Elżbieta Barbara Zybert Quality school libraries
	Institute of Information Science and Bibliological Studies, Warsaw University
	This article was translated thanks to the grant received from the Open Society Institute

Quality in education

The quality of school work and that of other educational institutions is one of the distinctive features of the so-called reformed school. Measuring the quality of work in these institutions is of prime importance to quality systems. In order to achieve high quality, or at least strive to attain it, the process should be multi-faceted. It should embrace all the components of the school system, including school libraries and school librarians, that form the school subsystem. Fragmentary treatment of these educational institutions, i.e. taking no account of libraries, prevents such schools to be called quality schools. This is consistent with the guidelines for ISO quality standards which concern an institution as a whole, and not only a part of it.

When writing about quality school libraries, one should answer the following questions: what is quality and what are the characteristic features of quality schools. According to the definition of quality which is also applied to education, quality is a way of thinking that calls for continuous striving for and implementing of the best solutions.^[1] The schools that adhere to quality guidelines are called quality schools. Quality education and quality schools draw on E.Deming's concept of Total Quality Management. The critique of F.Taylor's scholarly management philosophy served as a starting point for the development of TQM. ^[2]

Taylor's theory based on the mechanistic approach to the production process was adapted by Franklin Bobbit and it was applied to education at the beginning of the 20th century. The assumptions of this theory were that each teacher should be provided with detailed instruction on everything to be accomplished: the work to be done, the performance level to be achieved, the methods and tools to be used. So the educators had very little to say about how to perform action.^[3] There was very little possibility for creating and controlling ones own work process. Characteristic for this model is a command system, the one that is a product-oriented and fear-driven education paradigm.

In a traditional school, based on the Taylor model, an organisation's (such as a firm or a school) efforts are not focused on educating the customer in matters relating to quality, on delighting, and not even on servicing the customer (customers, as will be described below, are both "takers" and "givers", the persons from outside and inside an institution). Suppliers are left all to themselves, and they are often being ignored or perceived as a menace to an institution. The people inside an institution do not treat one another as indispensable suppliers and customers, so there is no synergy that would "get everything going".^[4]

According to Deming's principles (which also draw on the assumptions of E.Mayo's and M.Folett's school of interpersonal relations) everybody should independently decide on how to perform actions and simultaneously control the quality of one's own products.

Quality schools

Quality schools are the institutions that aim at continuous improvement of all their 'customers' (i.e. pupils, parents, teachers, and non-teaching staff) and at implementing the fourteen point Deming's total quality management principles which provide the basis for formulating four guidelines called by J.J.Bonstingl the four pillars of quality schools of a new education paradigm. They are:

• understanding the nature of the relations between suppliers and customers;
• ongoing involvement in continuous improvement;
• a system/process orientation;
• strong and consistent leadership from top management and from the authorities who are committed to total quality.^[5]

E.Deming encouraged educators to create school communities in which strong bonds based on mutual respect and confidence would replace fear, suspicion, and division. Headmasters and producers of education policy would be leaders of such communities, whereas pupils and teachers who work at the front line would be authorised to introduce continuous improvements in their common work.

Total Quality Management (TQM) techniques help educators perceive themselves more as helpers than judges, rather trainers and advisers than teachers, more of a partner of parents, pupils, headmasters, companies, and whole communities than isolated staff members who are confined within the four walls of the classroom.^[6]

Holistic approach quality and confidence that self-improvement means helping others to upgrade their skills is essential for quality schools. Such personal dedication to mutual improvement is called kaizen by the Japanese.^[7] Developing the thirst for knowledge is of prime importance in quality schools, whereas school marks and any other assessment symbols are far less important. E.Deming is against using marks.^[8]

Customers are the most important element of strategy, because quality is not an abstract notion, but something that satisfies the customers. Therefore it is necessary to turn to them and ask what are their requirements. This means probing the needs of the educational community and of the outer community in which the school functions, and also educates its pupils to an active membership in it.

A school library as an element of quality education

Creating quality libraries in schools should not be the goal of libraries only, since, as it is often stressed, they are essential instruments of the school educational process. The involvement of top management and of the whole school staff is crucial for setting up quality libraries.

