Staffing

21. Over 30% of school libraries are run without full-time or part-time librarian or teacher involvement, irrespective of size. There is a size effect in relation to library staffing, larger schools (in terms of pupil numbers) tending to employ a full-time or part-time librarian.

22. There are some notable differences across the UK: the percentage of Scottish schools with chartered librarians is very high; Northern Ireland schools have mainly full time teachers in charge of the library and Welsh schools have full time teachers or some other arrangement. Again, there are some differences between sectors; independent schools tend to prefer part-time staff and special schools full time teachers. Small schools tend to have a full time teacher responsible for the library with only a small percentage of chartered librarians either full time or part time. The picture changes dramatically for large schools. In schools with fewer than 50 pupils only 6.3% had chartered librarians while for schools with over 2000 pupils the percentages are 38.1% full time and 11.9% part time chartered librarian.

23. There are some differences in relation to the type of school; the 11-18 schools are much more likely to have a chartered librarian full time (31.5%) compared with the 11-16 schools (9.5%); the 11-16 schools were more likely to have a full time teacher (40.5%) compared with 23.1% for 11-18 schools. The 12-17 schools (common in Scotland) were more likely to have a full time chartered librarian than any other professional.

24. In the Welsh sample there are 7 full time and 8 part time chartered librarians. The total number of pupils in the same Welsh schools was 65649. A crude calculation yields 1 chartered librarian per 4377 pupils. Similar figures for English schools give 130 full time and 70 part time chartered librarians and 495581 pupils; the ratio is, then, 1 to 2478 pupils. For Scottish schools, 107 full time and 8 part time chartered librarians for 117599 pupils, yields a ratio of 1 librarian to 1023 pupils. For Northern Ireland, 4 full time and one part time librarians to 57661 pupils gives a ratio of 1 to 11,532. These figures should be viewed cautiously but indicate some large differences between countries. The overall figures are 248 full time and 87 part time librarians to 736490 pupils, yielding a ratio of 1 to 2198. Given the numbers of library posts and pupils reported crude ratios are:

1 chartered librarian per 4377 pupils for Welsh schools

1 chartered librarian per 2478 pupils for English schools

1 chartered librarian per 1023 pupils for Scottish schools

1 chartered librarian per 11,532 pupils for Northern Irish schools

1 chartered librarian per 2198 pupils for the UK.

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