School libraries in Aotearoa New Zealand — 2023

Executive summary

This is the fifth report from an ongoing series of national surveys of school libraries in Aotearoa New Zealand that started in 2018.

The surveys are a collaboration between:

• National Library of New Zealand Services to Schools

• School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA), and

• Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA).

The information gathered through this survey helps us establish a common understanding with stakeholders about:

• library staff — roles, hours, remuneration, qualifications, support and continuing professional development

• the makeup of school library collections and resources, and future possibilities for these

• school investment in library collection development

• impacts of current issues or opportunities that may affect the school library (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic, pay equity claim, support for tertiary study).

Summary of findings

Our sample size in 2023 was 308 schools, which is about 12% of New Zealand schools.

Library staff employment

This report sees a change in how we report library staff hours — from averages (mean) used in previous years to median values in 2023. We've made this change to mitigate the effects of outlier (very low or very high) responses.

Paid hours similar to previous years, except for composite schools

• Library staff paid hours and weeks for primary, secondary and intermediate schools were similar to previous years.

• Composite schools showed a large change in paid hours from 2022. This is a result of the change to reporting median figures. The effect is most noticeable for composite schools because their individual responses showed the widest variation.

• Primary and composite schools employed library staff for 3.3 minutes per student per week in 2023. Intermediate and secondary schools paid library staff for 3 minutes per student per week.

Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim brought positive responses

In 2023, settlement of the Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim (LPEC) brought significant changes to their remuneration.

Responses about pay in relation to roles and responsibilities were far more positive in 2023 than in previous years.

• 53% said their pay is appropriate, up from 20% in 2022.

• 22% said their pay is not appropriate, down from 66% in 2022.

Notable changes in responses about skills for the role

There was also a notable change in responses about library staff skills compared to the requirements of their role.

• Almost 10% of respondents said their skills are lower than what the role required, up from just 3% in 2022.

• 56% said their skills are higher, down from 69% in 2022.

This drop in perceived skill levels may be because library roles and responsibilities are now more clearly understood, as described in:

• the General Areas of Responsibility developed to support the LPEC process

• the Work Matrix Table within the Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement

• individual library staff job descriptions that have been updated to reflect the above documents.

Settlement documents: Evidence report — has the Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim Report. See Appendix 2 for General Areas of Responsibility.

Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement: Section 3C.2 Work Matrix Table

School library roles and job descriptions

Job satisfaction and career plans at odds with other findings

School library staff responses about current and future career decisions also changed in the 2023 survey.

• 63% of respondents said they enjoy working in the school library, down from 94% in 2021.

• 54% said they'd like to continue working in their current school library role, down from 80% in 2021.

These findings would seem to be at odds with other findings from the 2023 survey, such as increased satisfaction with pay and generally good support of school leadership (see below).

Aside from better pay rates, many other factors affect job satisfaction, such as:

• hours that provide enough income and allow a good work-life balance

• job security

• having the right skills

• having autonomy, but also connection with others

• opportunities for career development.

And school library staff are affected by the same external factors that impact the wider workforce. Examples include the increased cost of living and the availability of other employment.

Fewer looking for other work or planning to retire

These external factors may have led to a drop in the number of school library staff planning to move out of the workforce. The percentage of respondents actively looking for other work or planning to retire soon fell to 18% in 2023, down from 25% the previous year.

School leadership support and professional learning

Responses about support more polarised

School library staff responses about school leadership support for their role were more polarised in 2023 than in previous years.

• Neutral responses fell to 9%, down from 23% in 2022.

• 62% of respondents said they feel well supported, up from 58% in 2022.

• 28% said they don't feel well supported, also up from 18% in 2022.

10 most frequently used options for professional learning

We presented 26 options for continuing professional development and support. We asked respondents how often they use each one. Findings show that the 10 most frequently used options were:

• National Library Services to Schools' website, network meetings, Capability Facilitator support, face-to-face learning events, webinars and online meetings

• peer-to-peer support from other local school librarians, school library blogs, and the school library listserv

• school-wide professional development

• the SLANZA website.

Library collection holdings and trends

We asked respondents to tell us about their collection holdings across 3 broad categories:

• print resources

• digital resources

• physical items.

Analysis of responses received showed the following:

• Collections continue to be dominated by print.

• Holdings of graphic novels, comics and manga formats remain low. These formats made up 6% or less of schools' collections. However, they have consistently shown the strongest expected growth of any format type since our surveys began in 2018.

• Most responding schools offer games for students in the library.

• The percentages of schools' collections that include artefacts and objects or maker tools and equipment remain low. Our survey showed that only 7% and 12% respectively of collections have these items.

• Of the schools who said they access resources from external organisations:

  • 97% used National Library's school lending service

  • 40% accessed public library resources

  • only 6% accessed resources from local museums — and comments suggest very few other respondents were aware they can access them.

Collection development budgets

• The 2023 median budget for collection development across all schools rose to $10.03 per student, an increase of $1.57 from the median in 2022.

• Composite schools saw a 62.5% rise in funding to $11.39 per student, up from $7.01 in 2022. But per-student collection funding for primary, intermediate and secondary schools differed only slightly from 2022 figures.

• Across school types, the range in median budgets per student has reduced to $2.84, down from $3.99 for the previous 2 years.

Using this report

In Aotearoa New Zealand's schools and kura, Boards of Trustees make decisions that impact how staff and students access library services. These decisions are guided by the school's goals for learners and a vision for the library's role in achieving those goals.

Understanding the nature of school library provision, and what investment in the library can look like, is also important.

Funding the library team adequately helps ensure staff have the capability and capacity to create a range of library services that are a good fit for your school community.

Adequate funding for a school library collection also provides important support for students' reading enjoyment, literacy development and learning across every subject area.

The findings in this report can provide a starting point for schools considering what investment is needed to create an effective library for their school community.

We recommend that National Library Services to Schools, LIANZA and SLANZA:

• share the findings of this report with stakeholders, especially in the education and library sectors

• use the findings to guide the development of our services that support school libraries and school library staff

• encourage further research stemming from the findings of this survey

• work together to address concerns raised in this report about school library provision

• survey schools again to track changes over time and to deepen our understanding of areas identified for particular focus.

