Program and services development is a broad topic; it ranges from integrated and developed programs that take place in the library to the services the library staff provide.
Program Development:
Program development in most high school libraries is almost unheard of, school librarians try to promote reading in a number of different ways such as; book talks, displays and author studies, but these are a long way from being programs. The Boards and the Department of Education just don’t see program development in high school libraries as a necessity.
There are no designed, developed, or delivered instructional programs in high school libraries due to lack of funding and the Boards and the Department of Education’s neglect over the years. School libraries operate more like public libraries, sort of supply on demand, there is no school-wide systematic plan for the all students. Unfortunately, the students are suffering the most, the library in most high schools is a place to hang out during lunch and do your homework, read or go on the computer. High school libraries aren’t being used for what they are intended. It’s not the student’s fault either, for the most part they’ve never been properly taught to use the library.
The fact, that the Nova Scotia high school library doesn’t even have enough funds to reasonably complete their collections, let alone the funds to implement working programs in their libraries, says a lot. No money, no programs.
Services Development:
Services and services development however, are easy to come by, unfortunately most high school librarians only check out books and put the returned books back in their proper place. A volunteer could do what a high school librarian does and this means that their skills are going to waste. Other than checking in and out books high school librarians reported they handle duties such as; tidying, managing the automated card catalogue and circulation system as well as helping students and teachers find things on the shelves, setting up displays and managing the library schedule.
Unfortunately, teachers feel there has been a decline in the services of school libraries to the point where they cannot plan to use the library as part of their classroom activities, some teachers even feel that school libraries are now pointless and out of date.
Experiments and Stereotypes:
There was a experiment done in the 80’s that involved five different high schools, the students of a sophomore English class received an eight week library orientated treatment designed to improve students understanding of, attitudes toward, and use of the school library. (Journal of Experimental Education, 1985) The results of the experiment showed that students were more than likely to use the library at their high school if only they truly knew how to use it.
Although the study didn’t show any signs of improved reading or any groundbreaking results. It’s safe to say that if students knew how to use the school library they wouldn’t feel so intimidated by the library and librarian stereotypes that have been set upon us all.
It’s true that you should keep to a respectable level of noise in the library, so that you are not disturbing others but the libraries of the 80’s clearly weren’t the libraries of the 50’s or even the 60’s and certainly the libraries of today do not conform to the same rules as they did in the 50’s. Unfortunately, the stereotype that you must be quiet in the library, that the library is only for reading and studying, and that the librarian is a strict old woman with weird glasses and a tight bun has never been disbanded from the mass of students in today’s society.
NSLA Interest Group:
The Nova Scotia Library Association has started an interest group for school libraries, the goals of this group include:
• To increase awareness of school library issues
• To provide support to members working in school libraries
• To identify areas for professional development
• To assist individuals, NSLA and other associations in organizing workshops or teleconferences for school library workers
• To cooperate with other related groups and associations
• To participate as a group at the NSLA annual conference (NSLA, 2009)
Challenges:
In short, school libraries are offering mainly services and not programs. This is due to a number of reasons, but the two main reasons are; lack of funding and cut backs in recent years and because of the Boards and the Department of Education inconsistencies in the appointment of consultants to lead the development of programs. For the most part, they act as if they don’t care about the high school library, which isn’t helping the students who attend these schools.
Recommendations:
It would help if the Department of Education developed and implemented a policy statement for school library programs across Nova Scotia.
In order to make up for past inconsistencies the Department of Education should hire a permanent “School Library Organizer” in order to lead the development of programs in school libraries.
It would also help if someone (anyone who can) discussed the issues in school libraries with the Department of Education and tried to convince them to help more in their funding of school libraries in Nova Scotia.
Try to make the library appealing to students, get them to come in for other than reading novels and hanging out with friends, provide information to tell them that the library can help them do their homework as well as researching the internet. If more students are interested in using the libraries services, it may be easier to find student volunteers to help the librarian. Provoke their future selves by telling them they could put volunteering in the library on their résumé.
It would be a great help if there were a program in place that taught students how to use the library, this way the stereotype of libraries and librarians would be demolished.
Coish, D. (2005). School Libraries and Teacher-Librarians. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from The Daily: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/050504/dq050504a-eng.htm
Doiron, R. (2003). School Libraries in Nova Scotia. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from Ray Doiron: http://www.upei.ca/~raydoiro/html/sch__libraries_in_ns.html
Schon, I., Hopkins, K., Everett, J. & Hopkins., B. (1985). The Effects of a Special Library Program on High School Students’ Library Use and Attitudes. Journal of Experimental Education, 54, 40. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from Questia Online Library: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=LyxJ9dPT82GdJtsRRR2SLCQRcQCRZ3pT9hTKclnlGvm1ysMyRX2x!-2014620845!-503500087?docId=95138003
Smith. E. (2009). School Library Interest Group. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from Nova Scotia Library Association: http://nsla.ns.ca/aboutnsla/schoollibraryig.html
Researched and written by Jen Chase.
