in a student. This research demonstrates that an individual’s understanding of their professional values and beliefs becomes a filter in the creation of their mental models about teaching. The findings of this current study extend earlier understandings of mental model theory by making the filtering of fragmentary mental models through this lens of values and beliefs explicit as a function of mental models. The study recommends this as an important function when considering mental models of teaching.