Introduction

Purpose and scope

This is the fifth report from an ongoing series of national surveys of school libraries in Aotearoa New Zealand that started in 2018.

The surveys are a collaboration between:

• National Library of New Zealand Services to Schools

• School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA), and

• Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA).

Through these surveys, we aim to add to our existing evidence base about the nature of school libraries in New Zealand. The surveys help inform our organisations as we prioritise, plan and deliver services to school libraries.

The information gathered through the surveys helps us establish a common understanding with stakeholders about:

• the current makeup of the school library workforce

• expected changes in the school library workforce

• trends relating to school library collections and resources

• school investment in library collection development

• impacts of current issues or opportunities that may affect the school library (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic, pay equity claim, support for tertiary study).

Survey design and implementation

Across the 5 surveys, we have included questions about:

• school library environments — including physical and digital access

• school library services supporting teaching and learning, reading and student wellbeing

• the school library workforce — including:

  • current employment arrangements and future work plans

  • skills and pay

  • qualifications, professional memberships

  • support and involvement in continuing professional development

• collection holdings, collection development budgets and sources of funding.

The last 3 surveys have included questions to gauge the impact of current issues and opportunities on school libraries. The 2021 survey asked respondents to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on:

• library staffing

• collection management and funding

• library services.

The 2022 and 2023 surveys asked school library staff questions about:

• their employment including pay grades, years of school library experience and the 2023 Librarians and Library Assistants Pay Equity Claim settlement

• co- and extra-curricular involvement in the school

• study plans and awareness of financial support for tertiary study.

Survey implementation

The 2023 survey link was shared with schools through:

• the New Zealand school library email listserv

• National Library Services to Schools' newsletter

• school network contact lists and social media.

SLANZA and LIANZA also shared the link with their members.

Responses were collected between 30 October and 19 November 2023.

Sample size, questions and demographics

We received 379 responses to the 2023 survey. We excluded 58 responses. These were either incomplete, duplicates or responses that we could not identify as unique.

This left a core sample size of 321 responses, representing 308 schools. This was approximately 12% of New Zealand schools, compared with 12.8% for the 2022 survey.

259 respondents identified their main role as library staff. 249 were employed as support staff and 10 as teacher-librarians.

Questions

All survey questions were optional apart from those asking about school type and the respondent's main role. This means that the number of responses varies from one question to another. We've calculated the percentages based on the number of responses to specific questions.

School library team members employed as support staff could choose to answer extra questions about their employment and the support they receive in their role.

Demographics

Auckland and Wellington regions are over-represented in the data. But responses for other regions more closely match the percentage of schools in each region.

Secondary schools are also over-represented in the survey data. They make up 39% of responses but only comprise 14% of schools. Primary schools are under-represented to a similar degree.

Respondent characteristics

Table 1: Respondent roles

Role	School library staff	Teacher librarian	Other support staff	Teacher	Principal	Other
Main role	249	10	19	22	2	19
Employed in additional role(s)	106	5	15	15	0	19

Analysis and reporting

In this report, we discuss the main findings from each section of the survey. Data are generally presented as aggregated totals. Where data show a clear difference between school types (as listed in table 2 below), we provide a more detailed breakdown.

This year, we've used median rather than average (mean) values throughout the report. This is to avoid the skewing effect of outlier (extremely high and low) responses.

Table 2: Year levels for New Zealand school types

School type	Year levels
Contributing (primary)	1–6
Full primary	1–8
Intermediate	7–8
Secondary	Within the range 7–13+
Composite	1–13+

Survey data typically varies each year

Some of this variation is caused by different schools responding to the survey each year. There are only about 25 schools that have completed all 5 surveys. Across the 5 years, we've heard from 1062 different schools, half of those only doing 1 survey. About 10% of all schools have responded twice.

Individual schools also vary widely:

• Some differences are due to factors such as school size. For example, secondary schools' total library staff hours tend to be higher than other school types, because the school roll is generally higher.

• Other differences are the result of individual school or kura decisions about their library. This is very clear when we look at all the individual survey responses.

Themes and more information

We have coded the free-text responses to summarize the main themes that emerge.

We may be able to provide individual schools or organisations with a more detailed analysis on request, for example, based on school size, region, isolation factor, or equity index.

Library staffing and employment

Respondents from 306 schools answered questions about who works in the school library and how many hours of work they contribute each week.

School library support staff were asked further questions relating specifically to their employment, including:

• their skills and pay

• factors influencing their career decisions

• professional development

• support for their role.

Roles and hours

Of the 306 schools that provided information about roles and hours worked in their library:

• 254 employed a librarian, library manager or teacher-librarian, and 65 of these also employed staff as library assistants

• 12 only employed a library assistant

• 40 relied on a teacher with library responsibility, other teacher(s) or support staff to perform library duties

• 235 had help from student volunteers and 36 from adult volunteers

• just 2 schools said their library has none of these roles.

Note that the rolls and hours below are median rather than average (mean) values that we've used in previous years.

Table 3: Responding schools’ median roll and staff/volunteer hours

School type	Median roll	Median paid hours per week	Median volunteer hours per week	Paid staff time (minutes per student per week)
Contributing and full primary	368	20	4	3.3
Intermediate	561	28	5	3
Secondary	829	41	5	3
Composite	551	30	3	3.3

The likelihood of hours reducing

We asked school library staff if they thought their hours would reduce in the next 12 months. There were 220 responses to this question.

78% of responses said it's unlikely or very unlikely. 11% said it's likely or very likely their hours will be reduced, a 1% increase from the 2022 survey results.

127 respondents commented on why their hours would likely be reduced, with these 3 reasons being the most common:

• personnel changes such as new school leadership, library staff resignation or retirement

• budget constraints

• reduced use of the library.

Some comments

I have a very supportive senior management team. Unless there is a change in principal, I am certain my hours will remain the same.

I think a library assistant will resign and those hours will be lost rather than made up.

