Date of Award

8-1983

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Abstract

In 1974 Congress consolidated several existing educational programs into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IV. Part B of that bill was designed to provide instructional materials for schools. A majority of Title IV-B money nationwide was used to purchase library books, audiovisual hardware, and audiovisual software.

This study was designed to examine the possible benefits Title IV-B funding had on St. Charles j County school libraries. Between 1976 and 1982, 15 school libraries were able to meet Missouri State standards in the size of the collection category. This study was needed to show that Title IV-B played an important part in this gain. Other aspects of Title IV-B were examined, i.e. methods used in choosing target groups, acquisition procedures, and evaluation of program accomplishments.

A survey was mailed to all 23 school librarians in St Charles County in November, 1982. Follow-up postcards were mailed in January 1983, and 21 responses were received. All but three of the responding schools participated in Title IV-B funding. Responses were tabulated and compared with similar studies done in Minnesota, Indiana, New Jersey, and Utah. The 1976 and 1982 Missouri Self-Evaluation of Learning Resource Centers forms were used to determine the effect of Title IV-Bon the growth of each library's collection.

The results of this study seem to indicate that Title IV-B was beneficial for the school libraries in St. Charles County. The influence of Title IV-B funding was most obvious in the Ft. Zumwalt and Francis Howell school districts. While librarians in the other county schools indicated that Title IV-B 1 money was influential in their districts, other factors (population shifts, school closings, and funding) appeared to have played a bigger role in the growth of their libraries.

All the librarians indicated that Title IV-B was beneficial and that high quality materials were purchased. Most schools in St. Charles County had administrators select target groups but formed committees to select materials. Librarians were seldom involved in the selection of target groups, but over 58% were directly involved in material selection.

Little Chapter II money in St. Charles County was spent on library materials in 1982-1983. Since 48% of the St. Charles County school libraries need to acquire additional volumes, county librarians need to familiarize themselves with Chapter II funding and impress upon their district administrators the importance of a good library in relation to student achievement.

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