Report on the Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement

3. Methodology

This report is based on a critical desktop review, which looked at a range of studies both overseas and in Australia since 1990, including earlier overviews of the research. The short time available for the review meant that in a few cases some promising resources could not be obtained in time and so could not be viewed firsthand, although some have been referred to in the review and included in the bibliography on the basis of their perceived usefulness in several studies. There might well be other resources that are not included but which are potentially useful for some aspects of this topic, such as the training needs of teacher librarians or guidelines for establishing and monitoring information literacy standards. A bibliography was prepared, modified in the light of further investigation, and annotated. Some anecdotal evidence (with a view to establishing whether there is any national data on library staffing demographics and trends) was gathered as the result of telephone conversations with representatives from the Australian Education Union in particular States and Territories. Quantitative data relating to staffing trends from either federal or State or Territory education systems were not available, and the lack of these data impeded the review.