The quality policy for school libraries should be decided on by the school community, and priorities, as well as the ways of measuring performance levels, must be clearly defined. This quality policy should also be widely advertised, so that it can be made known to all who are interested. It should not, however, be treated as an altruistic desire to improve the world, but it ought to be an instrument of removing discrepancies between the actually provided services and the information on this subject supplied to customers.

Having limited resources, it is of prime importance that quality policy defines precisely not only what can be achieved, but also what is not possible to accomplish. Customers' impressions of quality are created by misunderstandings concerning the library offer (what can be expected) to the same extend as the level of services actually rendered. Therefore, it is justified to emphasise that the goal of a school library is to provide the highest quality services, making it known how it will be accomplished.

A school quality library should be based on four quality pillars:

1. Understanding the nature of the relations between suppliers and customers. In quality libraries everybody is a customer and a supplier at the same time. Understanding this idea is essential for continuous improvement. The customers of school libraries are first of all pupils and teachers, but also (to a small extent) parents. They are the ones who benefit the most from library services. Pupils, teachers, parents are suppliers and customers for each other. Librarians are the suppliers, but they are also teachers' and school administration customers when drawing up an educational programme, building collections, or gaining information. To some extent, the suppliers are also the members of the school administration or parents, who supply libraries with funds through PTA's. A library's duty is to cooperate with customers and suppliers.

2. Constant dedication to continuous improvement. As early as in the 1960's, L.Shores recognised the fundamental importance of school libraries in the teaching process, stressing the need of teaching through libraries.^[9] Quality school libraries, similarly as quality schools, perceive the learning process as a spiral, where the energy of pupils and students is directed towards continuous improvement. Following such an approach, pupils make use of the previously acquired knowledge as the basis for building new knowledge and for continuous improvement of their intelligence. It is a constant dedication to continuous self-improvement - kaizen. It adheres to the concept of generative education and to the contemporary trends in teaching. In school libraries, these trends may (should) be perceived according to the dialectical model: information-the needs-information. Information science in schools should be understood as the ability to seek, gather, process, and select information methodically, which forms the basis for teaching all school subjects.^[10]

In order to enable pupils' continuous improvement with the help of a book and a library, it is necessary to overcome barriers that make this impossible, i.e. to win over "stubborn" readers.^[11] Numerous strategies for actions have been discussed in the literature of the subject,^[12] as well as various ideas and tools have been presented to reach this fair-sized group of pupils.

3. A system/process orientation. In quality schools and in their components, that means also in school libraries, there should be a general understanding that improving pupils' performance is possible, on the long run, only through continuous improvement of the learning and teaching processes. This improvement, as it was said before, concerns all the persons involved in the quality improvement process in a given institution, as well as the library's environment and the conditions in which it functions.

The aim of the librarian is to instruct the user on how to use various sources of information and how to search for information

In school libraries in many countries, training courses for information users are being carried out using the project method.^[13] They involve both subject teachers and teacher-librarians. As a result of this common activity it will be possible, as stressed by J.J.Bonsting, to learn not only throughout life, but also to learn "life-wide", which means the kind of learning that penetrates all aspects of life.^[14]

4. Strong and consistent leadership from top management and from the authorities who are committed to total quality. Responsibility for the quality of processes, systems and results lays on the management, both the school and the library management, if they are a numerous staff. This group of people play an important role in initiating and maintaining the process of changes, in providing help, instruction, and support.

The four pillars of quality schools that are essential for the functioning of quality school libraries should be complemented with the principles of TQM which have been adapted to the needs of libraries,^[15] especially two of them that are not included in Bonstingl's indicators:

5. Making products, providing services correctly already at the outset. According to this principle, detecting and correcting mistakes is an ineffective and a costly activity. Hence all librarians should aim at avoiding problems and finding out the reasons for mistakes.

