A decade of published English language research on school libraries in Hong Kong: A content-analytic study

Abstract

Prior to the turn of the millennium, there is little evidence of research, published in English, exploring school libraries in Hong Kong. A survey of school libraries was undertaken in the nineteen-sixties (Kwong, 1990); an overview of library services in Hong Kong schools had been explored in the middle nineteen-seventies (Kan, 1976); and a survey of libraries in international schools (Ladizesky, 1989) was published in the late nineteen-eighties. During the nineteen-nineties, there was a series of reports on Hong Kong school libraries to the International Association of School Librarianship (Cheung, 1991; Hung, 1998; etc). Over the last decade, since the International Association of School Librarianship annual conference was held in Hong Kong in 2005, the amount of published material on school libraries in Hong Kong has grown, both in terms of numbers and also range of issues addressed. This investigation analyzes both the content of a selection of this body of work and also the patterns of authorship. Twenty-two papers, featuring primary and secondary schools, were selected from the databases LISA, Library Literature, and ERIC, as well as from conference programs. Content analysis has surfaced a number of prominent themes of research. A major area of research has discussed collaboration between teacher librarians and teachers, particularly within the context of inquiry-based and resource-based learning. Students’ acquisition of information literacy skills is also prominent. Nurturing and sustaining student reading habits is featured. The impact of information policy on school libraries is explored. The evolving role of the TL has been investigated in terms of their training, skills, roles and influence.