SCHOOL LIBRARIES WORLDWIDE

Volume 4, Number 1, January 1998

Theme: Power and Politics

Guest Editor: Julie Tallman

School Library Resource Centre Policies in Canada: Re-Viewing a Shared Vision
Ray Doiron
Abstract: This paper reports on a follow-up to a 1992 study on school library policies in the provinces and territories of Canada and examines current issues that are impacting on the realization of a shared vision for school libraries in Canada. New curriculum policies have incorporated the resource-based learning, information skills, and information technology skills but these documents only rarely acknowledge the role of the teacher-librarian. These changes in curriculum policy development need to be taken into account by school library advocates as they strive to develop a new vision for school libraries in Canada.

Adoption of a District-Level School Library Policy: A Case Study in Change
Dianne Oberg
Abstract: A case study approach was used to examine the processes in a small school district in Alberta, Canada that led to a district policy adopting a cooperative integrated school library program model. The adoption process was facilitated by the innovation capacity of The District, by the active leadership of the Superintendent and Board of Trustees, by the existence of a provincial policy and program model, and by access to new funding. Evaluation of the libraries in The District played a key role in changing the understanding of the nature of the school library, from that of a facility and a collection isolated from the curriculum and operating under the responsibility of support personnel to that of an instructional program integral to the curriculum and directed by teachers.

Library Power: A Potent Agent for Change in Media Programs
Julie Tallman and Shirley Tastad
Abstract: Not since the Knapp School Libraries Project in the 1960s has a project of such potential impact on school library media programs taken place. The National Library Power Program funded by the DeWitt-Wallace Reader's Digest Foundation has contributed over $40 million dollars for the improvement of library information and reading resources in selected school districts across the country. This paper reports on the changes made as a result of the Library Power initiative in two schools in a large urban district. Attitudes of school staff changed positively toward expanding the role and leadership of the library media specialist in planning collaboratively curriculum units with appropriate resources, information literacy skills, and effective student learning activities. Planning teams were able to create much richer, in-depth multiple-content units using a broader range of resources for resource-based learning and teaching.

Information Literacy at the Grassroots in New Zealand
Gwen Gawith
Abstract: Information literacy papers and qualifications have been available to New Zealand teachers since 1986. Centrally coordinated and moderated accredited diploma papers for practising teachers are now delivered as intensive, 175-hour applied'school-based' papers, completed by groups of 10-20 teachers at school sites anywhere in New Zealand. Since 1991, over 5000 teachers have completed these papers. The school-wide level of information literacy resulting from these intensive 'grassroots' courses for classroom teachers is significant, and may well be unique.

Of Special Interest

Information Literacy: A Clarification
Linda Langford
Abstract: This paper begins with a brief overview of the concept of literacy. It then focusses upon a series of definitions that deal with an expanding notion of literacies and finally refocusses on information literacy.

Some Problems of Secondary School Libraries in Ghana
V. K. Fosu
Abstract: A survey of 21 secondary school libraries in Ghana investigated professional qualifications of teacher-librarians and their assistants, sites of secondary school libraries, opening hours and closing periods of these libraries, whether there were book selection committees and whether financial grants were provided to secondary school libraries. Suggestions are made for the improvement of secondary school library system in Ghana.

Last Updated 17 March 2003 (LAC)