The above principle concerns not only technical matters, i.e. the correctness of descriptions, professional maintenance of catalogues, the arrangement of collections - although these are the matters of prime importance and it takes time to correct them - but also handling user inquiries competently, quickly, and kindly, since basing on these elements the user will give his/her assessment. As far as it is possible to correct a wrong description in a considerably short time, it will be much more difficult to attract the customer who was once discouraged by a "toxic" librarian.

6. Performance measures and continuous improvement. It is necessary to regularly evaluate performance and to examine the needs of users in order to achieve results and a satisfactory level of services. This means the control of the whole quality process with the use of various methods, in order to reduce the costs of functioning of a library, to use the time effectively, while providing better products and services. This is the measuring of the user activity and the intensity of library usage at various times of day, week and year, as well as adjusting the library opening hours to user expectations. According to this principle, it is essential to reduce the time devoted to technical matters and to increase the time devoted to one-to-one work with the user.

All the practices of TQM (both those included in the fourteen point Deming's principles and the ones adapted to the school and library system) are primarily customer-oriented. Not librarians, being service providers, but customers, being service recipients, are the ones who assess the level of services, which has been repeatedly emphasised.

The factors that influence the quality of the library

The elements of the quality of school library as well as the objects being evaluated by school authorities and by the users concern:

• the organisation of the library (its collections, the library equipment , as well as creating the conditions appropriate for using them, room aesthetics, easy access, the image);
• the educational activity of the library (based on the first of the tasks);
• the activity of the library staff.

Obviously, the librarian will not have influence on all the issues connected with the organisation of the library, for example on the size of the collections. Moreover, not all the issues will equally be subject to final evaluation, as for example stock recording or proper technical processing of books.

These matters may be evaluated by headmasters or by library inspectors, although they do not directly affect the quality assessment of the library. However, indirectly, they are crucial, since proper and correct performance of tasks makes it possible to put into effect the results of this work more quickly. There is no need for corrections or repeated actions (the TQM principle of doing everything well already at the outset), it saves time, and it contributes to the good image of the library.

The issues concerning the organisation of school library work and its educational activities were given a thorough description in the literature of the subject, hence there is no need to refer to them now. It is, however, worth emphasising that resolving them will lead to achieving quality. I would like to stop for a moment on the last criterion of the quality of school library, i.e. the librarian, touching only on some of the aspects.

Teacher - librarian

A teacher-librarian working in a school library should posses appropriate library and educational qualifications. These are the only requirements needed for acquiring a post of a school librarian. However, in order for a school library to be a quality library there is a need to upgrade skills. This means self-improvement, professional development, care of collection currentness and of acquisitions, openness to changes and to new developments, organisational and educational skills, cooperation with the teaching staff, and last but not least creativity and friendliness.

The above features not only determine the quality of work, but also they are being taken into account when inspecting classes or promoting teachers. A teacher-librarian in a library of quality will accept the quality programme and will make endeavours at continuing self-education, self-improvement, and professional training. She or he will make efforts to better meet user expectations, which entails the probing of user needs.

A good librarian working in a quality library does not only carry out regular duties. This is a teacher, who constantly upgrades his/her skills, who tries to anticipate user needs and expectations. It concerns not only regular library visitors, but also its prospective users.

The role of librarians in quality libraries should not be that of passive custodians of the information stored. Now, such librarians should assume the role of active and dynamic professionals. In other types of libraries (not in school libraries) such changes may already be observed in the form of intensified user services. It has an effect on user expectations concerning the kind of services that should be provided by libraries. Widespread automation of library processes makes it easier to provide library services. It enables many librarians to focus on user-oriented services, as thanks to automation they could free themselves of many routine procedures.^[16]

A teacher-librarian, as any other teacher in quality school, should be a professional educator, and not an expert in a given field of knowledge. As Malgorzata Taraszkiewicz notes "for librarians, a unique/expert knowledge is the knowledge how to teach".^[17] Such treatment of the teacher's role finds its reflection in the so called European dimension of teacher training and improvement.^[18]

Establishing quality school libraries

What to start with when establishing quality school libraries? Every school and its library have a specific, characteristic for them system of values called an organisational culture. It consists of the values recognised by members of this organisation, their perception of the workplace, individual skills of people connected with schools, and their specific behaviour.

