White House Conference on School Libraries

What Research Tells Us About the Importance of School Libraries

Keith Curry Lance, Ph.D.
Director, Library Research Service
Colorado State Library

During the 2000-01 school year, Williams Intermediate School in Davenport, Iowa, improved use of its library dramatically. From one month to the next, circulation of library books and other materials doubled, sometimes even tripled. A survey of students found that there was a 3 percent increase in the number of students who indicated reading frequently rather than sometimes or never.

What difference did these changes make? Of tested 6th graders, 18 percent moved from needing improvement to meeting or exceeding reading standards. Test score improvements for Black and Hispanic students were even higher than for the general student population.

The big question is: how do improvements in school libraries contribute to such student progress?

In recent years, I have led several studies of the impact of school libraries and librarians on student performance, working with my colleagues Marcia Rodney and Christine Hamilton-Pennell. To date, we have completed such studies in six states: Alaska, Pennsylvania, and Colorado in 2000; Oregon and Iowa in 2001; and New Mexico just recently. All of these studies replicate and expand upon an earlier Colorado study, The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement. That study was completed by Lynda Welborn, Christine Hamilton-Pennell and me in 1992 and published in 1993.

The original Colorado study, as it is popularly known, found that the size of the library in terms of its staff and its collection is a direct predictor of reading scores. The amount of test score variation explained by this school library size factor ranged from five to 15 percent across various elementary and secondary grades and while controlling for a variety of other school and community differences. Indirect predictors of achievement included the presence of a professionally trained librarian who plays an active instructional role and higher levels of spending on the school library. Other indirect predictors included overall school spending per pupil and the teacher-pupil ratio. The lion's share of test score variation was explained, predictably, by socio-economic characteristics that identify at-risk students-namely, being from poor and minority families in which parents themselves did not excel academically.

Recent Research

Looking across the six studies we have completed most recently, three major sets of findings figure prominently. These findings concern:

• the level of development of the school library,
• the extent to which school librarians engage in leadership and collaboration activities that foster information literacy, and
• the extent to which instructional technology is utilized to extend the reach of the library program beyond the walls of the school library.

School Library Development

The school library development factor developed in our more recent studies is an elaboration of the original study's school library size factor. School library development is defined by:

• the ratios of professional and total staff to students,
• a variety of per student collection ratios, and
• per student spending on the school library.

When school libraries have higher levels of professional and total staffing, larger collections of print and electronic resources, and more funding, students tend to earn higher scores on state reading tests.

In the aftermath of the original Colorado study, one of the more intriguing findings to many people was the one concerning the importance of school librarians playing a strong instructional role. To the disappointment of many practitioners, the earlier report did not define what that means, so they were uncertain how to act differently on the job. In our recent studies, we have succeeded in elaborating just what that instructional role involves.

Leadership

In order to play an instructional role successfully, school librarians must exercise leadership to create the sort of working environment they need to help students and teachers succeed. Specific activities which define such leadership include:

• meeting frequently with the principal,
• attending and participating in faculty meetings,
• serving on standards and curriculum committees, and
• meeting with library colleagues at building, district, and higher levels.

Allison Hutchison, librarian at Bald Eagle Area High School in Wingate, Pennsylvania, is a good example of the school librarian in a leadership role:

In my school, she reports, the librarian is an integral part of the school steering committee which is made up of five area coordinators and other school leaders, such as the technology director. We meet monthly and together we make decisions about many building-wide policies, most importantly, future curriculum directions.

We review all curriculum proposals and decide which course changes and initiatives will be presented to the board. Not only do I get to provide input from my vantage point, which takes in the school's curriculum as a whole, but I also get to know in advance which content areas to emphasize in collection development.

School librarians who serve as active leaders in their schools have a dramatic impact on teachers and students alike. Barbara St. Clair, librarian at Urbandale High School in Iowa, learned how quickly the impact of her leadership could be felt.

During the second week of school I visited every 9th grade classroom. I introduced students to the library and booktalked all 16 Iowa Teen Award books for this year. I keep them in a special place and as soon as one comes back it is checked out again, which makes me very happy. I gave each student a bookmark with the titles and each English teacher a poster about the books. Another English teacher at a different level said that he had heard that I gave really good book talks and asked me to pick out some books to present to his basic English class.

Since then, I have had more requests for booktalks. A teacher also requested that I arrange a panel of teachers to talk about their favorite books with her class.

Collaboration & Information Literacy

When school librarians demonstrate this kind of leadership in their daily activities, they can create an environment conducive to collaboration between themselves and classroom teachers. That, in turn, enables them to work with classroom teachers to instill a love of reading and information literacy skills in their students.

Collaboration activities in which school librarians should participate, according to our research, include:

• identifying useful materials and information for teachers,
• planning instruction cooperatively with teachers,
• providing in-service training to teachers, and
• teaching students both with classroom teachers and independently.

It is these types of collaboration between librarians and teachers that are linked directly with higher reading scores.

Consider the example of Eaglecrest High School in Aurora, Colorado, reported by social studies teacher Debbe Milliser:

Our school librarians-Barbara Thorngren, Pat Holloway, and Norma Nixon-work with our U.S. History and American Literature classes to do a research project from start to finish. Individual language arts and social studies teaching teams meet with the librarians before bringing students to the library.

Students are taught the research process, including accessing and using both primary and secondary sources. My students' ability to access library books and other materials and to use information appropriately in their papers is very evident in the quality of their work.

This project helps the juniors and seniors I teach to meet history, language arts, and library standards.

Technology

Perhaps the most dramatic changes since the original Colorado study have been in the realm of instructional technology. More and more schools provide students and teachers with computer networks. At their best, school libraries are integrated into these networks in such a way that they enable school librarians to reach out more proactively to the school community. Such networks also enable students and teachers to use library media resources from wherever they are-in classrooms, labs, offices-even, in the best situations, from home.

In our recent studies, we have found that in schools where computer networks provide remote access to library resources, particularly the Web and licensed databases, test scores tend to be higher.