Our school roll is dropping therefore funding of the operations grant is dropping too.

I have just been regraded and I am uncertain that the school feels this is justified, by comparison with Admin staff being paid less than me now. So, I feel a little uneasy knowing this.

Preferred changes to hours

102 respondents commented about preferred changes to their hours.

90 said they'd like longer paid hours, either for themselves personally or for library staffing overall.

The main reasons respondents gave for wanting longer hours are similar to previous years. Reasons noted fell into these main themes:

• providing non-contact time for library administration and management — particularly outside of term time

• extending opening hours and generally having more time to support students and staff

• having enough time to manage the workload, including reducing the amount of unpaid work that library staff do.

Some comments

I would work longer after-school hours to be able to get more admin done without interruptions.

I would love more hours so the library could be open before and after school to attract more families to use the library.

I have so many more ideas I would like to make happen. Open the library up in the lunch time, time to spend in the library teaching children about the books and how the library works.

I would drop all other duties and dedicate more time to the library. The more hours I can put in, the more the library will thrive.

The reality is that I work at least 10 hours each week unpaid in order to make the library the best that it can be.

Employment arrangements

Part-time versus full-time

236 library staff respondents answered the question about part-time and full-time work.

205 worked in just one school library — 103 as part-time staff and 102 full-time staff. 25 respondents worked in more than one part-time position in their school, for example, in the library and an administration role. Only 6 library staff respondents worked in more than one school.

63% of secondary school library staff respondents worked full-time, down 2% from 2022 survey responses.

The greatest change in employment has been for intermediate school respondents. The number working part-time in just one school library reduced by 10%. And a greater number were working in more than one part-time position in the school.

Table 4: School library staff part-time and full-time employment

School type	Part-time in just one library (%)	Part-time in more than one position in the school (%)	Part-time in more than one library (%)	Full-time in just one library (%)
Contributing and full primary schools	57	19	4	20
Intermediate schools	67	7	n/a	26
Secondary schools	31	4	2	63
Composite schools	36	21	n/a	43

Term-time or full-year

237 school library staff answered the question about working term-time only (40 weeks) or the full year (52 weeks).

198 said they work during school term time only, and 17 said they are paid to work throughout the full year.

22 respondents said they have a different employment arrangement. 15 were paid for 40 weeks plus some extra hours or weeks during the holidays. The remaining respondents worked fewer than 40 weeks.

Table 5: School library staff employed term-time only

School type	Employed term-time only (%)
Contributing and full primary schools	89
Intermediate schools	93
Secondary schools	79
Composite schools	79

Years of experience in school libraries

We asked library staff about their years of employment, both in their current role and total years they've worked in school library roles.

Half the respondents had been in their current role for less than 5 years.

34% of respondents had fewer than 5 years total experience in a school library role.

Table 6: School library staff years of experience

Years	In current role (%)	Total years of experience (%)
<1	13%	7%
1–5	37%	27%
6–10	17%	20%
11–20	23%	29%
21–30	8%	14%
>30	2%	4%

Skills and pay

Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim (LPEC)

Note that the settlement of the Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim (LPEC) was made during 2023, before the survey opened.

The LPEC settlement increased pay rates. It also introduced new grades and role descriptions set out in the Librarians and Library Assistants' Work Matrix Table within the Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement. These changes have had a significant impact on library staff, which is clear in the survey results.

Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement — see Part 3C Librarian and Library Assistant Remuneration.

Pay grades or remuneration arrangements

In 2022, we asked library staff to indicate their job grading or remuneration arrangements. We repeated these questions in 2023, following the LPEC settlement. We also asked library staff about how the move to the new pay grades had happened for them.

There were 210 responses to questions about the LPEC settlement.

46 respondents were employed in private or state-integrated schools. They were more likely to be employed under an individual employment agreement than other school staff. The remaining 164 respondents were likely employed under the Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement.

Table 7: School library staff remuneration and grading — all schools by school type

School type	Grade A (%)	Grade B (%)	Grade C (%)	Grade D (%)	Other arrangement (%)
Contributing	n/a	71	21	3	5
Full primary	5	41	26	5	23
Intermediate	n/a	22	64	n/a	14
Secondary	<1	36	56	6	<2
Composite	n/a	50	25	n/a	25

Translation to new pay grades

204 respondents answered questions about moving to the new pay grades (as set out in the Work Matrix Table).

• 65% of respondents said their grade changed through the automatic point-to-point translation.

• 22% of respondents made a regrading application.

• For the remainder — mainly private and state-integrated school staff — these options did not apply.

Comments about pay equity settlement

Respondents made 17 comments further describing their experience with the pay equity settlement process, as follows:

• 5 respondents were in the process of applying for regrading.

• 5 respondents' regrading applications were not supported by school leadership or were declined.

• 4 may apply for regrading in future.

• 3 did not seek regrading because of other employment circumstances (resigning their position, fear of losing hours, and not having a current job description in place).

Some comments

Discussion undertaken but did not achieve desired regrade despite evidence that I do work within Grade C.

With my successful regrade, I now feel valued and that being a librarian is recognised as a professional career. During this process, I believe I was able to convey to my principal some of the work that I do that he was unaware of. So, I think both the pay equity and the ability to see the matrix definitions allowed this conversation to take place — which was a good thing and will lead to a new job description.

I could have applied for a higher grade, but I felt that for what I do in a primary level the point-to-point was acceptable.

I wanted to apply to move to grade C but did not have the support of my principal which was very disappointing.

Further comments about pay equity settlement are noted under 'Comments about skills and pay' below.

Skills and pay for current role

We asked library staff to compare their pay and the skills they personally bring to the job with the requirements and responsibilities of their current role.

There were 167 responses about skills.

• 10% said their skills are lower than what's needed in their current role. This is an increase from just 3% in the 2022 survey results.

• 35% said their skills are just right for the role.

• 55% said their skills are higher than what's required.

217 school library staff told us about their pay in relation to their role and responsibilities. This year's results are significantly different to our 2022 findings:

• 53% of respondents agreed that their pay is appropriate for the role — compared with just 20% in 2022.