A library (the same as a school) is an organisation which M. Konieczniak calls an iceberg^[19] made up of the formal part (procedures, scopes of activities, structural organisation, goals and forms of activity) and the hidden part (standards, convictions, values, attitudes, personal goals and aspirations, motivations and commitment, informal relations, moral attitudes, moods).

News and updates for librarians: It is the easiest to introduce any changes in the formal part (new organisational solutions, new acts and regulations). Whereas changes concerning the attitudes, identities, values, motives of actions, or convictions are more difficult to put into effect . However, in order for the changes to be introduced, particular attention must be given to establishing the hierarchy of values. They should be given top priority when starting the process of changes. It is also the first stage in establishing a quality school library.

The next step is to create the library's vision, that is to answer the question: what we would like to achieve. The vision must be inspiring, and it should motivate people to pursue it. When creating the vision, it need not have to adhere to the present day situation, but it should indicate the direction in which to go. As it was previously stressed, everybody should be involved in creating the vision: librarians, headmasters, teachers, pupils, and parents. The engagement of all these persons is essential. The library's vision should be discussed during a school staff meeting devoted especially to this issue. Not only librarians, but also teachers, pupils, or parents should create their own vision, so that finally one shared vision could be achieved. The vision does not have to concern the school library only, but it should also embrace some activities that could be pursued by the school library as a participant and a contributor to a common venture, for example some all-school activities or multi-subject integrated projects. It will be an ideal paradigm, the one to be followed by the school community.

The next stage is to specify the goals and values that are important for the library, which means library's mission, that which makes it possible to exclude everything that prevents reaching the goal defined in the library's vision.^[20] All the library users (pupils, teachers, parents) should participate in working out the library mission (the same as it was when creating the vision), since only the mission that reflects the shared values and the one which is a common accomplishment can be fully acceptable to them.

As school library's aim (according to the quality management principles) is to satisfy the needs and interests of pupils, teachers, and parents, the next step, after defining the vision and establishing the mission, is to thoroughly probe the needs of users, as well as to compare the results with the library services offer. Thus, one of the preconditions of self-improvement should be examining the needs concerning both the product (what is needed) and the process (the quality of services offered). The school educational programme that includes its vision and mission statement, which also applies to the school library, is a starting point.

Examining the needs of users is one of the principles of total quality management. Although it is quite common that librarians, as has been reported in the literature of the subject,^[21] have a feeling that they know the best what the users need, it is necessary to define the needs basing on the opinions of users themselves. The aim of this research is to identify user needs and include them in the library services offer, to monitor the library performance regarding the meeting of the needs and user requirements, to continuously improve services, to plan the introduction of new services (according to the schedule) or the change of some old ones. This kind of research does not only provide librarians with the information that enables them to improve their work, but it is also helpful in promoting the library services. Users are often unfamiliar with the services the library offers.

One of the ways of arousing and satisfying the reading and information needs of users is "segmenting for the sake of benefit",^[22] that is determining what are the most probable expectations of library users. This would be the basis for deciding on the methods of providing and promoting library services.

The next stage in the process of setting up and running a quality school library is the assessment and the measurement of the quality of this institution. The aim is to:

• improve the school library performance;
• satisfy the library users;
• improve the image of the library;
• fulfil the library's vision and mission: to prepare for full participation in life and in the information society.

Quality measurement requires the following:

• determining the factors that affect quality; what are the main fields and indicators of activity, as well as the subjects and issues/problems to be assessed;
• setting the criteria in order to unambiguously define high quality;
• using objective tools to examine reliably the indicators of activity, the method of collecting information (talks, interviews, inquiries, questionnaires, researching the documents), taking measurements by qualified persons;
• having an involved and committed staff.

Measuring the quality of a library should be an internal assessment (carried out by the librarian) and an external one ( made by headmasters and users - customers). The library, its collection, and the services it provides are to serve the school community in which the school library functions. Therefore this whole community (headmasters, librarians, teachers, and pupils) should draw up a set of performance indicators of quality which is helpful in assessing the quality of services. The quality measure of all the aspects of library services should be the ability of libraries to satisfy both articulated and anticipated library customers' needs.^[23] The subjective customer-oriented assessment as well as objective performance evaluation should be taken into consideration.