Becky Hickox, librarian at Silverton High School, reported to us on the impact of the Oregon School Library Information System.

A 9th grade health project has evolved into a partnership between Hickox and teacher Erik Cross to introduce freshmen to the Internet. The cornerstone of this project is introducing the licensed databases made available through OSLIS.

Although students often come with some knowledge of the World Wide Web, none of them are familiar with subscription databases. I provide the basic instruction and help individuals construct searches, she says, and Erik makes sure they are covering the required content.

This project introduces students to the concept of finding pertinent information as lifelong learners and gives them a base of search strategies for future projects in almost any subject area.

Controlling for School and Community Differences

The most critical feature of the research design employed in our studies and in other recent studies based on the same design is controlling for other school and community differences. The earliest studies on school library impact failed to do this. As a result, those studies were subject to easy criticism.

The event that precipitated the first Colorado study is an excellent example of this dilemma. In a 1987 National Public Radio interview, the head of School Match, a Westerville, Ohio, data vendor, reported that researchers at his firm had identified school library spending-among a host of other variables-as the strongest predictor of scores on the National Merit Scholarship Test. But, when this claim was investigated, other researchers were not convinced. Perhaps it was not spending more on school libraries in particular, but spending more on everything-that is, simply being a rich school-that led to higher test scores.

To preclude the dismissal of such findings about the importance of school libraries, our research design controls for a variety of school and community differences.

The school differences included

• characteristics of teachers, such as their levels of education, experience, and compensation;
• the teacher-pupil ratio; and
• total per pupil expenditures.

The community differences included

• poverty,
• minority demographics, and
• adult educational attainment.

As a result, we have been able to demonstrate successfully in several diverse states that such differences do not explain away the importance of high-quality school libraries.

Our research along these lines continues, currently in Michigan and California, and other states are in line to follow between now and 2004. Our methodology has been adapted by other researchers in studies of Massachusetts and Texas school libraries, yielding remarkably similar results to ours. Still other researchers are in the process of implementing our research design to study the impact of school libraries in other states.

At this point, however, there is a clear consensus in the results now available for eight states: School libraries are a powerful force in the lives of America's children. The school library is one of the few factors whose contribution to academic achievement has been documented empirically, and it is a contribution that cannot be explained away by other powerful influences on student performance.

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Reflections of an Empowered Library

Faye Pharr
Lakeside Academy of Math, Science, and Technology
Chattanooga, TN

Lakeside Academy of Math, Science, and Technology is a Magnet School in Chattanooga, TN serving mostly an inner city population. At the present time, we have a diverse student body with about 70% minority and 53% on free/reduced meals. However, that has not always been the case.

In 1991 when I became the principal of Lakeside Elementary, 95% of our students were minority and 78% receiving free or reduced meals. The school ranked last in the System on the standardized test. Morale was at an all time low. No funds were available for staff development of any type and teachers were not implementing best practices. A paradigm shift was very necessary. In 1994, we had the opportunity to apply for a Readers' Digest DeWitt Wallace Grant which was for the purpose of school reform via the library. The funds were awarded to Lakeside and change was on the way.

The goal of the Library Power initiative was to enhance student learning by improving library services. The administration and librarian at Lakeside held to the following beliefs:

• Library Power was a school reform initiative and not limited to just library reform.
• Through Library Power the role of the media specialist changes to that of teacher, information specialist, as well as instructional consultant.
• Students are natural researchers and the library resources, opportunities, and training to enhance this natural inquisitiveness should be made available to them.
• Students must be given opportunities to explore, share, and appreciate reading, writing, and literature of many types.
• It is the role of the principal to facilitate full integration of the library program into the total curriculum.
• Library Power does not result in a product, but begins a developmental process which is ongoing.
• All students and teachers deserve a library that is integral to student learning and has a collection correlated to the curriculum.
• All students and teachers deserve a library that is available to students when needed - not just one time a week for 30 minutes.

The library at Lakeside became the most vital part of the teaching and learning process. Teachers no longer view it as a "glorified babysitter" with the primary purpose of providing classroom teachers with a 30-45 minute break. It is the focal point in holistic teaching and in bridging all aspects of art, science, mathematics, language arts and technology into the curriculum. The library changed from a resource center to a center of instruction, exploration and learning. No longer did the teachers plan and teach in isolation. The key to change was the collaborative planning between the library media specialist and the classroom teachers. The role of the librarian changed to that of an information specialist, a teacher and an instructional consultant.

According to Ken Haycock, collaboration means: " Professionals working together to design a program that works for kids." That certainly is a far cry from what librarians historically have done. Lakeside's librarian used to:

• schedule classes 30-45 minutes once a week
• presented authors and read stories once a week
• checked out books to students once a week
• taught library skills in January and February
• gathered materials for teacher - when they asked
• had some knowledge of the curriculum, but not in detail

She was "excellent" doing her own thing. The teachers were "excellent" doing their own thing. We were wasting precious instruction time until we implemented collaboration. Today the librarian:

• plans units of study with grade level teams and with individual teachers
• is involved with the total instructional program
• now teaches information/library skills as the need arises - usually in small groups
• reads stories if they directly relate to the curriculum
• leads kindergarten students through the research process
• assists students working on computer projects, working in small groups or working independently

The library changed in another way. Flexible scheduling was implemented to allow students open access to the library. The library is open and available when the learning opportunities arise. They may check out books every day if they wish. Students come and go all day using the library for extended learning. Truly, the library is the "hub" of learning at Lakeside Academy.

Another very important change occurred. Our library collection was totally revamped. At least seventy-five percent of the collection was purged. Some items had been on the shelf and not been checked out in fifteen years. The collection was enhanced to support the curriculum which was evolving. Keep in mind, when the curriculum is enriched the collection must be also. It is very important to have unit resources, big books, videos and books for student interest for every unit of study. Don't forget the assessment products which must accompany the unit. Because of the DeWitt Wallace Grant, this refurbishment was possible.

