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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218959 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Goodman, Doreen M., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Doreen M. Goodman |
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