Combined School/Public Libraries in Israel at the High School Level: Some Results of an Exploratory Field Study

Abstract


 
 
 The issue of combined school-public libraries has long concerned researchers and practitioners in the field and is well documented in literature. A literature survey reveals opinion articles as well as empirical field studies, especially in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and Germany, which attempt to determine the advantages and disadvantages of this model, and possible factors associated with its success in practice. Despite the importance of the topic and its potential of budget savings and greater efficiency in use of resources, no large-scale empirical study of the extent and performance of combined school-public libraries in Israel has been conducted.
 The study aimed to empirically investigate the combined school-public libraries on the high school level existing in Israel. The main research tools were three different written closed questionnaires sent to the school librarian, school principal and one of the school teachers. In 1996 questionnaires were mailed to all 65 schools known to have some type of combination libraries: 26 had a combined school-public library, while in the remaining 39 schools the library was a branch of a regional or municipal public library. Questionnaires were also mailed to 40 randomly-chosen schools, having a 'regular' (i.e. not combined) library, to serve as a control group. Response rate was about 50% and the final sample included 51 libraries: 18 -combined, 11-'branches', and 22-'regular' ones.
 
 
 
 Main findings were: the number of combined libraries has risen constantly over the decades which seems to be an interesting trend, especially in view of the recent decline reported in the US and Canada. Regarding space and seats the situation in the regional libraries was much better than in the urban ones. Concerning opening hours the urban combined libraries were open longer than the regional combined ones and the control group. The combined libraries, mainly the urban ones, were open for more afternoon hours, all of them were open during school vacations, and they had a higher average number of weekly librarian hours per school. Regional combined libraries had a much larger number of books per student and periodicals and computers per library than the urban combined ones and the control group. The mean number of users of the reading-room was about the same (usually low) in all types of libraries in afternoon hours, but differed considerably in the mornings, probably due to different teaching methods.
 About half the librarians, the school principals and the teachers in the combined libraries rated their combined library as 'very successful', while the rest rated it as only 'partially successful', or expressed dissatisfaction, pointing out serious problems. Regional librarians were much more satisfied with the combined model, compared to their urban colleagues. Findings indicated that the combined model is more likely to succeed in a regional library, in a rural setting, than in an urban one.