The quality factors that are crucial for quality evaluation and for improving performance are:

• diversity of collections;
• staff qualifications and professional experience;
• the scope of information services;
• user satisfaction.

I have stressed many times that the goal of quality activities is user satisfaction, and the users are the ones to assess quality. The reason for the low quality of library activities is often the discrepancy between what the librarians feel and what users expect. Attention is drawn to the fact that administrators tend to think of economy when assessing services, whereas customers take their personal point of view when carrying out assessment.

This individual approach employed by customers when assessing the quality of services may vary considerably, depending on the conditions and the context. However, it is possible to identify the criteria that are most often used by customers. They will be the quality assessment indicators used in a given library, such as:

• access: convenient location and opening hours are of prime importance to users;
• library environment: décor, the appearance of the library and the staff (smart, modern, attractive);
• atmosphere: encouraging, and friendly;
• availability: equipment and facilities should be within an easy reach and they should be user-friendly;
• cleanliness: stacks and reading-rooms should be tidy and neat;
• convenience/functionality and a general atmosphere;
• outgoingness: easiness in communicating with the staff, legibility of signs;
• courtesy: polite, respectful, and proper attitude of librarians towards customers;
• responsibility: dependency and efficiency of services, security: comfort, giving customers a feeling of personal safety;
• adequacy: the right condition and usability of buildings, equipment, materials, furnishings;
• understanding/sympathy: familiarity with the user's specific requirements and with their broader context.^[25]

Sensitivity to user needs and the understanding of their point of view are also the criteria used by users for evaluating the quality of services. Librarians can use a number of methods when defining, evaluating and improving the quality of their library. Some of these methods have been applied in practice for many years, not only in the organisation and management, but also in all areas of the library. They are, for example, SWOT, the Deming cycle, the Ishikawa fish bone diagram, or marketing. Other methods begin to be widely used in libraries, especially in research and public libraries. As schools have also undergone transformation, it happens more often that many of the above methods find application in school libraries. Total Quality Management involves the ISO 9000 standards which have been applied to industry and services, as well as quality certificates issued on the basis of the TQM principles. In different countries, the government bodies set down the conditions necessary for a library to obtain a quality certificate. Unfortunately, school libraries, as the results of the research carried out by the Polish affiliate of EURYDICE show,^[26] are not being taken into consideration when establishing quality standards (only in some European countries, the educational law includes regulations concerning school libraries, and guidelines for these libraries are being laid down, but this does not mean setting the quality standards).

However, it seems that the UK recommendations^[27] concerning public libraries included in Charter Mark and drawn up by the Centre for Library and Information Management are of a universal character and they can be implemented to school libraries as well. The Charter Mark criteria that testify to quality improvement are: maintaining high quality of services despite necessary budget cuts, saving by improving the management, and introducing the marketing programme. Thus, the poor condition of libraries that is often an excuse for inactivity (reluctance to improve activity) should not be a determining factor for achieving quality and should not exclude it. A lot, if not everything, depends on the librarian. Being satisfied, glad, and holding a strong belief in the justifiability of the actions taken, he or she will aim at fulfilling the TQM principles. The librarian will be satisfied and glad if the outcomes of his/her work meet with recognition and approval of the community, which, in turn, will result from the acceptance of his/her service role and the need of self-improvement, that is kaizen. It seems to be of little significance, but in fact it is a great step forward towards establishing quality school libraries.

Footnotes

[1] Cited in : E.Kedracka-Feldman, Jakość w szkolnictwie zawodowym. Warsaw, 1999, p. 7.

[2] The equipment was designed in such a way as to make it possible to change its parts, and to easily replace the worn-out parts with the new ones; a parallel situation was in the case of workers.

[3] J. J. Bonstingl: Szkoly jakości. Wprowadzenie do Total Quality Management w edukacji. Warsaw, 1999, p. 16.

[4] Ibid., p. 33.