We, at Lakeside, have celebrated many successes since the implementation of Library Power. After the first year of flexible scheduling, with all library projects based on teacher/librarian collaboration, we found there was a direct correlation between library usage and improved test scores. After running the end-of-the year circulation report, it became obvious that the teachers who had the highest library usage also had the highest test scores. A detailed analysis revealed there was a direct link between library usage and test scores in the reference study and reading comprehension. For example, the classroom with the highest library usage had a mastery percentage of 86% in reference study and 81% in comprehension. The teacher who offered the most resistance to collaborative planning and library usage also had the lowest in mastery scores---19% in reference study and 52% in comprehension.

Not every teacher endorsed flexible scheduling and collaboration. Some paid lip service only to the concept and then retreated to the sanctity of their classroom to do their own thing. Various methods were used to monitor the progress of implementation. Remember, only what is monitored gets done. Teachers were expected to include into their lesson plans collaboration sessions with the librarian. Each nine weeks brief reports were to be given on projects the students were doing in the library. One first grade teacher invented the Triple R Club….Research, Report, Review. Students were sent to the library in small groups with a topic to research with the librarian. After learning the information, the students would then go back to their classrooms and report their findings to the entire class or small groups. The teacher and students would review the information together. The students would take notes in their journals on the material. Another group would go to the library to research another topic and the process would start over again. One can see how this integration of subject matter aided the teacher in teaching many skills and concepts.

Because of the perseverance of the administration and the librarian, the media center is still a very lively place at Lakeside. The reports are showing that the circulation of non-fiction books have doubled in the last two years. As a result of more books being read, students are improving in their reading. Children are encouraged to have a book with them wherever they go, thus eliminating down time. The library is opened an hour before school each day and students may visit the library any time during the day.

Because of the school reform, which began in the library, Lakeside has been awarded four monetary incentives from the State of Tennessee. This money could be spent with no strings attached. I chose to spend it on further staff development. An empowered teacher is a teacher who can turn an average student into an excellent student.

At Lakeside Academy, the teachers and administration believe the students are the most important persons in the school and they deserve our very best each day. Parents should expect dramatic improvements in learning and teachers should rise to the occasion. The Library Power enabled Lakeside to move further and faster than it could on its own. The commitment to reform involved the school in implementing a package of innovations that were mutually reinforcing. Flexible scheduling provided the opportunity for teachers to use the library in a more integrated way. Professional development in collaborative planning allowed the librarian and teachers to plan the integrated units of study. Collection development ensured that the resources necessary for the curriculum were available.

Today, Lakeside Academy is still a forward moving place of learning where students look forward to coming each day. It is a haven of protection for some, and a place where the mind can be challenged and enriched for others. What ever the case may be, the reform can be credited to school reform via the library.

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What's It Take?

Gary Hartzell
Professor, Educational Administration and Supervision
University of Nebraska, Omaha

As you've listened to the previous presentations, I suspect that two questions have been forming in your mind. First, "Why haven't I heard about this before? If there's this much evidence that libraries make a difference in student achievement, why has it taken the power of the White House to bring it to my attention?" And, second, "Given that these research reports are accurate, I can use this. But school change is hard. What would it take to create these conditions in my district or school?" I'd like to take the next few minutes to address those questions. Let's take the first one: "Why haven't you heard about this?"

Why Haven't You Heard?

There are four inter-related reasons why your perception of school libraries probably doesn't square with those you've heard this morning. The first has to do with the time in which many of us grew up. The average age of school administrators today hovers around fifty, which means that about half are over that age. ¹ This means that they were themselves K-12 students in the late 1950s and through the '60s-before most school libraries became media centers, and certainly before most librarians reached beyond their traditional roles. Most school administrators are not former school librarians, and probably most went through their own educations in schools where the librarian was not a major player. ² They did not grow into their educational philosophies and positions in environments that fostered appreciation for the library as a major instructional resource. Many still hold their early stereotypical images of libraries and librarians. ³

I am of that generation and I have no memory of ever seeing one of my teachers working in any kind of partnership role with the school librarian. The librarian was someone who came to our classroom with a cartload of books now and again and was the woman we saw when we were sent to the library. "Sent" is the key word. We were sent to the library to "check out a book"-and which book was often immaterial. Of course, we were also expected to be quiet while we were there. One of the interesting things about stereotypes is that they sometimes are anchored in a grain of truth, and many librarians of the 1950s really did seem interested in "shushing" you.

Outside of school, these impressions were reinforced in the media images of their time. Think of Marian the librarian in "The Music Man" and the alternative destiny of Mary in "It's a Wonderful Life". Marian was an old maid who loved her books and wanted a quiet library, and she was only pulled from that life by a flamboyant con man. In "It's a Wonderful Life", Jimmy Stewart's character was granted his wish to see the world as it would have been had he never been born. In that alternate life, absent him to rescue her, the bright and beautiful woman who would have become his wife found that her dark and lonely fate was to become a librarian. There was a message there: librarianship was a job from which one should be rescued.

And these images haven't yet altogether disappeared. The Saturn automobile company not too long ago aired a commercial aimed at impressing viewers with a new model's quiet ride. To do this, they showed a gray-haired woman riding in the back seat while two engineers rode up front. The voice-over told us that the car was incredibly quiet and that it passed the most stringent of tests: "Margaret's". "Margaret knows quiet," the voice said, "Margaret's a librarian."

We took these real and celluloid images of libraries and librarians to college with us-which leads to the second factor shaping our limited view of libraries and what they have to offer: our own professional training as educators. One would hope that such misleading impressions would have been corrected during teacher training-and, if not there, in our administrative training. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, partly because the images were not completely inaccurate at that time and partly because the professors training teachers and administrators then-as now-had no alternative visions to offer us. In fact, the greater likelihood was that the perception of librarians as different from teachers was more reinforced than modified.