• 22% said their pay is not appropriate — down from 66% in 2022

• the remainder neither agreed nor disagreed, or said they didn't know.

Comments about skills and pay

Most comments about skills and pay concerning roles and responsibilities fall into several broad themes:

• 44 respondents said that pay rates are appropriate since the pay equity settlement.

• 25 said that school library staff members' work, skills and qualifications are still undervalued.

• 19 library staff felt their position should be regraded.

• 9 expressed gratitude for the school and union staff who worked on the pay equity settlement.

Some comments

The pay equity settlement has made a major difference in making me feel like my skills are appreciated.

I am very grateful for the work the pay equity negotiators did to achieve our new pay grade. At last, I feel I am paid what I am worth.

The pay equity has improved things greatly. However, the negotiations with management have meant that I am on a lower step than that which reflects my skills and day-to-day work.

I am just happy to have a substantial pay rise this year to compensate for 14 years at the top of my grade and no recognition of my experience with a pay rise. Same thing will continue as I am still at the top step in my grade.

Charts and tables about skills and pay

Figure 1: School library staff skills compared to skills needed in their role

Table 8: School library staff skills for their role — breakdown by school type

School type	Higher (%)	Just right (%)	Lower (%)
Contributing and full primary	57	35	8
Intermediate	67	25	8
Secondary	56	35	9
Composite	40	50	10

Figure 2: School library staff pay is appropriate for role and responsibilities

Table 9: School library staff pay is appropriate for role and responsibilities — break down by school type

School type	Agree (%)	Neutral (%)	Disagree (%)	Don't know (%)
Contributing and full primary	65	15	19	1
Intermediate	50	22	14	14
Secondary	62	11	25	2
Composite	46	23	31	n/a

Factors influencing employment decisions

We presented a variety of factors and asked library staff to indicate which ones influence their decisions about current and future work. 248 respondents answered these questions.

Percentages will add to more than 100 because respondents could select more than one factor.

Current employment

Analysis of factors that influence respondents' current employment decisions showed the following:

• 63% of respondents said they enjoy working in the school library, down from 71% in 2022 and 94% in 2021.

• 51% indicated that hours aligning with their needs was a factor (note that most respondents work term-time only).

• 38% said they enjoy working with young people.

• 36% said they live locally.

• 18% said their children attend, or used to attend, the school where they work.

Comments about current employment

Respondents could include comments to explain their choices. Respondents made 37 comments, with these main themes:

• 24% mentioned a belief in the importance and value of libraries, books, reading and literacy.

• 19% said personal growth and job satisfaction, for example, taking on new challenges or improved pay were factors in their decision.

• 16% described factors important to them about their school specifically, such as its special character, great colleagues and student diversity.

Some comments

I deeply believe in changing our rangitahi's lives by being a provider of literacy opportunity, as I know kids that read have far more space to flourish holistically. I also want to be part of their journey as young men and woman [sic] who will contribute to themselves and to their worlds. The library is a perfect place to serve our youth in.

I was offered the opportunity to open a brand new space and create a robust library programme from scratch.

Supportive staff and enjoyable work environment (he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata!)

I am extremely happy and well supported at school and the position suits my current situation.

Future plans

Analysis of factors that influence respondents' future employment plans showed the following:

• 54% of respondents said they'd like to continue working in their current school library role, down from 64% in 2022 and 80% in 2021.

• 22% said they would consider other library work involving services for children or youth.

• 13% would consider other library work not involving children or youth.

• 13% of respondents said they plan to retire in the next few years.

• 5% are currently looking for work outside of libraries.

Comments about future plans

Respondents could include comments to explain their choices and 80 made comments.

18 respondents said they were happy in their current role.

The remaining comments had these main themes:

• 27% of respondents' comments mentioned wanting opportunities for personal growth and development or job satisfaction. For example, they wanted greater appreciation of their work and opportunities for career progression.

• 26% said their personal circumstances would be the main factor affecting future decisions, such as health reasons or their children's growing independence.

• 21% of commenters gave their age and nearing retirement as deciding factors.

• 18% said a need for more hours or pay is a factor.

• 8% said they'd like to work with a different age group — primary rather than secondary school students and vice versa.

Some comments

I still have plenty of room to grow in this role and see myself in this position for some time.

Now that my own children are no longer at school, I no longer need the school holidays off, so a 52-week-a-year job has the appeal of higher income.

I love my job so that's a bonus, but I also need to make the most of my last few years of paid work before retirement to earn enough to make life a bit easier in retirement.

Being employed for term time + annual leave only means that this job is a luxury. If I didn't have a partner who worked full-time, I simply wouldn't be able to do this job. That makes me feel concerned about diversity within the school library sector, and it also makes me wonder how long I can continue in this role.

I actually love the variety that working in a school offers and am involved in a few extra-curricular activities, but I feel that my ‘library’ skills are under-used and would love to have the opportunity to practice them!

I would consider moving for a change in the demographic I could work with. I would also consider looking at roles not in a school library so that I was not term-time only — only being paid for 40 weeks of the year can be difficult.

Library staff involvement in curriculum and extra-curricular groups

We presented library staff with a list of curriculum and extra-curricular groups or teams. We asked them to select which ones they are part of in their school. 190 respondents completed these questions.

104 respondents said they weren't involved in any of the listed groups or teams.

Of the remaining 86 respondents:

• 37 were involved in supporting inquiry or information literacy

• 35 belonged to their school’s literacy team or group

• 57 described their involvement in teams or groups not listed, with the most common responses being:

  • student support or pastoral care

  • the school's Kids' Lit Quiz or Readers Cup team

  • coaching or managing sports teams.

Table 10: Library staff involvement in curriculum and extra-curricular groups

Literacy (%)	Inquiry (%)	Information literacy (%)	eLearning (%)	ESOL (%)	Student mentoring (%)	Home-school partnerships (%)
23	10	14	3	3	9	1

Staff qualifications

We asked school library staff to tell us about the qualifications they hold. 248 respondents answered the questions in this section.

