A Division of the American Library Association

School Libraries and Science Achievement: A View from Michigan's Middle Schools

Table 1. Summary of Community, District, and Building Variables for School in the Study Sample

Variable	N	M	SD
Community
Average salary	192	$49,710	6708.00
High school graduation rate	194	84%	7.07
District
Percent of students eligible for NSLP	188	30%	.23
DPPE	196	$3536	585.00
Building
School enrollment	196	592	248.00
Percent of minority student enrollment	196	19%	.27
Pupil-teacher Ratio	196	5:1	.81

Table 2. Descriptive Summary of Means for Selected SLMP Variables in the Present Study

		M			SD
Variable	N	No.			Hours
Paid staff		M	SD		M	SD
Credentialed SLMS	196	.74	.46		25	18.44
Total staff	196	1.88	.81		58	23.87
Staff activities (hours per week)
Teaching students cooperatively	196	4.90			5.36
Providing in-service training	196	1.58			1.96
Identifying materials for teachers	196	3.80			3.17
Performing collection development	196	3.57			3.81
SLMC usage (per week)
Total visits by classes or groups	194	21.00			13.93
Total visits by individuals	196	287.00			242.14
		SLMC			Elsewhere
Computers		M		SD	M		SD
Total computers	196	30		40.01	72		72.33
Access to the Internet	196	26		38.44	78		70.72
Access to MeL databases	194	24		38.21	57		69.60
Access to SLMC databases	192	24		51.40	58		78.91
Access to SLMC catalog	190	20		31.00	56		76.23
SLMC collection
Total volumes	193	9878			4633.37
Video materials	191	231			279.05
Periodical subscriptions	194	32			22.46
Annual operating expenditures
Total expenditures	192	8143.15			6001.69

Table 3. SLMP Variables and MEAP Reading and Science Scores: Positive Correlation

		Reading			Science
Variable		n1	r1	n2	r2
Total number of paid staff		200	.324	192	.325
	Credentialed SLMS hours per week	200	.353	192	.289
	Total paid staff hours per week	200	.333	192	.276
	Access to library databases on computers in school	162	.268	156	.275
	Video materials (cassettes and disks)	190	.144	182	.256
	Total library computers	198	.252	190	.242
	Total visits to the library by classes or groups	193	.236	185	.242
	Hours available for flexible scheduling	197	.368	189	.238
Number of credentialed SLMS		200	.344	192	.237
	Access to state-funded databases on library computers	193	.271	185	.233
	Access to state-funded databases on computers in school	157	.262	151	.232
	Access to the Internet on library computers	198	.230	190	.225
	Access to library databases on library computers	191	.215	183	.222
	Books of all types	192	.321	184	.219
	Student access to the library catalog on library computers	189	.270	181	.216
	Access to the Internet on computers in school	167	.278	161	.211

Note: Reported values of r1 and r2 are significant at the .01 level.

Table 4. SLMP Variables and MEAP Reading and Science Scores: Negative Correlations

	Reading		Science
Variable	n1	r1	n2	r2
Master’s degree in library science staff hours per week	197	-.068	189	-.087
High school diploma only staff hours per week	199	.011	191	-.076
Number of master’s degree in library science staff	197	-.051	189	-.071
Master’s degree in library science and other teacher certification hours per week	198	-.049	190	-.052
Number of master’s degree in library science and other teacher certification	198	-.047	190	-.051
In library use of materials per typical week	187	-.091	181	-.034
Number of high school diploma staff	199	.026	191	-.016
B.A., but no teacher certification staff hours per week	197	-.115	189	-.015
Hours spent weekly meeting with building or district administrators	199	-.052	191	-.008
Hours open during typical summer week	198	-.036	190	.000

Figure 1 . Clusters and Variables Used in Multiple Regression Analyses

Cluster	Variable
Service hours	Hours available for flexible scheduling
Paid staff	Credentialed SLMS
Paid staff	Total staff
Paid staff hours	Credentialed SLMS hours
Paid staff hours	Total staff hours
Staff activities (in hours)	Teaching students cooperatively
	Providing in-service training
	All other library activities plus extra duties
	Identifying materials for teachers
School library media center usage	Total visits by classes or groups
School library media center usage	Total visits by individuals
Computers in school library media center	Total computers
	Access to MeL databases
	Access to the Internet
	Access to SLMC databases
	Student access to SLMC catalog
Computers in school	Access to SLMC databases
	Access to MeL databases
	Student access to SLMC catalog
	Access to the Internet
	Total computers
Collection	Video materials
	Books of all types
	Encyclopedias and reference titles on disk
Expenditures	Total expenditures

Figure 2. Summary of Discussion Questions and Themes in Qualitative Data

Question	Themes
1. How do you approach science collection development in your school media program?	Science collections tend to be old. Science teachers are erratically involved in the collection development process. The selection of science materials is challenging. Video is an important part of science collection development.
2. How is video used with science in your school media program?	Student learning styles amendable to video. Competition with classroom collections leads to underuse or hoarding. School library media centers must have enough equipment.
3. What type of professional preparation do you feel best positions you to work with science teachers and students?	Undergraduate experiences influence service areas. Graduate coursework did not prepare SLMS for science. Professional development opportunities scarce. Other learning activities have to be sought.

4. How do you feel that the resources in the science classroom affect your ability to be involved with science?	Classroom-bound teaching styles hinder school library media center use. School library media center computers and space bring teachers. More collaborative activities would improve relationship.