Even now, few teacher-training programs contain any systematic instruction in how librarians might improve instruction, serve in staff development projects, assist with special student populations, or provide administrative support. ⁴ Wisconsin provides an encouraging exception. Administrative rule PI 4.09(12) requires that teaching license candidates receive instruction about school library media programs and become adept in using a variety of resources and technologies. But, in the main, the predominant model in schooling is still anchored in the same basic notion it has always been: one adult in one room working with one group of students for one period of time. In elementary schools, the span may cover the whole day; in secondary schools, the increment is the length of the period. ⁵ Even some of the supposed innovations in school organization today-secondary school block scheduling and state mandated class size reduction, for example-don't alter the basic model. They just change the size of one or more of its elements.

Teacher training emphasizes the individual classroom interactions between teacher and student. Teachers are predominantly trained as independent operators simultaneously in charge of and responsible for what goes on in their classrooms. ⁶ They usually are not trained in the collaborative and consultative models found in law, medicine, and the other professions. The result is that aspiring teachers are not provided with any model or expectation that school librarians should be regarded as partners in curriculum and instruction.

Robert Louis Stevenson once remarked that the cruelest lies are often told in silence. That characterizes administrator training programs. Any review of administrator training reveals a stunning lack of attention to the library and its potential. ⁷ The net result is that administrative training does little or nothing to enhance administrators' awareness, let alone understanding, of the library and librarian. Aspiring administrators are not made aware of the library's potential and don't recognize themselves as important players in maximizing the librarian's potential to contribute to school quality.

It's not too difficult to see why this happens. Most educational administration professors are former school administrators. They simply bring their own limited perceptions with them to the university setting, and nothing there challenges them. More than ninety percent of EdAd professors in a recent survey didn't see the principal as an important influence in teacher/librarian collaboration ⁸ -a notion counter to virtually all research on school site collaboration.

When administrative preparation programs do address library programs, they tend to focus on potential problems rather than on demonstrated or possible benefits. School library topics surface most often in school law classes as discussions of copyright violation or censorship fights. This leaves many administrative students with the impression that school libraries are legal time bombs instead of with the impression that the library and librarian can make significant contributions to a new principal's success. It fosters what I'll call a favorable view of negativity. The "good" isn't defined by a positive act; it's defined by the absence of a negative one. The "good" librarian is one who doesn't get me into trouble. This can have a chilling effect on any new principal's willingness to invest great trust in a school librarian-and, once in office, the demands of the principalship preclude much chance of an administrator learning the truth about libraries and librarians on the job. The simple fact is that they just don't have the time to. Once into positions as teachers or administrators, they get caught up in the imperatives of their own environments and it becomes very difficult for them to expand their conceptual horizons. Teaching is demanding, ¹⁰ and administrative work is downright consuming. ¹¹ Every administrator here will confirm what one vice principal in California told me: "Being a school administrator today," he said, "is like living in an Indiana Jones movie." Unless the library is forcibly brought to administrators' attention, it is likely to go unnoticed-and things that are unnoticed frequently are undervalued.

The third reason many administrators don't recognize libraries and librarians as valuable is rooted in the very nature of the librarian's work. Librarians deliver services that empower others, and their contributions get swallowed up in the activities of those people. Teachers and students take what librarians give them and fold it into their own work products and performances. The integration is so complete that it's very difficult to distinguish the extent of the librarian's contribution in the finished work. Ultimately, students see the research project, successful performance or high test score as something they did themselves. Teachers empowered by library materials and assistance ultimately see the resulting lesson as their own-and theirs alone.

Most teachers view librarians more as support resources than as colleagues, let alone as partners. ¹² Certainly there are those who have learned their value, but the research shows that real librarian/teacher partnerships are not widespread. ¹³

Library work's absorbability is one of the most powerful forces clouding administrators' vision. A principal can recognize a successful teacher, but it is very difficult to assess how much of that success might be a result of the librarian's ideas, resources, services, and support. Administrators' inability to see these contributions sometimes causes them to withhold recognition and makes them more ready to interfere with library operation when pursuing other goals. The library and its staff are often early casualties in budget cuts, scheduling changes, and the assignment of extra duties. There is irony in this. In rightly doing everything possible to protect the classroom in tight financial times, administrators may cut library services, and unwittingly cut away one of the essentials of classroom quality.

And last, the fourth reason that many administrators don't know about the kind of research and the kinds of library programs that we're talking about here today is because librarians themselves haven't told us much about them. A good deal of librarian invisibility flows from how they disseminate information about themselves, their programs, and their contributions. Like other educators, they publish and present. The content of their work is wonderful-it just isn't taken in by administrators.

School librarians impressively write for each other. Rich with wonderful ideas for practice, they offer suggestions on all kinds of ways to improve their operational efficiency and effectiveness and enhance what they're able to offer the students and faculties in their schools.

The same can be said of the presentations they make at their conferences. They offer wonderful sessions on what school libraries can and ought to be, what the future holds, how terrible problems have been overcome, the latest research showing the positive effects of library media support on students and teachers, and descriptions of model programs from all over the country.

The problem is that administrators almost never see these journals or hear these presentations. ¹⁴ Very few are regularly exposed to information about the myriad ways school librarians can contribute to improving curriculum and instruction, public relations, staff development, and a variety of other essential school activities. Administrators read administrative journals and attend administrative conferences. They don't read librarian publications and they don't attend library conferences.

Some administrators do appear at library conferences when invited, but their attendance is usually short-lived. They come for an awards ceremony, a luncheon, perhaps to hear a keynote address, but they don't usually attend the breakout sessions where they would be exposed to the realities of library media contribution. They have no motivation to attend such sessions because they've not been educated to think about libraries and librarians in that way. Administrators in their field, like librarians in theirs, stay attuned to problems and possibilities through their own journals and meetings-and library media and media specialists have been conspicuously absent from those information sources.¹⁵

So, given all of this, it's little wonder if you haven't been exposed to either the research about school library contributions or haven't seen in person libraries such as we're talking about here today.

What Will It Take?

Let me turn now to the second question: "What can you do about this? What will it take to draw these benefits from the libraries in your schools?" I obviously don't know everything that it will take in your particular district or school, but three things clearly are fundamental and together constitute a foundation for action.

