School Library Media Specialists' Use of Time: A Review of the Research

Various research studies have attempted to categorize the tasks performed by school library media specialists and the time devoted to them. Since 1969, approximately a dozen studies have been conducted in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. The number of participants in these studies ranged from fewer than 10 per study to several hundred. Diverse methodologies have been employed to collect the data, including diaries, surveys, logs, work sampling, estimating, and observation. In some cases, researchers wanted to ascertain simple distributions of how school library media specialists spent their time, but others have focused on how outside influences such as automation, scheduling, and support staff affect time use.