The management of independent secondary school libraries in England and Wales

Abstract

This paper investigates aspects of the management of independent secondary school libraries in England and Wales. It is based on a survey of 150 independent school library managers, with a response rate of 68.7 percent, which was carried out as part of an ongoing PhD research project. The paper considers a range of issues important to school library managers: for example, policy and procedure document production, project management, sources of guidance, the management skills most important to practitioners and the opinions of school library managers on a range of management issues related to the running of a school library. The qualifications and experience of school library managers are also considered in the research. The survey demonstrated a notable degree of satisfaction with the management and operation of libraries by library managers in individual schools. However, a number of factors were identified as barriers to successful management, which may have implications for policies and procedures within the sector. Additional research is planned to clarify the level of school library provision in independent schools, including further interviews with school library managers, diary keeping and a survey of senior management in independent schools to gauge their opinions on their school library.

In plain sight: School librarian practices within infrastructures for learning

“…Previous studies have provided taxonomies and models of collaboration (Loertscher, 1988;Loertscher and Koechlin, 2015;Montiel-Overall, 2007, 2008; identified how the perceptions of teachers and lack of sufficient knowledge about the role of the school library poses challenges (Latham et al, 2013); and how the school librarian is typically responsible for initiating and pursuing collaboration (Gildersleeves, 2012). Others have pointed to the importance of well-staffed school libraries (Francis et al, 2010;Haycock, 2011) and shown how school librarians constantly struggle to receive support from school management (Hartzell, 2002;Shannon, 2012;Turner et al, 2007). Previous research has also identified the main teaching areas for both librarians and teachers as: democratic issues, citizenship, media-and information literacy, credibility, and critical thinking in a digital society (see also Merga, 2021).…”

Secondary school librarians as heads of department in UK schools

“…Australia than it has been in the United Kingdom (Ritchie, 2010;Turner et al, 2007), where Turner (2006) has suggested that the critical role of the head teacher in quality school library provision and support has not been fully investigated. In similar vein, Ritchie (2010) has reported a survey of UK school librarian's self-perception of their status, and concluded that there is a need for research into the relationship between head teachers, school management teams, and school librarians, as management had the largest effect on the librarians' selfperceived status.…”