First is filling this gap in most educators' education. The good news is that that's not too difficult to do. Much of the research discussed here today is identified and summarized in the notebook you've been given-and much more is easily accessible either on the internet or in print at the closest university library. This is something your librarian can easily find and deliver to you. It's important to note, too, that your librarian is a prime source of information. Research shows that a principal's best source of information about the library program is the librarian in his or her own building. ¹⁶

The second thing-reconceptualizing the library and its role in your school, specifically in terms of money-is a bit more difficult, although becoming familiar with the research and really taking a close look at your own library will help. The traditional conception of the library has led many administrators to think of it as a cost rather than as an investment. The research examined here today shows that there can be a payoff in supporting the library. There is no question that quality library media programs, like all quality programs, require substantial funding-but not every quality program pays off for students across the board like libraries can. In rethinking the library, we need to think not of the cost, but of the cost/benefit ratio. Books are expensive, technology is expensive, staffing is expensive, certificated librarians are expensive. The cost, however, is not the operative question. The operative question is what is the return on the money put into the library?¹⁷ Ross Todd, a visiting professor from Australia spending this year at Princeton, sums it up well, I think. We can understand libraries better, he argues if we think of them as knowledge spaces rather than information places and if we emphasize the connections they offer rather than the collections they hold.¹⁸ The investment in school libraries is a good one because the return is good. School libraries not only can make a difference in student achievement at large, but can deliver specific help to targeted populations.¹⁹ Resources for finding out about some of these specifically applied programs are included in your notebook.

Last, and the bottom line, comes back to what it always is: the people in your school-specifically, the librarian and the principal. You need a librarian who not only has the technical skills, but an enterprising attitude, someone who looks beyond the traditional role. You might be surprised at how many libraries are without a trained librarian. The national average is one to every 953 students, but that figure is deceiving. In California, for example, the ratio is only one certificated librarian to every 4,673 students. ²⁰ But a certificate alone isn't enough. Research shows that many school librarians are hesitant, even resistant, to take on the expanded roles that the previous speakers described as necessary to realize the full benefits for the school and students.²¹ I worked for three years as a consultant in the national Library Power program, funded by the DeWitt Wallace Foundation. ²² I saw a lot of innovative and powerful library programs all over the country, in small towns and big cities, and one of the common elements in every one of them was a dynamic librarian.

The other common element in all those programs was a committed principal-no program was successful without one. We have enough research on the principal's role to know that the principal is a key player, perhaps the key player, in library media programs that make a difference. ²³ Just review for a minute what you heard earlier. Library programs that make a difference not only have a certificated librarian in place, an adequate support staff, and up-to-date and large collections-all monetary investments-they also have schedules that allow the librarian time to collaborate with other staff members. The librarian serves on curriculum committees, provides measures of staff development, and participates in a wide variety of school operations. None of that happens if the principal doesn't want it to. The research evidence also is clear that teachers collaborate more with other teachers and with the librarian when the principal openly encourages it and makes schedules that facilitate it. ²⁴ It works even better when assessments of collaborative activities become a part of teacher evaluation. You might have the very best librarian you could ever get on your staff, but being ready, willing, and able represents only three-quarters of what it takes to make significant contributions. The fourth part is opportunity. And opportunity rests in the principal's hands. The principal is an absolutely essential element in maximizing the return on library investment.

If the principal isn't familiar with the research, thinks of the librarian in stereotypical terms, doesn't see the library's potential, and-for whatever reason-regards it as a cost rather than an investment, the opportunities aren't going to flow and chances to do great things may well be missed. This is where the superintendent's role becomes vital. ²⁵ Administrative support transcends just the principal's level because what a principal can do often is defined by the district. The principal must have the district's support, just as the librarian must have the principal's. The elements of success here are nested inside one another like those Russian decorative eggs.

You'll hear some wonderful examples of what can be accomplished when the pieces come together in just a minute. Let me close, though, with this thought from a futurist I once heard. "Don't," he said, "mistake the edge of the rut you've been in for the horizon."

NOTES

¹Educational Research Service (ERS), National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), and National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Is there a shortage of qualified candidates for openings in the principalship? An exploratory study (Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service, 1998).

B. A. Farber, Crisis in Education: Stress and Burnout in the American Teacher (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991)

C. E. Feistritzer, Profile of school administrators in the U.S. (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Information, 1988).

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Schools and staffing in the United States: A statistical profile 1993-1994. NCES 96-124) (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Center for Education Statistics, 1996).

² D.B. Austin and H. Brown, Jr., Report of the Assistant Principalship, Vol. 3: The Study of the Secondary School Principalship (Washington, D. C.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1970).

W. C. Buchanan, "The Principal and Role Expectations of the Library Media Specialist," The Clearing House, volume 55, no. 6 (February, 1982), pp. 253-255.

D. R. Chamberlain, Career Pathways to the Middle Grade Principalship in Georgia (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Georgia), 1993.

C. Marshall, The Assistant Principal: Leadership Choices and Challenges (Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press, 1992).

E. Miklos, "Administrator Selection, Career Patterns, Succession, and Socialization." In N. J. Boyan (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Educational Administration,pp. 53-76 (New York: Longman Publishers, 1988).

L. O. Pellicer, L. W. Anderson, J. W. Keefe, E. A. Kelley, and L. E. McCleary, High School Leaders and Their Schools, Volume 1: A National Profile (Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988).

³ P. Cavill, "Saying Farewell to Miss Prune Face or Marketing School Library Services," Emergency Librarian, volume 14, no. 5 (May-June, 1987), pp. 9-13;

B. Herrin, L. R. Pointon, and S. Russell, "Personality and Communications Behaviors of Model School Library Media Specialists." In D. V. Loertscher (Ed.), Measures of Excellence for School Library Media Centers, pp. 69-90. (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1988).

M. Land, "Librarians' Image and Users Attitudes to Reference Interviews," Canadian Library Journal, volume 45, no. 1 (February, 1988), pp. 15-20.

L. R. Silver, "Deference to Authority in the Feminized Professions," School Library Journal,, volume 34, no. 5 (January, 1988), pp. 21-27.

