The Past (The Past: Longer Version)
It was intense lobbying which kick started Australian school libraries in the 1960s and 70s. In the twelve years 1969-1980, it is suggested some $200 million of federal government funds were spent on school libraries. This was the result of reports commissioned by library associations and submissions from a broad range of education and library groups.
About 1200 new secondary school libraries were built by 1977. By 1978 there were some 3500 qualified (at least the equivalent of one term full-time training in school librarianship) teacher librarians in Australia.
All this was as a result of pressure on the Federal government.
The Accountability and Rationalization Years
An excellent account of economic and political forces which affected schools and school libraries in the 1990s can be found in the Teacher Librarians and School Library Policy of the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Education Union (2008). Commonwealth school library grants ceased. School staffs were rationalized, and teacher librarians were counted as part of the teaching staff, not extra to it. Central school library services dwindled. IT was seen by many as a panacea. Library courses in South Australia and Tasmania were cut. And the TL workforce is greying.
The Present
So almost 30 years after the halcyon days, school libraries are again facing a crisis. Faced with global budgeting shortfalls, principals are forced to make cutbacks, and unfortunately, the library has often been the easiest place to do this.
Anecdotal evidence tells us that library budgets have plummeted across the country. Staffing levels have also been greatly reduced in an effort to save money.
Without the strong state school library services which existed in the 1980s, state and national statistics are hard to obtain. The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) fortunately have undertaken a project with Edith Cowan University to gather statistical data. (See Combes, 2008. Australian School Library Research Project). It tells us that the situation in many, if not most, government schools is dire. Meanwhile, tertiary places for teacher librarians are decreasing. The University of Melbourne has ceased the only course available in Victoria.
School libraries are not the same as public libraries.
Take a few minutes to click here and read about why school libraries are unique, and why they require specialist staffing.
Further reading
Maureen Nimon has published an excellent article on School Libraries in Australia in the Australian Library Journal, 2003.
Alan Bundy, also, has written a great deal about learning and libraries. His article Essential Connections: School and Public Libraries for Lifelong Learning, presented at the Forging Future Directions ASLA conference in 2001, provides a good explanation of the Reports and surveys which guided early development of libraries and the connection between school and public libraries.
And the Future? A Think Tank of TLs and Educators?The Ontario School Library Association brought four outstanding leaders in school libraries and education together to explore the themes and trends upon which a new school library document commissioned by the Ministry of Education might be based.
Joyce Valenza, Springfield Township HS librarian (PA, USA) gives us an excellent chart of where school libraries have been and where they are going. For a view of the future go to her article How my life has changed / How will my life change? 30 years of information and educational change; how should our practice respond?
[...] “Almost 30 years after the halcyon days, school libraries are again facing a crisis. Faced with global budgeting shortfalls, principals are forced to make cutbacks, and unfortunately, the library has often been the easiest place to do this. Anecdotal evidence tells us that library budgets have plummeted across the country. Staffing levels have also been greatly reduced in an effort to save money.” (Leonie Paatsch & Georgia Phillips) [...]