Responses show the wide range of qualifications that school library staff hold:

• 10% of respondents said they have no qualifications

• 27% held a sub-degree level Certificate or Diploma in Library and Information Studies (LIS)

• 26% of respondents said they have more than one qualification.

Table 11: School library staff with qualifications in library and information studies (LIS)

School type	Sub-degree level certificate or diploma (%)	Degree (%)	Post-graduate qualification (%)
Contributing	21	n/a	n/a
Full primary	21	4	4
Intermediate	21	14	36
Secondary	30	8	8
Composite	13	25	25

Table 12: School library staff with qualifications in other subject areas (not LIS)

School type	Sub-degree level certificate or diploma (%)	Degree (%)	Post-graduate qualification (%)
Contributing	13	23	9
Full Primary	10	27	17
Intermediate	7	43	n/a
Secondary	14	31	16
Composite	6	25	19

Plans for tertiary study

We asked school library staff about their current and future plans for undertaking library studies at tertiary level. We also asked about respondents' awareness and uptake of financial assistance for tertiary studies.

41% of respondents said they were aware of SLANZA's and LIANZA’s range of financial support for study (including fee waivers) and the organisations' tertiary grants funding.

7% had benefitted from the range of financial support for study offered by these organisations.

4% of respondents had applied for financial support from SLANZA and LIANZA.

3% of respondents were currently studying, and another 11% considering study towards a library and information qualification.

Comments about barriers to studying

55 respondents described barriers to their studying, which had these main themes:

• 55% said time is the main barrier.

• 16% commented that the cost of studying is a barrier.

• 10% felt the increased pay associated with a qualification doesn't justify the investment.

• 10% said their family commitments or juggling work-life balance are a barrier.

• 8% felt that studying isn't worthwhile at their age (close to retirement).

Some comments

Time in the day to complete it! Working full-time with young children is busy …

I'd love to complete my LIS degree but between having to work full-time and the remuneration that is achieved, I don't feel it is worth it at this stage of my career.

COST COST COST. I would have done a Master's degree but it costs too much.

Professional memberships

We asked school library staff what professional memberships they currently held. Of the 248 respondents:

• 157 were members of SLANZA

• 33 were members of LIANZA

• 2 were members of Te Rōpū Whakahau.

Comments about qualifications and professional memberships

Respondents could provide comments about qualifications, registration or professional memberships.

The main themes of the 30 comments received:

• confirmed the value of qualifications and professional membership in terms of skills, knowledge, confidence and collegial support

• reiterated similar issues as the barriers to study mentioned above — specifically, costs and the value in terms of improved remuneration.

Support and continuing professional development

Support from the leadership team

We asked school library staff about leadership team support for their role. 180 respondents answered this question.

62% of respondents agreed that they are well supported by their leadership team. But 28% said they are not.

Table 13: School library staff are well supported by their school's leadership team

School library staff are well supported	Respondents who agree or disagree (%)
Strongly agree	37
Agree	25
Neutral	9
Disagree	17
Strongly disagree	11

Comments about support from the leadership team

Respondents could add comments about support for their role. Comments from respondents who felt well supported mentioned external support, including from the National Library's Services to Schools and SLANZA.

Some respondents said they are trusted to work independently. They can be self-sufficient but are supported if needed.

From the comments about limited support or lack of support, these main themes emerged:

• Library staff have a sense of isolation in their roles.

• They said others lack understanding of the role or importance of the library, and this translates into low use of, and support for, the library.

• There was a lack of support for professional learning.

Some other comments

As a new librarian, I have received excellent support from the National Library and SLANZA and meet regularly with other local librarians at network meetings.

It would be great to have an in-house/school structure of support e.g. regular meetings for information sharing between library and senior leadership, and teaching staff, to be invited to staff meetings, literacy team meetings, school-wide PD etc. It would be ideal to have a library PD budget. I don't have a sense of being supported and would love to have a relationship with the rest of the school that eliminated the sense of operating in a silo.

I am applying to have a SLT member as a line manager. This will make the role more supported and help with PD and library development in line with the school community.

I have had several TLRs over the time I have been working as the Library Manager and they vary greatly. A good TLR can make me feel valued and supported — and act as a bridge between me and the teachers. A not-so-good one can make you feel like you are alone and swimming against the tide!

Continuing professional development

We showed respondents a range of learning options and asked how often they used each one.

Face-to-face professional development options included:

• school-wide professional development (not library-specific)

• local network meetings, learning events and workshops offered by the National Library, LIANZA or SLANZA

• in-person conferences.

These options showed the most variation in uptake, as shown in figure 3 below. The most-used option was network meetings facilitated by National Library Services to Schools.

Figure 3: Face-to-face professional development options school library staff use

Other learning options presented included:

• participating in online learning such as courses, webinars and meetings

• reading or listening to online sources of information including websites, blogs, journals or podcasts

• participating in informal, social options such as peer support, email lists and social media.

Table 14: Professional development options used sometimes or often

Continuing professional development options	Use sometimes or often (%)
School-wide professional development	75
Services to Schools networks	80
SLANZA networks	60
Services to Schools events	67
SLANZA events	57
LIANZA events	12
Face-to-face conferences	43
Services to Schools online courses	60
SLANZA online courses	51
Other providers online courses	53
Services to Schools webinars and online meetings	65
SLANZA webinars and online meetings	50
LIANZA webinars and online meetings	17
Other providers webinars and online meetings	55
Podcasts	53
Services to Schools website	93
SLANZA website	66
LIANZA website	21
Professional journals	46
School library blogs	77
Peer-to-peer support — school librarians	79
Peer-to-peer support — public librarians	47
Peer-to-peer support — NLNZ Capability Facilitators	79
School library listserv	75
Other listservs	20
Social media	57

Collection holdings

We asked respondents questions about 3 broad categories of items in their collection:

• print resources, including fiction and non-fiction texts and graphic formats (graphic novels, comics and manga)

• digital resources, including eBooks and eAudio and links to free or paid content

• physical items including mobile devices, objects and artefacts, games, tools and other equipment.

