teacher’s perception of public library services

Group ID: JS-01Lee Ping Verena (G0901687K)

Tan Poh Lay (G1001107C)Ee Min Hoon (G1001087G)

Teacher’s Perception of Public Library Services

Objectives• To identify the reasons for teachers' use and non-use of NLB services for schools. • To measure teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of NLB services.• To identify the gaps where schools' needs are not met by NLB.• To provide recommendations to improve on NLB-school collaborations.

MethodologyReach out to all 178 MOE primary schoolsGave out 673 survey forms to 8 schools 327 completed forms

Response rate 49%2% of entire teacher population in Singapore

Questionnaire design Intended to be easy to completePilot tested with 10 teachers

Demographics75% females, 25% malesAge

DemographicsTeaching experience

Findings and Discussion

• Use and non-use of NLB services• Perceptions of the usefulness of NLB

services• Teachers’ unmet needs

Use and Non-use of NLB ServicesObjectives

Identify use frequency relation between school library services and NLB services

Identify reasons for use and non-use

Use FrequencySchool Library Services

NLB Services

NoneAbout once a week

About once a month

Several

times a year

Once a year

Others

35 109 67 92 11 10

NoneAbout once a week

About once a month

Several

times a year

Once a year

Others

35 41 87 122 22 6

Teaching Experience vs. NLB Services Use FrequencyMost indicated that they only used NLB

Services several times a year

Types of School Library ServicesRespondents can chose more than one type of

servicesOut of the 50 who indicated Others, more than

half cited “borrowing” (either for self or students) as a service that they used

Teachers do not use school library for curriculum planning and teaching (Mokhtar and Majid, 2005)

General aspect of curriculum such as students borrow books or using library space

Information literacy

aid

Storytelling

Curriculum

Others

140 101 124 50

NLB Services Non-use ReasonsNo time was indicated as the most popular

reason (29%)Reason that school library services use

frequency is higher than NLB servicesMore convenientTime saving

Findings and Discussion

• Use and non-use of NLB services• Perceptions of the usefulness of NLB

services• Teachers’ unmet needs

Perceptions of the Usefulness of NLB ServicesObjectives

Whether NLB services helped students to develop reading interest, language and communicative skills

Whether NLB services helped students improve reading ability and academic performance

Which NLB services most usefulWhich NLB services teachers actually

experienced

Guided by PISA (OECD, 2010) and Minnick (2001), usefulness defined as the impact of NLB services on students’ reading interest, reading ability, language development, communicative skills and academic performance

Usefulness of NLB Services on Students

Usefulness of NLB Services on Students93% perceived positive impact of NLB services

on students52% on reading interest, ability and language

development, 32% on communicative skills and academic performance

Library’s role in reading advocacy

Teaching Experience vs. Perception of NLB’s impact on StudentsMore definite and positive as the

number of years of experience increases

Perception of Individual NLB ServicesReading Promotion Tools

Majority found “KidsRead” very useful* KidsRead – promotes and inculcates the love of

reading among children from low-income families. Children participate in sessions led by volunteers, filled with activities like storytelling, craft, songs and games.

Perception of Individual NLB ServicesServices to Schools

Majority found “Library membership” drive, “Molly” and “Mass borrowing” very useful

Experiences with NLB ServicesMost experienced “Library visit” and “Mass

borrowing”Need to do more to expose teachers to all

services due to low percentage rate reported

Satisfaction with NLB Services93% of the teachers were “satisfied” and

“very satisfied” with NLB’s services

Findings and Discussion

• Use and non-use of NLB services• Perceptions of the usefulness of NLB

services• Teachers’ unmet needs

Teachers’ unmet needs63 teachers (20% of all respondents)

answered this open-ended question38% of these teachers would like NLB to

provide more resources that will tie in with the school curriculum

“A website where teacher can immediately find a list of resource related to MOE curriculum, instead of teachers going

'hunting for books' at NLB.”

“Provide a list of books according to units and topics related to the curriculum so that

it would be easier for teachers to obtain them”

Teachers’ unmet needsSome would like to have more programmes

and collection support in the Mother Tongue languages

“More assistance, programmes and resources for mother tongue (malay)

language”

“Provide more useful teaching resources/references from overseas,

especially for mother tongue language”

Teachers’ unmet needs21% of all respondents cited programmes

and activities that are already part of NLB’s existing suite of services

93% of all respondents would have experienced NLB services in their schools

Shows that there are teachers who are still in the dark on how NLB can complement their work in school

Likely that NLB services are arranged without involving greater pool of teachers on their needs

Recommendations

• Reading Promotion Tools• Services to schools

Reading Promotion Tools

“KidsRead”Teachers in the Learning Support Program

(LSP)-English and English Language teachers from the lower primary levels (i.e. Primary 1 to 3).

Identify students who need help in reading and recommend these students for the program.

“H.O.T” newsletterre-looked content supplementary material for the teachers marketing campaign -14% of the teachers

surveyed are familiar with this newsletter.

“Read-and-Reap”

articles can be supplementary materials for teachers

librarians to share with the teachers on how they can incorporate “Read-and-Reap” into the curriculum and also how this programme will benefit the students.

“Quest”visit schools to share more information with

students and teachers.

“Raise-a-Reader” teachers need to be convinced of the

benefits of this programme before they will promote it to parents

teachers participate in at least one such session so as to understand how it can help them and this will, in turn, enable them to provide support for the students.

“Junior Reading Ambassador”JRAs to be given more exposure in schools,

in terms of sharing on good reads, the benefits of reading and promoting library services, their role will be more distinct

Librarians to collaborate more with the teachers-in-charge“Bookcross”

collaborate with interested schools to start the culture of “Bookcrossing” amongst students.

Services to schools

“A.S.K.” Advisory Servicedistribute pamphlets during assembly talks

and community outreach programmes (especially those involving teachers)

Have a demonstration, if possible, on how users can access the service.

“Library Visits”Tailor programme line-up for the visits to

meet needs of teachers and students.

“Showcase”Photographs of various showcases done in

the library can be taken and hosted on NLB ‘s website

more information available on the website-eg info on collaboration

“Drop-Everything-and-Read”re-evaluate the type of books selected to

cater to the needs of the teachersCondust sharing sessions on how the

D.E.A.R. programme can be incorporated into the curriculum

“Community Service”NLB’s “Friends of the Library” website

should be promoted more actively Librarians to share on this service during

library visits and assembly talks

“Library Membership “Drivemainly targeted at Primary One childrenmost teachers would not have experienced

this service before unless they were in-charged/are currently in-charge of the Primary One students.

“Assembly talks”content to be in line with the objectives

that schools/teachers want to achievetie-in with curriculum eg SEED programme-

thematic approach; post-assembly activities

“Molly”-the mobile librarya schedule can be drawn up to ensure that

it is able to visit each primary school at least once to allow the students and teachers to experience its service.

E-Resourcesdistribute pamphlets - step-by-step guide do a demonstration, if possible. Maybe

during info-literacy courses in schools.

Overallconvenience for teachers “A.S.K.” advisory

service and E-resources“Step-readers”; books which teach maths or

science concepts Mass-borrowing sessions value-added service

existing school channels available for NLB to market its services are not effective lack of a collaborative culture and lack of involvement

alternative avenues Major events involving teachers