IASL Research Abstracts: 244

Shannon, D. M. (2009). Principals’ Perspectives of School Librarians

Research has revealed that the principal’s support of the school’s library program is critical to its success. For this reason, it is imperative for librarians to understand the principal’s perceptions and priorities. This project was designed to determine the criteria that principals in South Carolina, USA use in hiring a school librarian, the competencies principals consider important for a school librarian to possess, and principals’ level of satisfaction with the work of their current school librarian. South Carolina’s K-12 school principals were asked to participate in the project by submitting an online questionnaire, which was completed by 189 respondents. Findings indicate that principals generally supported school librarian competencies as outlined in Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (the national standards for school library media programs in the USA at the time the survey was conducted). Just over 82% of principals were satisfied or very satisfied with their current school librarian.

Subject categories: Evaluation/effectiveness (5), Principal (18)

Abstract submitted by Janice Newsum, Florida State University