We also asked respondents:

• about the use of resources provided by other organisations, including National Library Services to Schools, local public libraries and local museums

• to tell us how they expected their holdings of each format or item type to change.

Size of collection

Respondents from 219 unique schools provided information about their library's collection holdings. Responses could include:

• a single figure for the collection size overall

• a breakdown of items by format, or

• both options.

Some schools' format figures did not sum to the overall total they provided. The most common cause of inconsistencies appears to be whether or not digital items (eBooks, eAudio, free and paid web content) were included in the total. Where responses were inconsistent, we have used the higher of the 2 values provided.

Table 15: Responding schools’ median roll and collection items per student

School type	Median school roll	Collection items per student
Contributing	386	22
Full primary	351	18
Intermediate	561	12
Secondary	852	11
Composite	517	20

Comments about collection size and use

Respondents were able to comment on the size and use of their current collection. From the comments, the main points noted were as follows:

• 13 respondents said their collection needs weeding or updating.

• 10 said the types of items and formats in their collection are changing. For example, print non-fiction holdings are reducing as the use of digital resources increases. Graphic novel holdings are growing to keep pace with their popularity.

• 8 respondents said the library collection includes teachers' or departmental resources.

• 7 said collection development and holdings are constrained — by limited space and shelving, or limited budget for purchasing resources.

• 5 commented that circulation figures are low. But 2 said circulation had improved after the collection was weeded and rearranged.

Formats and types of items in the collection

In the 2023 survey, we added new questions to the section about the types of items made available through the library:

• games offered in the library

• resources accessed from external organisations — National Library Services to Schools, local public libraries and local museums.

There were 193 responses to these questions.

As in previous years, print resources still dominated collection holdings for all school types.

Format holdings within our 3 broad categories (print, digital and physical as explained above) varied between school types. For example, picture books made up more than 20% of responding primary schools’ collections. This dropped to:

• 7% for composite schools (years 1–13)

• 6% for intermediate

• 2% for secondary schools.

Graphic novels remained a small part of library collections — 6% or less of holdings for all school types.

42 of the 94 responding secondary schools provided information about digital items in their collection. These schools had a median total collection size of 9096 items, with median digital items totalling 2675.

For all other school types, the number of responses about digital resource holdings was too low to provide meaningful analysis (fewer than 6 responding schools).

Table 16: Print holdings by format as a percentage of total holdings

School type	Novels or chapter books (%)	Picture books (%)	Non-fiction (%)	Graphic novels, comics, or manga (%)	Magazines (%)
Contributing	32	23	31	3	<1
Full primary	37	20	26	4	<1
Intermediate	47	6	28	6	2
Secondary	39	2	37	4	<1
Composite	43	7	24	4	1

Digital resource curation and sharing

We presented 5 options for curating and sharing digital resources and asked respondents to say which ones they use.

• 10% said they don't have any free digital resources in their collection.

• 41% said they don't have any paid digital resources in their collection.

The school library's Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) was the most used tool for curating and sharing digital resources.

Respondents could also tell us about other tools they use, and these included:

• the school's newsletter or social media

• departmental or staff emails

• library blogs

• online tools such as Pearltrees, Livebinders and Wakelet.

Table 17: Percentage of responding schools using curation tools for digital resources

Curation and sharing tool	Use for free digital resources (%)	Use for paid digital resources (%)
Library OPAC	60	33
School's learning management system	25	14
School website	25	12
Library website	18	10
Library social media	11	4

Physical items

200 respondents answered the questions about physical items in the library's collection.

• 84% said they offer games in the library.

• 71% included resources from external organisations.

• 12% provided maker tools and equipment.

• Only 7% of respondents said their library collection includes artefacts or objects.

The percentage of schools providing mobile devices for students varied significantly between school types, as shown in table 18 below.

Comments about mobile devices

99 comments described the devices available through their school's collection.

• 42% said they provide Chromebooks

• 25% said they provide other laptops

• 17% offer iPads, other tablets and eReaders

• 7% provide computer mice and chargers that students can borrow.

Other devices mentioned include audiovisual equipment, such as cameras, headphones, a portable projector and VR glasses.

Table 18: Percentage of responding schools with mobile devices students can borrow

School type and years	Schools with mobile devices (%)
All primary (years 1–8)	14
Intermediate (years 7–8)	38
Secondary	66
Composite	8

Comments about other physical items

Respondents could use comments to describe the physical resources held by the library.

277 comments described games.

• 252 respondents said they offer cards and board games. 17 said they only have chess.

• Popular choices for games include Lego, Jenga, Uno, Monopoly, jigsaw puzzles and a range of word games.

26 comments described maker tools and equipment.

• 10 respondents said they offer art and craft materials and equipment, such as paper, scissors and colouring supplies.

• 10 mentioned Lego and other construction toys.

• 5 described tools for production, including 3D printers, sewing machines and badge makers.

There were just 14 comments describing artefacts and objects within library collections.

• 6 mentioned old objects or taonga, including fossils, gems and bones.

• 3 included their school's archives within the library collection.

• The remaining comments mentioned artwork and posters, religious artefacts, maps and flags.

Use of resources from external organisations

We asked respondents which external organisations they access resources from and how often. 142 respondents answered these questions.

National Library Services to Schools was the most frequently used, with public library and museum resources accessed less often.

We also asked how respondents expect their use of these resources to change in the future.

Table 19: Percentage of responding schools who access resources from external organisations

Organisation	Use every term (%)	Use 1–3 times per year (%)	Never use (%)
National Library Services to Schools	49	48	3
Local public library	12	28	60
Local museums	n/a	6	94

Future changes to library collections

We asked respondents how they expected collection holdings of different formats to change. On the left in figures 4 to 7 below, responses show uncertainty and reductions in holdings. On the right, responses show maintenance of current holdings or growth.

Of the broad format categories above (print, digital, and physical items), respondents were most certain about print.

Holdings of print formats (excluding magazines) were still expected to grow. However, percentages have mostly dropped compared to 2022 survey results. The exceptions are graphic novels, comics and manga. These showed the strongest predicted growth of any format. 97% of respondents expected to increase their library's holdings of these graphic formats.

