6. STAFFING
6.1 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, as would be expected; see Table 6.1 below..
Table 6.1 Staffing by size of school (%)
Designation |
less
than
50 |
50
to
100 |
100
to
500 |
500
to
1000 |
1000
to
2000 |
2000 plus |
All |
Chartered
librarian ft |
6.3 |
2.0 |
10.7 |
27.6 |
33.5 |
38.1 |
23.8 |
Chartered
librarian pt |
0 |
2.0 |
5.6 |
11.2 |
6.4 |
11.9 |
8.3 |
Teacher/librarian
ft |
0 |
0 |
2.8 |
2.2 |
3.9 |
2.4 |
2.5 |
Teacher/librarian
pt |
0 |
0 |
2.3 |
1.1 |
1.7 |
0 |
1.3 |
Teacher ft |
56.3 |
62.7 |
42.9 |
25.2 |
22.7 |
16.7 |
30.3 |
Teacher pt |
6.3 |
5.9 |
5.1 |
2.0 |
0.9 |
0 |
2.6 |
Other |
31.3 |
27.5 |
30.5 |
30.6 |
30.9 |
31.0 |
31.2 |
Sample size |
32 |
51 |
177 |
445 |
233 |
42 |
1043 |
6.2 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. For
instance 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.
6.3 There are some notable differences when
making comparisons across countries; 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.
Table 6.3 Staffing by country (%)
Designation |
Wales |
England |
N. Ireland |
Scotland |
All |
Chartered
librarian ft |
7.9 |
18.8 |
4.0 |
65.6 |
23.8 |
Chartered
librarian pt |
9.0 |
10.1 |
1.0 |
4.9 |
8.3 |
Teacher/librarian
ft |
1.1 |
2.7 |
5.1 |
0.6 |
2.5 |
Teacher/librarian
pt |
0 |
1.7 |
1.0 |
0.6 |
1.3 |
Teacher ft |
30.3 |
30.9 |
64.6 |
6.7 |
30.3 |
Teacher pt |
1.1 |
3.5 |
1.0 |
0.6 |
2.6 |
Other |
50.6 |
32.2 |
23.2 |
20.9 |
31.2 |
Sample size |
89 |
692 |
99 |
163 |
1043 |
6.4 Again, there are some differences between
sectors; independent schools tending to prefer part-time staff and special schools full
time teachers.
Table 6.4 Staffing by sector (%)
Designation |
LEA |
Special |
Grant |
CTC |
Independent |
All |
Chartered
librarian ft |
29.9 |
0 |
18.2 |
50.0 |
21.4 |
23.8 |
Chartered
librarian pt |
8.8 |
0 |
11.0 |
0 |
11.9 |
8.3 |
Teacher/librarian
ft |
2.4 |
0 |
2.2 |
0 |
2.4 |
2.5 |
Teacher/librarian
pt |
0.8 |
0 |
1.7 |
0 |
4.8 |
1.3 |
Teacher ft |
25.5 |
64.7 |
27.6 |
12.5 |
26.2 |
30.3 |
Teacher pt |
0.7 |
4.7 |
3.3 |
0 |
10.3 |
2.6 |
Other |
31.9 |
30.6 |
35.9 |
37.5 |
23.0 |
31.2 |
Sample size |
589 |
85 |
181 |
8 |
126 |
45 |
6.5 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.
Table 6.5 Staffing by type of school (%)
Designation |
11-16 |
12-17 |
11-18 |
Other |
All |
Chartered
librarian ft |
9.5 |
64.0 |
31.5 |
16.9 |
23.8 |
Chartered
librarian pt |
9.5 |
0 |
8.5 |
7.3 |
8.3 |
Teacher/
librarian ft |
3.9 |
8.0 |
1.6 |
2.3 |
2.5 |
Teacher/
librarian pt |
1.4 |
0 |
1.1 |
2.3 |
1.3 |
Teacher ft |
40.5 |
12.0 |
23.1 |
38.4 |
30.3 |
Teacher pt |
4.2 |
0 |
1.1 |
5.1 |
2.6 |
Other |
31.0 |
16.0 |
33.1 |
27.7 |
31.2 |
Sample size |
284 |
25 |
553 |
177 |
1043 |
6.6 Salary and attendance of person
responsible for the school library (each cell gives the number in each category and this
as a (percentage) of the total responses to this question - 987 in all) are shown below in
Table 6.5. The range of salaries and modes of attendance suggest much variation between
schools in terms of the importance and roles of librarians in schools. This may suggest
that firm guidelines should be developed.
Table 6.6 Salary range by type of attendance
Salary (£) |
Full time |
Full time
(term only) |
Part time |
Part time
(term only) |
Up to 5000 |
7 (0.7) |
1 (0.1) |
13 (1.3) |
39 (4.0) |
5000 to 7500 |
1 (0.1) |
15 (1.5) |
14 (1.4) |
62 (6.3) |
7500 to 10000 |
16 (1.6) |
63 (6.4) |
15 (1.5) |
41 (4.2) |
10000 to 12500 |
43 (4.4) |
52 (5.3) |
12 (1.2) |
23 (2.3) |
12500 to 15000 |
73 (7.4) |
34 (3.4) |
6 (0.6) |
10 (1.0) |
15000 to 17500 |
86 (8.7) |
4 (0.4) |
3 (0.3) |
0 |
17500 to 20000 |
71 (7.2) |
5 (0.5) |
1 (0.1) |
0 |
20000 to 22500 |
106 (10.7) |
12 (1.2) |
1 (0.1) |
2 (0.2) |
22500 to 25000 |
95 (9.6) |
6 (0.6) |
0 |
0 |
25000 plus |
53 (5.4) |
2 (0.2) |
0 |
0 |
6.7 While there are many full time librarians the full time
(term only) and part time (term only) categories were also significant.
6.8 On the point of additional staff, only 73
(6.8%) of those responding indicated that the library employed an additional chartered
librarian; 1 (0.1%) indicated two or more additional chartered librarians. In 5 (0.5%)
instances the appropriate box in the questionnaire was ticked (no figures given) which
might be taken as an additional chartered librarian; although we cannot be sure about
this.
6.9 Of those responding only 52 (4.8%)
employed an additional teacher- librarian; 11 (1.1%) employed two or more additional
teacher - librarians; 23 (2.1%) indicated a response by ticking. Again this might indicate
an additional teacher - librarian.
6.10 For library assistants 238 (22.1%)
indicated one library assistant in addition to the person in charge of the library; 53
(4.9%) indicated two assistants and 18 (1.7%) indicated 3 or more assistants. Also, 85
(7.9%) ticked the box, possibly suggesting an additional assistant; although, especially
in this case since the numbers are larger, we cannot be sure that only a single assistant
was employed.
6.11 Of the responding schools 592 (55%)
reported pupil volunteer assistance. Of those responding, 31.3% had some sort of
assistance (number unspecified), 64.1% had up to 20 pupil volunteers and 4.6% had over 20
(the largest number reported was 60!).
6.12 Only 96 (8.9%) of the 1075 schools
reported some parent volunteer assistance. In 23 cases one parent volunteer helped in the
library; in 24 cases there were two parent volunteer helpers; in 24 cases there were three
or more parent volunteer helpers. Only 71 schools (6.6%) reported some other form of help
in the library.
Chartered librarians in relation to numbers
of pupils:
6.13 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.
6.14 For Scottish schools; 107 full time and 8
part time chartered librarians for 117599, 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.
6.15 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.
6.16 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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