Academic or formal research relating to Qatari school libraries

The search identified four academic studies directly concerned with Qatari school libraries. Two, by Khalifa(1992) and by Al-Swedan (1996) were published and two, by Aboud (1994) and by Al-Emadi (1998) were unpublished. It is interesting to note that the studies by Aboud and Al-Emadi were student-led initiatives as part of degree studies undertaken outside of Qatar and that the author was unable to trace any research pro-

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actively commissioned into Qatari school libraries after the enactment of the School Libraries Act in 1992 or in the 21st century by either the Ministry of Education or the Supreme Education Council, despite this being a key period of education transition.

Shaban Khalifa, Professor of Library and Information Studies at the University of Qatar, conducted an evaluation of all types of library and information centre in Qatar in 1992. Within this report he included research carried out in collaboration with Fozir Osman on school libraries. Shaban’s and Osman’s key findings were that school libraries were both under-resourced and under-used, and specifically they identified that 47.3% of school libraries were in need of new buildings and dedicated library space; 50% were in need of new furniture; school librarians were not involved in the selection of the school library collection; staffing was an issue, with a quarter of school librarians in Qatar being part time and the majority not holding any professional library science qualification. Shaban and Osman also found that school libraries were not promoted as a resource for learning and that the general view amongst students was that text-books were the principal aid to their study.

They noted that students had poor reading skills but that they were neither encouraged nor self-motivated to use the library to develop these skills, claiming that they lacked time to do this. Shaban recommended that there should be a compulsory library lesson each week, organized by the school librarian and individual teachers. The aim of this lesson should be to enable students to develop information literacy and research skills. He also proposed that information literacy skills should, as a subject within the school curriculum, be assessed; his findings showed that 90% of librarians who responded to the survey agreed that this was an important strategy for raising the profile of the role of school libraries and their contribution to the curriculum.

Two of the academic studies identified were at Masters' level: by Aboud (1994), carried out at the University of Cairo, and by Al-Emadi (1998), carried out at the University of Wisconsin-La Cross, both examining the use of public school libraries in Qatar. Both were already known to the author from his experience as Head of the School Libraries Department within the Ministry of Education and from the preliminary scanning for this research. These studies, from the decade immediately preceding the focus of this research, each sought to obtain a ‘state of the nation’ picture of the situation of Qatari

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school libraries within the public school system, by capturing a snapshot of a sample of school libraries through consultation with librarians. What is significant here is that despite these studies post-dating formal legislation by the State of Qatar for the provision of libraries and librarians in all schools, both identified very similar issues.

Both raised concerns about the poor physical space provided within school premises, limitations in access to this space (Al-Emadi 1998) and in how the collections offered were managed and developed. Both studies also flagged up a range of challenges for effective school librarians, in particular difficulties around qualifications, training, and status of librarians within the school community and around the cooperation between librarians and their teaching colleagues towards student learning development. Aboud (1994) also found a practical difficulty for school librarians, noting that the majority (over 79%) were part time rather than full-time, which would be likely to have an effect on the time they could plan and collaborate with teachers or make library services available to students.

The fourth study, by Nasser Al-Swedan (1996), was research funded by the Gulf Cooperation Council and provides an important comparative overview of school libraries across the Gulf States, amongst which is Qatar. The aim of this survey-based study was to explore school library provision in the Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. It was based on a sample of public and private elementary, intermediate and secondary schools. The study found that the basic structure of school libraries was poor and that school libraries, where existent, were generally traditional libraries with poor funding, a lack of qualified school librarians and bad services and collections. Al-Swedan recorded that previous studies on the condition of school libraries across the Gulf States showed common issues. These include that school libraries tended to be managed, funded, supervised and controlled by governments with no partnerships to promote school libraries in the region.

Although school libraries in principle were recognized as an important tool of education, library services were found to be inadequate at different educational stages and often school libraries were not considered to be central to the educational and learning process. Further, school librarians were neither qualified nor specialized; budgets of school libraries were small and there was poor collaboration between school

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librarians and teachers within the schools themselves. Al-Swedan further commented that the absence of professional organizations that represent librarians and their interests and the general experience of librarians created an uncertainty of the role of the school librarian.