Once again, holdings of print non-fiction had the highest expected rate of reduction. Other formats expected to reduce were DVDs and print magazines.

Comments about future changes to collection holdings

Respondents made 48 comments about how they expect their school library collection will change in future. The responses had these main themes:

• Collection development will respond to changing needs. For example, changes in:

  • student interests, such as the demand for graphic novels and manga

  • student needs, such as books in home languages

  • the curriculum.

• Holdings in different parts of the collection will reduce. For example, fewer:

  • non-fiction books as digital resources become more widely used

  • eBooks if demand or use declines or the cost is prohibitive.

• Provision of physical objects and artefacts may increase. For example, more:

  • loan kits from local museums

  • innovative resources such as seeds, tools or ‘experiences’ such as entertainment passes.

Some comments

Be responsive to children's interests. Non-fiction collection is used more for browsing than research now. Topic collections are provided by National Library. National Library collections are changed each term. These are wonderful resources that we always use.

The non-fiction collection will continue to become much smaller. More emphasis will be on manga and games I think, moving forward.

Investigating resources available from museums and the public library system is a priority, as is establishing access to online and audio/eBooks.

For our demographic, we cannot yet focus on eResources as that is dependent on home availability of internet access (for all members of household) which isn't at 50% of school population.

In the future, I'd like to trial items like passes to cinema, zoo, Rainbow's End (experiences that not everyone can easily access — so could offer as ‘borrowable’ items).

Charts and tables about future changes to collection holdings

Figure 4: Changes to print holdings

Figure 5: Changes to digital holdings

Figure 6: Changes to physical items

Figure 7: Use of external organisations' resources

Table 20: Future changes to collection holdings

Format type	Uncertainty or reduction (%)	Maintenance or growth (%)
Novels, chapter books	10	90
Picture books	20	80
Non-fiction books	44	56
Graphic novels, comics, manga	3	97
Magazines	55	45
eBook fiction	70	30
eBook non-fiction	68	32
eAudio	67	33
DVDs	92	8
Free digital content	35	65
Paid digital content	74	26
Mobile devices	63	37
Artefacts and objects	84	16
Maker equipment and tools	77	23
Games	23	77

Table 21: Future use of resources from external organisations

Organisation	Uncertain or reduced use (%)	Maintenance or increased use (%)
National Library resources	23	77
Public library resources	64	36
Museum resources	84	16

Collection development funding

We asked respondents how much funding their library had for collection development. And we also asked about where that funding came from. We received 246 responses to questions in this section.

Across all responding schools, the median collection development funding in 2023 was $10.03 per student, up from $8.46 in 2022.

Across school types, median budgets per student ranged from $8.55 to $11.39. The gap has closed to $2.84, down from $3.99 in 2022.

Responding secondary and composite schools saw a rise in collection funding per student compared to 2022. For other school types, median collection budgets dropped between $0.37 and $1.09 per student.

We asked respondents to compare their 2023 and 2022 budgets.

• 47% said their 2023 funding was the same as 2022.

• 22% noted they received less funding for collection development.

• 30% said they received more than in 2022.

Comments about funding

We received 67 comments about collection development funding.

These are the main points to note from the comments:

• 15 said they rely on fundraising to provide or supplement their funding. Another 8 said they rely on grants and donations.

• 14 said their funding was inadequate. 13 said their funding was adequate.

• 11 said their funding had been reduced. 2 of these saw this as positive because they struggled to spend more.

Some comments

It was cut dramatically by 40% during the COVID-19 years and has not been reinstated. It is not adequate now for what I am expected to provide.

I used to rely on donations to fill the gaps of popular fiction, but in the last 5 years this source has fall [sic] off as a way of supplementing our income.

There has been a big reduction in allocated funds, the consumables budget has grown due to online subscriptions, however, this has cut into books and other non-consumables.

I am incredibly fortunate that our board recognises the value of the resources provided and funds us incredibly well.

I feel very lucky to have such a healthy budget — our somewhat dated collection is starting to look refreshed. I will be asking for the same budget next year.

Obviously, with Scholastic rewards we can only purchase books from Scholastic, with [sic] is rather limiting. However, we consider ourselves very lucky to have this option available to us as we generally receive a good amount of rewards but cannot ever guarantee this amount.

It has been steadily going down over the last few years. I wrote a strong case to accompany next year's budget proposal re the implications if this under-investment continues.

Charts and tables about funding

Figure 8: Collection development budgets

Table 22: Median per-student funding for collection development by year — broken down by school type

School type	2021 ($ per student)	2022 ($ per student)	2023 ($ per student)
Contributing	9.59	11.00	10.38
Full primary	8.15	9.64	8.55
Intermediate	10.73	9.04	8.67
Secondary	9.73	10.22	11.16
Composite	12.14	7.01	11.39

Table 23: 2023 collection development budgets compared to 2022

School type	More than 2022 (%)	The same (%)	Less than 2022 (%)
Contributing	27	46	27
Full primary	25	43	32
Intermediate	33	67	n/a
Secondary	34	48	18
Composite	31	47	22

Funding sources

Most responding schools receive collection development funding from the school's operational grant. This grant also provides the bulk of their library funding.

For some school libraries, community support (such as fundraising, donations and charitable grants) is an important source of funding.

Table 24: Percentage of responding schools using each funding source

Note that percentages in the table add to more than 100% as respondents could choose more than one option.

Funding source	Responding schools using source (%)
Operations grant	67
Fundraising	26
Other e.g. donations	22
Board of Trustees funding	19
Grants	14
PTA/parent support	7
No collection development funding	2

Discussion

In this report, as in previous years, we’ve aggregated results to show a simple view of the data. Many of the findings are grouped by school type or summarised with median values. This helps paint a broad picture of what is common practice across all schools or for each school type.

Survey data typically varies each year

Some of this variation is caused by different schools responding to the survey each year. Individual schools also vary widely:

• Some differences are due to factors such as school size. For example, secondary schools' total library staff hours tend to be higher than other school types, because the school roll is generally higher.

