HomeAASL releases report on first longitudinal survey

Contact: Jonathan West
Manager, Communications, AASL
312-280-4389
jwest@ala.org

For Immediate Release,
December 4, 2007

AASL releases report on first longitudinal survey

CHICAGO - The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has just released the results of its first longitudinal survey, School Libraries Count!

The survey, conducted January-March 2007, gathered data in a number of areas, including library staff, collections, technology, class visits and budgets. AASL will be using the data to develop tools to help library media specialists advocate at the local, state and national level.

"In a time of budget cuts and confusion about the role of library media specialists," said AASL president Sara Kelly Johns, "it is more critical than ever that both the profession and educational decision-makers understand the state of the nation's school library media programs."

The survey will be conducted annually and will result in a longitudinal series that will provide data on the health of the nation's school library media programs. The second survey is scheduled to open at the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.

Nancy Everhart, chair of the AASL Research and Statistics Committee, said, "The data from this survey will be valuable to researchers and practitioners alike. Researchers can use it to support further studies, and practitioners can use it to compare their programs to national benchmarks."

To see the survey and the report, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/slcsurvey.cfm.

The American Association of School Librarians, http://www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library media services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library media field.