This field study examines the acceptance of role behaviours by teacher librarians in A.C.T. government schools and what influences that acceptance. Acceptance of behaviours is measured by an instrument compiled and developed through factor analysis for this field study. The influences examined are a series of environmental (context) and personal (presage) variables. Data are gathered through survey and questionnaire. Hypotheses are tested initially with product moment correlations, and examined in more detail with partial correlations designed to control the influence of extraneous variables. The attitudes of teacher librarians to classroom teaching practices are also related to both acceptance of role behaviours and the presage and context variables. Results indicate that context variables are least important in influencing acceptance of role behaviours, while the education and library training of the teacher librarian are the most important of the presage variables examined. Teacher librarians are found to be particularly reluctant to accept leadership behaviours.

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Faculty of Education) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MEd) -- University of South Australia, 1993

This study investigates the role of the secondary school teacher-librarian in the creation of a reading environment. The factors that influence how and why a teacher-librarian carries out his or her role are the major focus of the study. These are explored through an analysis of the current literature and in case studies undertaken in six Melbourne secondary schools. The investigation found that each of the case study schools created and operated a reading environment that was affected to varying degrees by all of the identified factors. The factors are: / The attitudes of the teacher-librarian towards their professional responsibility in creating a reading environment, and towards their students as readers. / The relationships forged between the teacher-librarian and teaching staff, administrators, other library staff and students. / The organisational and policy decisions that affect access, such as collection management, reading promotion programs and the knowledge base and advisory role of the teacher-librarian. / The ambience within the library space and how this assists the teacher-librarian in creating a welcoming environment conducive to encouraging reading, including factors such as layout and display. / The influences external to the library within the school including: budget allocation, staffing levels, support from the school administration, curriculum needs and the demands and limitations of architectural structures. / The professional context of the school community and the wider educational and professional debate within which the teacher-librarian operates impact upon the attitudes and decisions of the teacher-librarian. In addition, changes to broad educational objectives, the impact of lCT's, and the ongoing debate as to the role of the teacher-librarian have had a marked impact upon each of the case study schools and their reading environments.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1997. / Bibliography: leaves [44]-47.

M.Ed. (Media Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The basic purpose of this study is to analyse in general terms Schools Commission policy and planning in regard to the development of library resources and services for Australian primary schools in both the government and non-government education systems. The core of the study is a survey of the provision and needs of primary school libraries in the Australian Capital Territory, based on the Schools Commission Guidelines for library services in primary schools. The survey is not an end in itself, but is a means of appraisal of the school libraries program of the Australian government as viewed at the grass roots level in one particular area. The report falls into two sections. Section I is an introductory section which gives firstly an overview of the work of the Federal government in the development of school libraries and services between 1968 and 1975. The introductory section also analyses the development of the Schools Commission guideline standards for primary school libraries, and explains the role of the standards in relation to both the 'needs' criterion of the Commission's educational program and the equitable distribution of government funds. The standards are not absolutes in terms of precise structural specifications to be applied in all circumstances, but rather an affirmation of possibility in relation to a given ambit. It is in Section II that the data from the survey of the primary school libraries in the Australian Capital Territory is analysed, and some comparisons are made with the Monash University study of provision and needs in primary school libraries carried out in 1975. The objectives of the ACT survey are not, however, oriented simply to a factual statement of provision and needs, but also to highlighting the instrinsic and recurring administrative problems associated with the provision of library resources services in schools. Issues raised by the survey relate to differentiated staffing patterns, obsolescence of materials, centralised versus decentralised collections, tolerable loss rate for books, custodial attitudes of teacher-librarians, teacher attitudes to the library, production and use of audiovisual materials by teachers and students, community use of school libraries, identification of needs by individual schools, availability of central support services for selection and processing of materials, funding for resource provision. In regard to conclusions the report does not attempt to offer anything but tentative suggestions, because of the range of variables in most cases, which could not be eliminated or controlled in a survey of this. type. However, some factors do emerge which could be the basis for more detailed analysis, such as the nature of obsolescence in regard to school library materials, and the relationship between types of library service and the 'open' or traditional1 structure of the school program. There is one factor which the survey does show quite clearly, namely the gap that exists between policy decisions taken at the national level and the implementation of that policy at the local level.

This study traces many of the highlights which occurred during the first decade of the history of the School Library Association in Canberra and District (SLACAD). The roots of this association lie deep in the history of school libraries and teacherlibrarianship in Australia. Many SLACAD members belonged to other state school library associations and to the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) confederation since the establishment of these associations in the 1960's. These teacher-librarians have been dedicated in their attempts to further the cause of school libraries and their teacher-librarianship profession. The decade covered by this study embraces the greatest period of expansion in the development of school libraries seen in Australian history. During this decade the A.C.T. established an independent education system and it took many years for the A.C.T. Schools Authority administration to finalise its organisation. SLACAD members were anxious that school libraries in the A.C.T. should keep pace with school libraries in other Australian states and this study documents the constant efforts of its members to obtain improvements in school librarianship. Teacher-librarians in the A.C.T. have continued to maintain a close liaison with ASLA and many A.C.T. teacher-librarians have held executive office in ASLA. SLACAD has hosted seminars and conferences and this study documents numerous submissions and reports which were a necessary feature of the expanding A.C.T. school library association milieu.