⁴ E. Getz, Inservice and Preservice Teachers' Attitudes Towards Working Cooperatively With School Librarians (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1992)

D. Hamilton, "The Principal and the School Library," Education Canada, volume 23, no. 3 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 31-38.

G. C. Hodges, "The Instructional Role of the School Library Media Specialist: What Research Says to Us," School Media Quarterly, volume 9, no. 4 (Summer, 1981), pp. 281-285.

S. T. Kerr, "Are There Instructional Developers in the Schools?" AV Communication Review, volume 25 (Fall, 1977), pp. 243-268. "Principals Give Short Shrift to Librarians' Curricular Role," School Library Journal, (January, 1996), pp. 12-13.

P. J. Wilson and M. Blake, "The Missing Piece: A School Library Media Center Component in Principal-Preparation Programs." Record In Educational Administration and Supervision, volume 13, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 1993), pp. 65-68.

⁵ S. Feiman-Nemser, and R. E. Floden, "The Cultures of Teaching." In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of Research On Teaching, Third Edition, pp. 505-526 (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986).

J. T. Greer, and P. M. Short, "Restructuring schools." In L. W. Hughes (Ed.), The Principal as Leader, pp. 143-160 (New York: Merrill,1993). A. Lieberman, "Why We Must End Our Isolation," American Teacher, volume 70, no. 1 (1985), pp. 9-10.

J. B. Shedd and S. B. Bacharach, Tangled Hierarchies: Teachers as Professionals and the Management of Schools (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991).

L. A. Shulman, "Teaching Alone, Learning Together: Needed Agendas and the New Reforms." In T. J. Sergiovanni and J. H. Moore (Eds.), Schooling for Tomorrow: Directing Reforms to Issues That Count, pp. 156-187 (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1989).

⁶ M. Friend and L. Cook, Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals (New York: Longman Publishers, 1992).

⁷ L. Veltze, "School Library Media Program Information in the Principalship Preparation Program." In J. B. Smith and J. G. Coleman, Jr. (Eds.), School Library Media Annual, 1992, Volume Ten, pp. 129-134 (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1992).

P. J. Wilson and M. Blake, "The Missing Piece: A School Library Media Center Component in Principal-Preparation Programs. Record in Educational Leadership, volume 12, no. 2 (Spring/Summer, 1993), pp. 65-68.

⁸ L. Veltze, "School Library Media Program Information in the Principalship Preparation Program." In J. B. Smith and J. G. Coleman, Jr. (Eds.), School Library Media Annual, 1992, Volume Ten, pp. 129-134 (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1992).

⁹ R. Barth, "The Principal & The Profession of Teaching." In T. J. Sergioivanni and J. H. Moore (Eds.), Schooling for Tomorrow: Directing Reforms to Issues That Count, pp. 227-250. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1989)

J. L. daCosta. Teacher Collaboration: The Roles of Trust and Respect. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, April 18-22, 1995. ERIC Document Number ED 384 607.

T. Deal and K. Peterson. The Principal's Role in Shaping School Culture. (Washington, D.C.: OERI Document Number EDD00075)

A. E. Lehr, "The Administrative Role in Collaborative Teaching," NASSP Bulletin, vol. 83, no. 611 (December 1999), pp. 105-111.

J. W. Little, School Success and Staff Development in Urban Desegregated Schools: A Summary of Recently Completed Research (Boulder, CO: Center for Action Research, 1981).

D. G. Pounder, Restructuring Schools for Collaboration: Promises and Pitfalls (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1998).

G. Riordan and J. L. daCosta, Leadership for Effective Teacher Collaboration: Suggestions for Principals and Teacher Leaders. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, California, April 13-17, 1998. ERIC Document Number 418 964.

S. C. Smith and J. J. Scott, The Collaborative School: A Work Environment for Effective Instruction (Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1990).

¹⁰ To get a good sense of the teacher's work life and why there is so little chance for interaction with other faculty members, see works like those below:

P. W. Jackson, Life in Classrooms (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1968). Jackson found that elementary teachers engage in as many as 300 exchanges with students every hour they work.

D. Lortie, School Teacher: A Sociological Study (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975). Lortie's work is a classic look at the "press" teachers experience.

M. W. McLaughlin, J. E. Talbert, and N. Bascia (Eds.), The Contexts of Teaching in Secondary Schools: Teachers' Realities (New York: Teachers' College Press, 1990). A series of readings demonstrating the working conditions of secondary school teachers.

T. R. Sizer, Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School, (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1984). The pressure on high school teachers is clearly represented in "Horace," Sizer's composite representative high school teacher.

L. M. Smith and W. Geoffrey, The Complexities of an Urban Classroom: An Analysis Toward a General Theory of Teaching (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1968).

¹¹ For similar insights into administrative pressures, see works such as:

D.B. Austin and H. Brown, Jr., Report of the Assistant Principalship, Vol. 3: The Study of the Secondary School Principalship (Washington, D. C.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1970).

N. J. Boyan, Handbook of Research in Educational Administration (New York: Longman Publishers, 1988).

E. L. Boyer, High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America (New York: Harper and Row, 1983).

W. D. Greenfield, Instructional Leadership: Concepts, Issues, and Controversies (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1987).

G. N. Hartzell, R. C. Williams, K. T. Nelson, New Voices in the Field: The Work Lives of First-Year Assistant Principals (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1995).

C. Marshall, The Assistant Principal: Leadership Choices and Challenges (Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press, 1992).

W. J. Martin and D. J. Willower, "The Managerial Behavior of High School Principals," Educational Administration Quarterly, volume 17, no. 1 (Winter 1981), pp. 69-90.

V. C. Morris, R. L. Crowson, C. Porter-Gehrie, and E. Hurwitz, Jr., Principals in Action: The Reality of Managing Schools (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing, 1984).

F. W. Parkay and G. E. Hall, Becoming a Principal: The Challenges of Beginning Leadership (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1992).

L. O. Pellicer, L. W. Anderson, J. W. Keefe, E. A. Kelley, and L. E. McCleary, High School Leaders and Their Schools, Volume 1: A National Profile (Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988).

