Developing 21st Century School Media Resource Libraries for Singapore

In light of global calls for emphasizing innovative thinking and creative problem solving in elementary and secondary schools and a more collaborative role for school media resource libraries to support the new focus, a taskforce of four faculty members from the Division of Information Studies of Nanyang Technological University undertook to assess the status of a selected group of thirteen media resource libraries in Singapore. Data obtained from questionnaires and focus groups indicate that for Singapore’s School Media Resource Libraries to play a significant role in supporting the new educational focus some important changes are needed. Recommendations from the taskforce include a change in status of the School Media Resource Library and its supervisor, additional training and education for these supervisors, improved access and connectivity for interschool cooperation, and more collaborative collection management policies.