Secondary school librarians as heads of department in UK schools

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the attitudes of UK head teachers and of librarians to the view that secondary school librarians should have the status of a head of department (HOD).

Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires sent to 77 secondary schools in Cheshire, UK had response rates of 58 per cent from the librarians and of 49 per cent from the head teachers, with follow-up interviews being conducted with 15 of the librarians.

Findings – Most librarians were employed as support staff, although many of them were doing a HOD's job; even when a librarian had this title, they did not often receive the recognition appropriate to such a role. Librarians were more likely to have HOD status in the independent schools sector than in the state-maintained sector, and there was some evidence that head teachers and librarians have different views as to what a librarian's responsibilities should be.

Originality/value – There has been no previous study of this topic in the UK.