K. Peterson, "The Principal's Tasks." Administrator's Notebook, volume 26, no. 8 (1977-1978), pp. 1-4.

¹² W. C. Buchanan, C., "The Principal and Role Expectations of the School Library Media Specialist," The Clearing House, volume 55, no. 6 (February, 1982), pp. 253-255.

F. C. Pfister, "Library Media Specialists: What Role Should They Play?" In D. Loertscher (Ed.), School Library Media Centers: Research Studies and the State-of-the-Art, pp. 31-40 (Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources, 1980).

L. L. Wolcott, K. A. Lawless, and D. Hobbs, Assessing Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs About the Role of the Library Media Specialist. A paper presented at the Third International Forum on Research in School Librarianship, annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship (Birmingham, Alabama, November 10-14, 1999).

J. D. van Deusen, "The School Library Media Specialist As a Member of the Teaching Team: "Insider" and "Outsider." Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, volume 11, no. 3 (1996), pp. 229-248.

¹³ M. Bell and H. L. Totten, H. L. (1992). "Cooperation in Instruction Between Classroom Teachers and School Library Media Specialists: A Look at Teacher Characteristics in Texas Elementary Schools. School Library Media Quarterly, volume 20, no. 2 (Winter, 1992), pp. 31-38.

J. M. Campbell, Principal-School Library Mdia Relations as Perceived by Selected North Carolina Elementary Principals and School Library Media Specialists (Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina, 1991).

E. Getz, Inservice and Preservice Teachers' Attitudes Towards Working Cooperatively With School Librarians (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1992).

K. Haycock, "Research in Teacher-Librarianship and the Institutionalization of Change," School Library Media Quarterly, volume 23, no. 4 (Summer, 1995), pp. 227-233.

¹⁴ "Teacher-Librarians Need to Assume More Responsibility for Writing About Teacher-Librarianship and School Library Programs for Professional Journals Read by Teachers and Administrators," Emergency Librarian (March-April, 1989), p. 38.

¹⁵ A quick sampling of administrator and teacher journals will illustrate. Between June of 1998 and April of 2002, the American School Board Journal carried only one article on school libraries. The Principal Magazine published one article on libraries, planning for technology in the library, between September of 1998 and April of 2002. The National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin did devote one theme issue to school libraries, edited by Ken Haycock, and offered two other articles in other issues, but that was all between May of 1998 and March of 2002 - and it was rare in the field. The following publications carried not a single article on school libraries between the spring of 1998 and the early spring of 2002: Educational Administration Quarterly, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, Clearing House, Schools in the Middle, High School Magazine, High School Journal, Elementary School Journal, American Biology Teacher, The Science Teacher, Mathematics Teacher, Social Studies, The History Teacher, Teacher Education Quarterly.

¹⁶ J. M. Campbell, Principal-School Library Media Relations as Perceived by Selected North Carolina Elementary Principals and School Library Media Specialists (Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1991).

¹⁷ There's some interesting research on this. Some examples include

M. J. Bruning, A Statistical Analysis of the Relationship Between Student Achievement and Spending for Libraries in Ohio Public Schools (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 1994).

M. Bruning, "Is Money Spent on Libraries a Wise Investment?" Ohio Media Spectrum, vol. 46 (Winter, 1994), pp. 18-20.

N. L. Everhart, An Analysis of the Work Activities of High School Library Media Specialists in Automated and Nonautomated Library Media Centers Using Work Sampling (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1990).

B. J. Hyatt, Relationship Between the Commitment and Role of the Elementary School Principal in Regions I, III, and IV in the State of Florida Regarding Media and the Quality of the School Media Center (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1987).

F. Nicholson, The Financial Value of the Teacher Librarian, a paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Adelaide, South Australia, September 27-30, 1993. ERIC Document Number ED 399 932.

R. D. Swetnam, The Relationship Between Financial Expenditures and Student Achievement in Selected Texas School Districts (Doctoral dissertation, East Texas State University, 1992).

¹⁸ R. Todd. Transitions for Preferred Futures of School Libraries: Knowledge Space, Not Information Place; Connections, Not Collections; Actions, Not Positions; Evidence, Not Advocacy. A keynote paper at the 2001 International Association of School Librarianship Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, July 9-12, 2001. Available at http://www.iasl-slo.org/virtualpaper2001.html.

¹⁹ Examples of programs for targeted populations are included in the conference notebook. Some samples that your school librarian could find in short order include:

D. Ablilock, "Librarians and Gifted Readers: Myths and Facts," Knowledge Quest, volume 27, no. 5 (May-June, 1995), pp. 35.

D. D. Barron, "In the Beginning: Resources for School Library Media Specialists Helping New Teachers," School Library Media Activities Monthly, volume 15, no. 2 (October, 1998), pp. 47-50.

G. R. Brown, At-Risk Students: How Do School (Library) Systems Respond? Paper presented as the annual meeting of the International Association of School Librarianship, Umea, Sweden, July 8-12, 1990. ERIC Document Number ED 326 251.

M. A. Dame, The Role of the School Library in Serving LEP/ESL Students. 1994. ERIC Document Number ED 381 033.

F. A. Dowd, "The School Library Media Specialist and Latchkey Children," School Library Media Activities Monthly, volume 9, no. 2 (October, 1992), pp. 33-34.

J. Gold, L. Greengrass, and E. R. Kulleseid, "Whole Language and Teacher/Librarian Partnerships," Phi Delta Kappan, volume 73, no. 7 (March, 1992), pp. 536-537.

J. W. Howard, "Assisting Advanced Placement Teachers," School Library Media Annual, Volume 10, pp. 25-35 (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1992).

J. L. Thomas, and A. E. Goldsmith, "A Necessary Partnership: The Early Childhood Educator and the School Librarian." Phi Delta Kappan, volume 73, no. 7 (March, 1992), pp. 533-535.

M. White and P. Wilson. "School Counselors and Teacher-Librarians: A Necessary Partnership for Effective Schools," Emergency Librarian, volume 25, no. 1 (September-October, 1997), pp. 8-13.

