SASS School Library Media Center Survey (SLS)

1. Overview

Federal surveys of school library media centers in elementary and secondary schools in the United States were conducted in 1958, 1962, 1974, 1978, and 1985. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) asks questions about libraries in public and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools as part of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) (see SASS chapter for details on SASS). The School Library Media Center Survey was introduced as a component of SASS in the 1993–94 school year. The survey was administered to both public and private schools in the 1993–94 and 1999–2000 SASS, but only to public schools (including BIE-funded schools) in the 2003–04 and 2007–08 SASS. It is sponsored by NCES and administered by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Purpose

The purpose of the School Library Media Center Survey is to provide a national picture of school library collections, expenditures, technology, and services. The survey furnishes national estimates for public school libraries (by school grade level and urbanicity) and for libraries operated by BIE schools; state estimates are also provided for public school libraries.

Components

The School Library Media Center Survey was introduced in the 1993–94 SASS. The 1993–94 School Library Media Center Survey consisted of two components, one on the school’s library media center and the other on the library media specialist. The 1999–2000, 2003–04, and 2007–08 SASS administrations included only the library media center component. The survey is sent to public schools, including BIE schools, in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Until the 2003–04 SASS, the survey was also sent to private schools.

School Library Media Center Survey. The library survey is designed to provide a national picture of school library media center facilities, collections, equipment, technology, staffing, income, expenditure, and services. A section on information literacy was added to the 2003–04 and 2007–08 surveys. The respondents are school librarians or other school staff members familiar with the library. The School Library Media Center survey was designed to profile the school library media specialist workforce, including demographic characteristics, academic background, workload, career histories and plans, compensation, and perceptions of the school library media specialist profession and workplace. The eligible respondent was the staff member whose main assignment at the school was to oversee the library.

Periodicity

The library survey was conducted in the 1993–94, 1999–2000, 2003–04, , 2007–08 SASS, and will be conducted again in 2011-12. The 1993 and 1999-2000 collections covered public, private, and BIE schools; collections since then covered only public and BIE schools. 

Data Availability

Information on SLS data files is available at https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=003.

 

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