[5] Ibid., p. 39.

[6] Ibid., p. 12-13.

[7] Ibid., p. 12-13.

[8] Ibid., p. 25.

[9] M. Drzewiecki, Biblioteka we współczesnej szkole. Warsaw, 1991, pp. 17-18.

[10] Ibid., p. 22.

[11] M. Zając: Czytelnicy "oporni", "niechetni," "nieczytelnicy". [in:] Książka w działalności terapeutycznej. Ed.by E. B. Zybert, Warsaw, 1997, p. 89.

[12] Ibid. and cf.: J. Papuzinska: Książki, dzieci, biblioteka. Warsaw, 1992; Biblioteka w otoczeniu społecznym. Ed.by E. B. Zybert. Warsaw, 2000; M. Zając: Promocja książki dziecięcej. Warsaw, 2000.

[13] T. W. Nowacki, O metodzie projektów. Warsaw, 1999, issue 47.

[14] J. J. Bonstingl, Szkoły jakości ... op.cit p. 47.

[15] L. Derfert-Wolf, T. Skibicka, Praktyczne zastosowanie TQM w zarządzaniu biblioteką. [in:] Wdrażanie nowoczesnych technik zarządzania w instytucjach non-profit na przykładzie naukowej biblioteki akademickiej. Cracow, 1998, p. 39.

[16] B. Cronin, New technology and marketing - the challenge for librarians. "Aslib Proceedings" 1982 no. 24 (9) p. 377-393. Cited in: Zarządzanie biblioteka. Najnowsze kierunki w bibliotekarstwie brytyjskim. Wybór tekstów. Eds I. Kemp, T. Wildhardt. Cracow, 1998, p. 191.

[17] M. Taraszkiewicz, Jak uczyć lepiej, czyli refleksyjny praktyk w działaniu. Warsaw, 2000, pp. 14-15. This unique information given by M. Taraszkiewicz concerns also the way of presenting the material that draws on the experiences of pupils, measuring the learning progress of pupils and their growing skills, improving ones outgoingness in order to be understood better and better.

[18] E. B. Zybert, Problemy informacji edukacyjnej w Polsce na tle rozwiązań w świecie. [in:] Biblioteka i informacja w systemie edukacji. Materialy konferencji naukowej Kielce 3-4 grudnia 1998. Ed. H. Suchojad. Kielce, 1999 p. 21.

[19] M. Konieczniak, O zmianie, reformie i górze lodowej słów parę. "Biuletyn Informacyjny Vulcan" Wrocław, 1998. Cited in: W. Kołodziejczyk, Zarządzanie przez wartości w nowej szkole. [in:] Forum jakości w edukacji. Warsaw, 1999, p. 123.

[20] W. Kołodziejczyk, Zarządzanie przez... op.cit. pp.124-125. W. Kołodziejczyk defines the difference between vision and mission. The vision is the place we would like to reach, and the mission is a kind of a compass that prevents us from getting lost in the world of great changes. The mission determines the direction of our journey.

[21] L. Derfert-Wolf, T. Skibicka, Praktyczne zastosowanie... op.cit. p. 44.

[22] G. Rea, Promowanie usług bibliotecznych. [in:] Zarządzanie biblioteką... pp. 189-204

[23] K. Ennis, Wytyczne dla bibliotek akademickich. [in:] Zarządzanie biblioteką ... p. 76

[24] M. Melling, Określenie wymagań klientów w odniesieniu do jakości usług. [in:] Zarządzanie biblioteką... op.cit., p. 181.

[25] K. Ennis, Wytyczne dla bibliotek akademickich. [in:] Zarządzanie biblioteką... op.cit. p. 74

[26] Cf. E. B. Zybert, Społeczeństwo informacyjne i biblioteki szkolne w krajach Unii Europejskiej. Materiały z konferencji SBP Miedzeszyn 9-11 czerwca 2001. Warsaw, 2001.

[27] C. G. Johannsen, The use of quality control principles and methods in library and information science theory and practice. "Libri" vol.42, 1992, no.4 pp. 283-295.

Translated by Michalina Byra