The Municipal School Board's Support of Elementary and Junior High School Libraries : Based on a 2006 Survey conducted in Chiba Prefecture Municipal School Boards

Elementary and junior high school libraries are now enriching their book stocks under the New Plan for School Library Book Stock Improvement of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and municipalities are compiling a database of school library book stocks respectively. After the 1997 revision to the School Library Law, teacher librarians were assigned to schools with 12 or more classes, and the number of municipalities that assign school librarians has increased. In addition, coordination is being promoted between school libraries and between school and public libraries. The author conducted a questionnaire survey at the school boards of 56 municipalities in Chiba Prefecture to determine how school boards are assisting school libraries. The questionnaire covered questions regarding the present situation of book purchase cost, compilation of book stock database, assignment of teacher and school librarians, cooperation between school and public libraries, etc. Future directions for the utilization of school libraries were determined based on the results. The results have shown that book stock databases are mostly compiled based on the intentions of the individual persons in charge of libraries; the need for teacher librarians is underestimated, but the rate at which school librarians are assigned is higher than the national average; many public libraries are assisting school libraries, and an increasing number of school libraries are cooperating with each other; and cooperation between school libraries and the community is being promoted beyond administration of individual school libraries.