The 2020 Australian and New Zealand School Library Survey Reports have been released

27 Apr, 2021

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About the Softlink School library Survey

School libraries are thriving centres of learning both in the physical library space and in the virtual classroom, and Teacher Librarians enrich school teaching and learning programs through their specialist role.

In 2010, the Australian Federal Government requested submissions to the ‘Inquiry into school libraries and Teacher Librarians in Australian schools’. Softlink undertook a survey of Australian school libraries to provide data which enabled a unique and informed response to the Inquiry.

Since then, in an effort to highlight the issues and opportunities school libraries are experiencing, Softlink has continued to survey Australian schools annually and extended this to include New Zealand and UK schools in 2015. Continuing the annual surveys helps to build a critical reference point for understanding changes, impacts, and trends over time.

The 2020 Softlink School Library Survey for the Australia, New Zealand, and Asia Pacific regions was released August 28 and closed September 30. Invitations to participate were extended to all schools (including schools that are not Softlink customers) in the region via email, Twitter, LinkedIn, OZTL_Net, and promoted by a number of our partners, associates, and school library groups.

2020 saw the highest ever response rate to date, with 18% of Australian schools and 15% of New Zealand schools participating.

These reports provide survey findings for Australian and New Zealand schools, with a further breakdown of findings for Catholic, Government, and Independent schools.

Points for analysis include annual school library budgets and staffing levels, as well as the use of digital resources in school libraries, school library services, trends, and other key factors important to school libraries.

To download the full reports, visit our resources page.

Key findings for Australia and New Zealand have been provided below.

Key findings Summary - Australia

Key findings for Australia from the 2020 Survey include:

42% of respondents feel their library is adequately resourced including staffing and budget.
55% of respondents indicated that their library budget has not changed from the previous year, 16% indicated it had increased and 29% indicated it had decreased.
65% of respondents indicated no change to their staffing levels from the previous year, 7% indicated it had increased, and 25% indicated a decrease.
62% of Catholic school respondents, 66% of Government school respondents, and 64% of Independent school respondents indicated that they had a least 1 qualified Teacher Librarian employed in their library.
20% of Catholic school respondents, 8% of Government school respondents, and 35% of Independent school respondents indicated that they had a least 1 qualified Librarian employed in their library.
75% of Catholic school respondents, 35% of Government school respondents, and 66% of Independent school respondents indicated that they include a percentage of eBooks in their collection.
63% of Catholic school respondents, 37% of Government school respondents, and 64% of Independent school respondents indicated that they include a percentage of eResources - subscription databases in their collection.
The top 3 things school library staff would focus on if they had more resources or time are:

Promoting and supporting reading for pleasure (79%)
Curating relevant information and resources to support topic-based learning and curriculum (61%)
Developing or teaching information literacy programs or research skills programs (56%)

Key findings Summary - New Zealand

Key findings for New Zealand from the 2020 Survey include:

50% of respondents feel their library is adequately resourced including staffing and budget.
64% of respondents indicated that their library budget has not changed from the previous year, 13% indicated it had increased, and 22% indicated it had decreased.
83% of respondents indicated no change to their staffing levels from the previous year, 6% indicated it had increased, and 11% indicated a decrease.
45% of Catholic school respondents, 38% of Government school respondents, and 43% of Independent school respondents indicated that they had a least 1 qualified Librarian employed in their library.
14% of Catholic school respondents, 11% of Government school respondents, and 29% of Independent school respondents indicated that they had a least 1 qualified Teacher Librarian employed in their library.
24% of Catholic school respondents, 43% of Government school respondents, and 21% of Independent school respondents indicated that they include a percentage of eBooks in their collection.
55% of Catholic school respondents, 32% of Government school respondents, and 64% of Independent school respondents indicated that they include a percentage of eResources - subscription databases in their collection.
The top 3 things school library staff would focus on if they had more resources or time are:

Promoting and supporting reading for pleasure (58%)
Developing or teaching information literacy programs or research skills programs (40%)
Curating relevant information and resources to support topic-based learning and curriculum (40%)

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey, we appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to continuing to work together to build stronger school libraries.

Thank you to all the School Library Associations and Partners for assisting in the promotion of the Survey…

While every care is taken to include all promoters of the survey, please do contact us if we have missed you so we can update this post.

Additional resources

The Softlink School Library Surveys are used to produce a range reports and feature documents to help inform and support school library staff and the greater school community. A selection of these has been included below, to view more visit softlinkint.com/resources/reports-and-whitepapers/

What’s Trending #SchoolLibraries 2019-2020
What are the current trending topics in school libraries? In this global feature, we share responses to the 2019 Softlink School Library Surveys and the 2020 Softlink COVID-19 Survey.

School libraries share: library love
This feature shares comments from the 2014 – 2020 surveys demonstrating the love and passion school library staff have and what they love most about coming to work. It also shares comments that demonstrate the love the school has for the library.

School Libraries Share Ideas for Promoting the Library
Published in 2019, this feature is based on responses to the question “What practices are in place or what ideas do you have to promote the library, the services it provides, or the role and skills of the school library staff in your school?” in the 2018 School Library Surveys.

From the Principal’s desk – reflections on the school library
This feature shares collated comments from the 2014 – 2020 School Library Surveys and represent the voice of school Principals in Australia in New Zealand as they reflect on the value of their library and library staff, as well as changes they would make to the library.

We are always looking for ways to improve and refine the School Library Survey and associated reports and whitepapers. If you would like to offer feedback, please email communications@softlinkint.com