²⁰ California Department of Education - School Library Statistics. Available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/library/

²¹ J. G. Coleman, Jr., Perceptions of the "Guiding Principles" in Media Programs: District and Library Trends. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia), 1982.

J. A. Johnson, The School Library Media Specialist As Instructional Consultant (Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1993).

S. T. Kerr, "Are There Instructional Developers in the Schools? A Sociological Look at the Development of a Profession," A V Communications Review, volume 25 (1977), pp. 243-268.

L. Kvalness, and P. La Croix, Levels of Involvement in the Consultant Role of the School Library Media Specialist. A presentation at the American Association of School Librarians Research Forum, Chicago, 1990.

B. S. McCoy, A Survey of Practicing School Library Media Specialsits to Determine the Job Competencies That They Value Most (Doctoral dissertation, Georgia State University, 2001).

A. McCracken, "School Library Media Specialists' Perceptions of Practice and Importance of Roles Described in Information Power," School Library Media Research, vol. 4, 2001. http://ala.org/SLMR/wol4/perceptions/perceptions_main.html

P. W. Pickard, "The Instructional Consultant Role of the School Library Media Specialist," School Library Media Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 2 (1993), pp. 115-121.

S. E. Staples, "Sixty Competency Ratings for School Media Specialists." Instructional Innovator, volume 26 (November 1981), pp. 19-23.

²² For an overview of the program and its effects, see Executive Summary: Findings from the Evaluation of the National Library Power Program (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Library and Information Studies and School of Education, 1999).

²³ "The Role of the Principal is the Key Factor in the Development of an Effective School Library Program," Emergency Librarian (January-February, 1989, p. 31.

K. Bishop and N. Larimer, "Literacy Through Collaboration," Teacher Librarian, volume 27, no. 1 (October, 1999), pp. 15-20.

R. Blazek, Influencing Students Toward Media Center Use: An Experimental Investigation In Mathematics (Chicago: American Library Association, 1975).

B. S. Campbell and P. A. Cordiero, High School Principal Roles and Implementation Themes for Mainstreaming Information Literacy Instruction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New York, April 8-12, 1996). ERIC Document Number ED 399 667.

J. B. Charter, Case Study Profiles of Six Exemplary Public High School Library Media Programs (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1982).

Executive Summary: Findings from the Evaluation of the National Library Power Program (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Library and Information Studies and School of Education, 1999).

V. S. Gehlken, The Role of the High School Library Media Program in Three Nationally Recognized South Carolina Blue Ribbon Secondary Schools (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1994).

A. E. Hambleton and J. P. Wilkinson, The Role of the Library in Resource-Based Learning. SSTA Research Center Report #94-11. Available at http://www.ssta.sk.ca/research/instruction/94-11.htm 2001.

D. Hamilton, "The Principal and the School Library," Education Canada, volume 23, no. 3 (Fall, 1983), pp. 31-35, 38.

L. Hay, J. Henri, and D. Oberg, "The Role of the Principal in an Information Literate School Community: Think Global, Act Local." In J. Henri and K. Bonanno (Eds.), The Information Literate School Community: Best Practice (Wagga Wagga, Australia: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, 1999), pp. 121-147.

K. Haycock, "Fostering Collaboration, Leadership, and Information Literacy: Common Behaviors of Uncommon Principals and Faculties," NASSP Bulletin, volume 83, no. 605 (March, 1999), pp. 82-87.

D. L. Hellene, The Relationship of the Behaviors of Principals in the State of Washington to the Development of School Library Media Programs, a doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, 1973.

A. M. Lumley, The Change Process and the Change Outcomes in the Development of an Innovative Elementary School Library Media Program (Doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University, 1994).

L. Master and N. L. Master, A 1988 Statewide Survey of Nevada School Librarians' Self-Perceptions as Instructional Leaders in Their Schools. ERIC Document No. 300 016.

D. Oberg, Principal Support: What Does It Mean to Teacher-Librarians? Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship (Worcester, England, July 17-21, 1995) ERIC Document ED 400 851.

D. Oberg, "The School Library Program and the Culture of the School," Emergency Librarian, volume 18, no. 1 (1991), pp. 9-16.

R. C. Pearson, A Critical Relationship: Rural and Small School Principals and Librarians (1989). ERIC Document Number ED 390 589.

J. I. Tallman and J. D. van Deusen, "Collaborative Unit Planning - Schedule, Time, and Participants, Part Three," School Library Media Quarterly,

C. M. Townsend, The Principal's Role in Implementing "Information Power": The New National Guidelines for School Library Media Centers. (1988) ERIC Document Number ED 338 250.

P.M. Turner, "The Relationship Between the Principal's Attitude and the Amount and Type of Instructional Development Performed by the Media Professional," International Journal of Instructional Media, volume 7 (1979-1980), pp. 127-138.

J. D. Van Deusen, Enhancing Teaching and Learning: A Leadership Guide for School Library Media Specialists (New York: Neal-Schuman).

J. F. Watkins and A. H. Craft, "Library Media Specialists in a Staff Development Role: Teaming With the Principal for Instructional Leadership," School Library Media Quarterly, volume 16 (Winter, 1988), pp. 110-114.

P. P. Wilson and J. A. Lyders, Leadership for Today's School Library: A Handbook for The Library Media Specialist and the School Principal (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001).

²⁴ S. D. Kruse. Collaboration Efforts Among Teachers: Implications for School Administrators. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, Louisville, Kentucky, October 25-27, 1996. ERIC Document Number ED 402 651

²⁵ There hasn't been a great deal of research on the superintendent's role in promoting quality library media programs, but a few works do offer some suggestions and insights. These include

"What Works: A Supportive and Knowledgeable Superintendent," Emergency Librarian, volume 18, no. 4 (March-April, 1991), p. 33.

E. L. Holland, The Superintendent's Role in Developing a Community of Readers in Indiana Middle-Grades Schools (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, 1995).

G. Lancaster, Superintendents' Perceptions of the School Library Media Center (Elementary Schools) (Doctoral dissertation, Texas Women's University, 1998).