A Survey of Library Services to Schools and Children in the UK 2005-06

This is LISU' s seventeenth annual report on the provision and use of public library services to schools and children. Supported by the Museums Libraries & Archives Council (MLA) and its predecessors, the series has always acted as an invaluable management tool for both public and schools library services, allowing comparison and benchmarking against other authorities and the wider national picture. The MLA has now withdrawn funding from this survey as part of its current review of its research and evidence strategy. As alternative funding has not been found, this series is now discontinued.

The report gives a summary of trends in both services over the last five years: examines the role and numbers of staff working with children; considers service provision, resources and expenditure in public library services to children; and details service provision, financial arrangements and use of schools library services. Detailed tables are given listing the information provided by each authority and service, and estimates for the overall position in the UK are included in the commentary. A supplement is also available, reproducing the main tables of the report organised for eight of the English Government Office Regions (London is included as a separate unit in the main report, as are Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales).

Main publication

Download full report (pdf 3MB)

Download individual parts of the report below:

Contents, list of tables, figures and acknowledgements (pdf 20KB)

Section 1 (pdf 92KB)
Introduction
Executive summary
Summary of trends 2000-01 to 2005-06
Materials funds
Notes on the survey

Section 2 Staffing (pdf 492KB)
Heads of service
Professional staff
Staff details
Estimates of total professional staff

Section 3 Public library services to children (pdf 1.2MB)
Service provision
Resources
Expenditure
Users and user surveys

Section 4 Schools library services (pdf 1.2MB)
Introduction and contextual information
Population and schools served
Stock and its use
Service quality
Expenditure
Income

Appendices (pdf 364KB)
A: Population figures
B: Comments on staffing structures
C: Details from SLS survey
D: Public library services to children questionnaire
E: Schools library services questionnaire
F: List of non-respondents
G: Local government reorganisation

Regional supplement

Download full report (pdf 2MB)

Download individual parts of the report below:

Contents, acknowledgements and introduction (pdf 20KB)

Staffing: Tables 2.1 to 2.4 (pdf 372KB)

Public library services to children: Tables 3.1 to 3.14 (pdf 892KB)

Schools library services: Tables 4.1 to 4.17 (pdf 972KB)

Appendix: A.1 Population (pdf 48KB)