Teacher-librarians have an important role in education today. That role encompasses a wide spectrum of responsibilities making them an equal and valued partner in the education process. Due to the limited nature of Canadian research into the perceptions of the role of the teacher librarian and School Library Resource Centres, the purpose of this study is to address the changing role through both the literature and models in practice in schools, and discover what change is occurring and will continue to occur, despite economical restraints that limit budgets and cut teacher-librarian positions. The major research questions of this thesis are the following: 1. Do teachers, teacher-librarians and administrators all have the same vision of the role of the teacher-librarian and School Library Resource Centre? 2. Is there a difference in the perception of the role of the teacher librarian in part time schools and full time schools? 3. Is there a difference in the perception of the role of the teacher librarian by teacher-librarians, based on degree of education held? The design of this thesis is survey research. A questionnaire was mailed to all of the elementary schools in one urban school district in British Columbia. In each school the administrator, teacher-librarian, one intermediate teacher and one primary teacher were asked to complete the form. The results, once analyzed, indicate that all of the respondents have a similar vision of the School Library Resource Centre. This vision correlates to that of the Canadian literature reviewed. It was perceived that the primary roles of the teacher-librarian are Instruction, Consultation and Library Management. While there are individual differences between the 4 subject groups based on how important they rate a task, all of the statements are consider a role of the teacher -librarian. Both the education of a teacher-librarian and the amount of time he/she holds in the position do not demonstrate significant differences in their view of the teacher-librarian. In addition, the results of this study also demonstrate some ambiguity between what is perceived as the role of the teacher-librarian by all subject groups and what is happening in elementary schools in reality. This is most evident in the anecdotal comments. While highlighted as a significant change to the School Library Resource Centre program, several teachers comment on the lack of cooperative planning and teaching that actually takes place. A last finding of this study is the importance of technology to School Library Resource Centres, and as a consequence, the importance of the role of the teacher-librarian in consulting with teachers and students to maximize and facilitate the use of that technology. Overwhelmingly, this study demonstrates that teacher-librarians and School Library Resource Centres are both crucial to the education process today. As the understandings of the importance of their role in education continue to increase, so will the support and recognition that are essential to their continued existence in times of restraint.

Teacher-librarians have an important role in education today. That role encompasses a wide spectrum of responsibilities making them an equal and valued partner in the education process. Due to the limited nature of Canadian research into the perceptions of the role of the teacher librarian and School Library Resource Centres, the purpose of this study is to address the changing role through both the literature and models in practice in schools, and discover what change is occurring and will continue to occur, despite economical restraints that limit budgets and cut teacher-librarian positions. The major research questions of this thesis are the following: 1. Do teachers, teacher-librarians and administrators all have the same vision of the role of the teacher-librarian and School Library Resource Centre? 2. Is there a difference in the perception of the role of the teacher librarian in part time schools and full time schools? 3. Is there a difference in the perception of the role of the teacher librarian by teacher-librarians, based on degree of education held? The design of this thesis is survey research. A questionnaire was mailed to all of the elementary schools in one urban school district in British Columbia. In each school the administrator, teacher-librarian, one intermediate teacher and one primary teacher were asked to complete the form. The results, once analyzed, indicate that all of the respondents have a similar vision of the School Library Resource Centre. This vision correlates to that of the Canadian literature reviewed. It was perceived that the primary roles of the teacher-librarian are Instruction, Consultation and Library Management. While there are individual differences between the 4 subject groups based on how important they rate a task, all of the statements are consider a role of the teacher -librarian. Both the education of a teacher-librarian and the amount of time he/she holds in the position do not demonstrate significant differences in their view of the teacher-librarian. In addition, the results of this study also demonstrate some ambiguity between what is perceived as the role of the teacher-librarian by all subject groups and what is happening in elementary schools in reality. This is most evident in the anecdotal comments. While highlighted as a significant change to the School Library Resource Centre program, several teachers comment on the lack of cooperative planning and teaching that actually takes place. A last finding of this study is the importance of technology to School Library Resource Centres, and as a consequence, the importance of the role of the teacher-librarian in consulting with teachers and students to maximize and facilitate the use of that technology. Overwhelmingly, this study demonstrates that teacher-librarians and School Library Resource Centres are both crucial to the education process today. As the understandings of the importance of their role in education continue to increase, so will the support and recognition that are essential to their continued existence in times of restraint. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-77).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-77). Also available in print.

To determine the in-service needs of teacher-librarians, personal interviews were conducted in thirty six schools selected by random sampling technique from schools in the Liverpool education region. In this survey research, teacher-librarians in these schools were asked to indicate courses they felt they needed to attend, preferred learning method and to discuss aspects of their work in schools. Results showed that teacher-librarians with more extensive library training felt the need for extra skills in curriculum/teaching areas, those with basic training only wanted more librarianship skills, whilst a number employed in non-government primary schools wanted to learn more about management. The most experienced group of teacher-librarians wanted courses that provided more skills in librarianship; those with the highest qualifications had demands for in-service that were comparable to those of the lesser trained. A significant feature of the findings was the extent of isolation felt by teacherlibrarians, especially those working in small primary schools. Primary and secondary teacher-librarians felt that their needs were quite different, but this was not borne out by results of the survey. Recommendations for future in-service courses were listed.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 48-50.

Education has a vital role in the cultural and socio-economic development of a country and the success of an educational system depends partly on the information infrastructure of the society. The school library, as the first link in the hierarchical chain of the information infrastructure and an integral component of the school's instructional information system, supports the school's educational goals and objectives. The main key to the successful achievement of a school library programme is its librarian. At present, the majority of Iranian school libraries are run by teacher-librarians who rarely possess any formal library education. These librarians should be well equipped with the competencies needed to perform their jobs effectively. The intention of this survey is, therefore, to suggest a library programme for the education of teacher-librarians. Included is an overview of the educational system of Iran, the information infrastructure, situation of school libraries and different methods of curricular design, in order to define an appropriate approach to education for the purpose of planning a library programme for teacher-librarians in Iran. In examining library programmes, several standards and studies published in a range of developing and developed countries were analysed, and a data gathering instrument was constructed. This was administered and analysed to determine the competencies required of teacherlibrarians in Iran. The resulting competencies are compared to the competencies considered essential for school librarians in three comparative international surveys and the school librarian's job description, as provided by the Iranian Ministry of Education.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 115-122).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122). Also available in print.