Advocacy - Schools Library Service Case Study

Background

The Schools Library Service ran a Saturday morning meeting targeted at secondary school governors on 'Do you know how effective your school library is?' Its aims were to:

• raise the profile of the school library with governors;
• give them a greater understanding of what constitutes a good school library;
• emphasise the impact a library can have on teaching and learning within school;
• suggest a role that they could play in their school library development.

The meeting was advertised through the LEA Governor Training Section and by direct mailings to chairs of governors via schools.

Content

i) A presentation was given by SLS staff covering the following:

• Brief overview of a 'good' school library. ( Accommodation, staffing, funding, learning resources, organisation, ICT.) With reference to national benchmarks.
• Overview of skills that pupils require in order to access information independently. With reference to Module 10 Literacy Training 'Using the library / learning centre.'
• Reference to recent SLS survey of a sample of local secondary schools. Giving local benchmarks.
• Basic introduction of the concept of self-evaluation and performance measurement.

ii) Two guest slots were given to school librarians who briefly described their particular stage of library development and how involvement with governing bodies had helped move their libraries forward.

iii) Schools Library Service marketed their services, highlighting how they could support librarians and teachers within school by:

• Providing loans of resources.
• Offering advice either on one-to-one basis e.g. on policy/library development, or through practical support e.g. discarding, classification, layout, guiding etc.
• Training courses on key issues / current initiatives.

iv) Governors were given a prompt sheet of possible questions they could put when assessing their own school library. E.g.

• Is there a formal induction course for pupils?
• How is the school library used throughout the day?
• Does the library support reading for pleasure?
• Is the library accessible before and after school?
• What is the current library budget?
• Is there an up-to-date library policy?
• Is the library environment attractive?
• How are the resources organised?

Outcomes

 It was expected that governors attending this meeting would now:

• feel more confident to act as 'advocates' for their own school libraries;
• have a greater knowledge of current practice in school libraries;
• be able to more actively support their school librarian and have a greater understanding of their needs.