• Other differences are the result of individual school or kura decisions about their library. This is very clear when we look at all the individual survey responses.

In 2023, for example:

• paid staff hours ranged from 17 minutes per student to less than 1 minute per student per week

• collection budgets ranged from $55 per student to less than $1 per student for the year.

Differences can impact range and quality of services offered

These differences can impact the range and quality of school library services offered. For example:

• variations in paid staff hours can constrain or enable library service development and delivery

• the size of a collection budget can limit or enhance collection development, which can affect students’ reading and learning.

In the 2022 report, ‘Great school libraries in Aotearoa: A qualitative study’, the Ministry of Education and SLANZA wrote:

Boards determine the allocation of operational grants, including the amount of funding that goes towards library staff and resources. They also make property decisions affecting the library … Principals have considerable influence over these decisions, and also over how teachers use the library and work with the librarian.
— Great school libraries in Aotearoa: A qualitative study

The ‘Great school libraries in Aotearoa’ study and the findings and comments included in this report, help to illustrate the impact of school leaders' decisions about investment in the school library.

Pay equity for school library staff

Survey responses were collected in November 2023. The Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim (LPEC) had been settled. Point-to-point grade translations and backdated salary adjustments had been made. Applications for regrading were still open.

Library roles, skills and pay

The Work Matrix Table (WMT) has provided schools with a clear framework for determining:

• the type of work typically done in various library roles

• skills and knowledge required for each role

• degrees of autonomy and responsibility within a role

• the appropriate pay grade for a role.

Respondents' comments about the introduction of the WMT have also highlighted the need for:

• clearly defined library roles that are well understood by school leadership and library staff

• regular review of library job descriptions, with changes agreed by both parties

• regular performance review discussions for library staff.

The LPEC settlement introduced new pay rates for library staff. This substantially improved the wages or salary of most school library staff. As expected, responses show that library staff were more satisfied with their pay than in previous years.

But job satisfaction appears lower

2 statistics from this year's survey suggest that library staff job satisfaction has decreased:

• 63% of respondents said they enjoy working in the school library, down from 71% in 2022 and 94% in 2021.

• 54% of respondents said they'd like to continue working in their current school library role. This is down from 64% in 2022 and 80% in 2021.

Aside from better pay rates, many other factors affect job satisfaction, such as:

• hours that provide enough income and allow a good work-life balance

• job security

• having the right skills

• having autonomy, but also connection with others

• opportunities for career development.

The 2023 survey findings and comments from school library staff illustrate each of these factors. Responses show that some library staff:

• would like more paid hours to manage the workload, reduce unpaid hours and improve their income

• experience job insecurity, saying their hours are likely or very likely to reduce

• report a drop in their perceived skill levels

• face barriers — particularly time — to taking up professional development or study opportunities

• want to work more closely with students and teaching colleagues

• are trusted to work autonomously, but feel isolated in their role

• feel that the grading structure or their role specifically doesn't provide for future career development.

And school library staff are affected by the same external factors that impact the wider workforce. Examples include the increased cost of living and the availability of other employment.

School library collections

The collection trends shown in previous reports continue. Findings from the 2023 survey again show that:

• print holdings are the mainstay of school library collections and respondents expect this to continue

• there is a shift for non-fiction holdings from print towards digital resources

• few school library collections include artefacts and objects or maker tools and equipment

• graphic novels, comics and manga are expected to show the strongest growth.

Holdings of graphic novels are still low

Graphic novels, comics and manga have consistently shown the strongest expected growth since we first asked about them in 2019. Yet they still make up no more than 6% of collections holdings for all responding schools. Possible explanations for this include:

• a perception that graphic formats are of lesser literary value than other text types

• library staff's and teachers' lack of confidence in selecting or using graphic formats with students

• relatively few age-appropriate titles available compared to other formats

• factors within the publishing industry, such as:

  • increased printing costs and small print runs

  • graphic text format being less transferable than standard print to other formats such as eBook or eAudio.

• cultural differences, such as representation of girls and women in manga, and concerns about book challenges

• collection development budget constraints.

Future research

The reports in this series share information we've gathered over 5 years. They illustrate some of the challenges and opportunities school libraries and library staff face. We see this series of reports as part of a growing body of research about school libraries in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Some questions that future research might address are:

• How have perceptions about the role and importance of school libraries and library staff changed since our first survey?

• How do school libraries and library staff respond and adapt to changes within the school system or due to external disruptions? Examples include changes:

  • in the curriculum

  • in student needs relating to the curriculum

  • in students' interests

  • in the use of technology in education

  • due to disruptions such as a pandemic, disaster or supply chain issues.

• What is needed to develop the school library workforce in future, including building leadership capability?

• How are schools creating innovative library environments?

Joint research with NZCER

In 2024, SLANZA and National Library Services to Schools are collaborating on a research project with the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER). The project aims to provide evidence of the value and impact of school libraries, particularly on literacy for young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Conclusion and recommendations

School management teams — boards of trustees, and senior leaders — make many decisions about how their school provides access to library services. These include decisions about investment in:

• staffing — paid time for skilled and experienced people who can provide library services to match the school community's needs

• resources — building an effective library collection and having the necessary systems to support access to library resources

• property — maintaining physical space for the library within the school.

Use the report's findings to guide decision-making

School management teams can use the findings in this report to guide their thinking about:

• library staff hours, pay and career development

• future directions in library collections and resource management

• library collection budgets.

The report provides benchmarks for comparison, rather than making recommendations for schools.

The report is best used alongside the other school library development resources and support that National Library, SLANZA and LIANZA provide.

Recommended actions for survey partners

We recommend that National Library Services to Schools, LIANZA and SLANZA:

• share and discuss the findings widely, especially with stakeholders in the education and library sectors

• use the findings to guide the development of our services that support school libraries and school library staff

• encourage further research stemming from the findings of this survey

• work together to address concerns raised in this report about school library provision

• survey schools again to track changes over time and to deepen our understanding of areas identified for particular focus.