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School libraries are too often a wasted resource
15 Sep 2010
Many school libraries are underutilised resources that do not fulfil their potential to improve literacy levels and support pupil learning and attainment.
This is a key finding of the School Library Commission, chaired by Baroness Estelle Morris, and jointly established by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and independent charity the National Literacy Trust. The Commission’s report, School Libraries: A plan for improvement finds that while school libraries have a unique role in raising pupils’ literacy levels, promoting reading for pleasure and improving their access to knowledge, in many schools the library is a wasted resource because it is poorly embedded in the infrastructure of the school and absent from school development plans.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey says:
“Libraries can change lives, transforming children’s potential by opening up their collections, engaging them with reading and offering a route to the online world. It is vital that children have an early opportunity to benefit from all that libraries have to offer, so I welcome the School Library Commission’s report and encourage local authorities to develop partnerships between school and public libraries to improve the service on offer.”
Baroness Estelle Morris says:
“For too long school libraries have been an underutilised part of the education landscape. This report aims to show everyone involved in education, from school librarians to central government that a well-managed school library is an essential part of any school’s success. As the school landscape is set to change drastically it is essential that benefits of this vital resource are fully understood.”
Sir Andrew Motion, Chair of Museums Libraries and Archives Council, says:
“School Libraries form an absolutely vital part of every child's education, and it is strictly speaking essential that they are protected, expanded, diversified, and enriched - by the cultivation of time-honoured means, as well as the accommodation of new media. They are nothing less than the rooms young people enter in order to discover the world.”
New National Literacy Trust research of 17,000 young people undertaken for the Commission demonstrates the importance of a high performing school libraries service for pupil attainment. Eight out of ten good readers use the school library. This shows that school libraries that do not perform to the highest level will have significant implications for pupil achievement.
The report reveals that 31% of members of staff responsible for school libraries in primary schools have no specialist knowledge of children’s literature. In response, the Commission recommends that training and continuous professional development of teachers and library staff in children’s literature and child development is essential to enable them to work in partnership to effectively support the curriculum and deliver a tailored and cohesive library service for children.
The Commission promotes a number of recommendations to governors, headteachers, sector bodies, and local authorities.* Key recommendations include:
- The Department for Education should endorse the role of school libraries
and schools library services in supporting the new government’s renewed commitment to literacy.
- Headteachers and school governors should recognise the contribution that the school library makes, building it into the delivery of the curriculum and the overall school plan. Every governing body should have a governor with designated responsibility for the school library.
- School librarians should work proactively with teachers to plan and deliver the curriculum. School librarians are recommended to review their own professional development to ensure they develop an understanding of teaching and child development.
- Professional and support bodies need to ensure that all school librarians who are professionally trained in librarianship can undertake training in teaching, learning and child development.
- Local authorities need to recognise school library services as a cost effective way of providing expertise and skills around reading and information literacy to schools. They need to use school libraries as local agencies of school improvement with a particular focus on improving literacy standards.
- Campaigners, champions and authors have an important role to play. The Commission feel that effective campaigning in the future needs to argue for changes in the model of school libraries as well as for increased demand for their services from school and education leaders.
National Literacy Trust Director, Jonathan Douglas, says:
“In the current economic climate, all areas of the school need to work at their optimum levels. School libraries have a central role to play but many are currently not being given the opportunity to fulfil their true potential.
“The goal of the National Literacy Trust is to transform lives through literacy and we believe that school libraries are key in helping us to ensure every single child gains the literacy skills they need to live a successful, fulfilling and happy life. We hope our report will have a lasting effect on school library practice in the UK.”
Museums, Libraries and Archives Chief Executive, Roy Clare, says:
“Time spent in libraries is invaluable. School libraries, like public libraries have the capacity, if used properly to transform lives, encourage attainment levels and boost the potential of everybody. MLA hopes the recommendations of the School Library Commission will be considered carefully, especially by the decision makers responsible for the success of our education services. As public libraries face similar challenges, it is vital that we all share and draw on some of the solutions that will be found in the government’s Future Libraries Programme (see notes for editors)”
