3. ACCESS

3.1 This section deals with specific information about the library, namely;

• collections

• opening times.

Collections

3.2 As can be seen in the figure below, nearly eighty percent of libraries were seen as a multimedia collection.

Figure 4 Description of the library collection

3.3 There were no statistical differences between these proportions when considering differences between countries but other significant differences emerged.

3.4 Notable differences emerged between the special sector with a description of the library as more often a book only collection and similarly but to lesser extent with the independent sector. The LEA and grant maintained sectors were very similar.

Table 3.4 Description of the library by sector

3.5 The trend towards a description as a multimedia collection with increasing size of school was very pronounced.

Table 3.5 Description of the library by size of school

3.6 The main differences between type of school in relation to the description of the library relate to the 'Other' type of school, reflecting the mixture of special and independents.

Table 3.6 Description of the library by type of school

Opening times

3.7 As can be seen in the figure below, the majority of school libraries were open during the day and many after and before school. Not many libraries were, however, available during holidays.

Figure 5 Percentage of school libraries opening at particular times

3.8 There, however, were some differences when comparing country, type, sector and size of school.

3.9 There will be many reasons for the differences but it would appear that Scottish school libraries tended to open more often before school started, slightly more often after school finished and much more often during holidays; they tended not to open as often during lunch times. Welsh school libraries opened more often at break times but not so often before or after school. School libraries in Northern Ireland opened less often at break and lunch times and quite often during holidays. The number of the English schools in the survey tended to dominate the picture but there were differences around this picture.

Table 3.9 Opening times by country

3.10 The 11-18 school libraries tended to open more often than the 11-16 school libraries.

Table 3.10 Opening times by type of school

3.11 Special school libraries tended not to open outside lesson times; independent school libraries appeared more flexible with opening times.

Table 3.11 Opening times by sector

3.12 There were not so many differences due to size, but opening at break times, at lunch times and after school (except for the very small schools ) followed a consistent increasing trend with size.

Table 3.12 Opening times by size of school

3.13 As can be seen from the figure below, 36.8% of libraries were open for fewer than 31 hours per week; 52% were open between 31 and 40 hours and 11.2% were open 41 hours or longer. There were some significant differences due to country, sector, type and size.

Figure 6 Number of hours per week of library opening

3.14 Scottish libraries tended to be open slightly longer hours (30 plus); Northern Irish school libraries shorter hours, although the differences were small.

Table 3.14 Library opening hours by country

3.15 Special school libraries tended not to open long hours. For LEA and Grant maintained school libraries most opening hours were between 21 and 40 hours; independent schools tended to open longer hours.

Table 3.15 Library opening hours by sector

3.16 The main differences between the 11-16 and 11-18 school libraries suggested that the latter open significantly longer hours.

Table 3.16 Library opening hours by type of school

3.17 Small schools tended to have shorter opening hours; these were often the special schools. The independent school libraries surveyed tended to have longer opening hours than other sectors irrespective of size of school. The trend of increasing opening hours with increasing size of school was very noticeable.

Table 3.17 Library opening hours by size of school

3.18 The library was used for other purposes in three quarters of the schools surveyed. This percentage tended to increase for the larger schools (500 plus) and ranged from 50% for small schools to over 80% for 2000 plus schools. Special schools and CTC’s tended not to use the library for other purposes compared with the other sectors. The percentage in Northern Ireland and Scotland was higher but the difference was not statistically significant.

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