The Bookseller.com

20th July 2008

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Schools book spend revealed

02.10.07 Caroline Horn

Primary schools' library spend may not be as bad as many in the publishing industry believe, with research from Booktrust showing their average spend on library books is £8.04 per pupil per academic year—close to the recommended figure of £10 per pupil.

However, secondary school libraries fare much worse in the survey, where the average spend on books for the library is £2.67 per pupil, far below the £14 recommended by Booktrust.

The target figures of £10 for primary schools and £14 for secondary schools reflect library body CILIP's recommended stock level figure of 13 books per child up to the age of 16 and 17 books thereafter.

In primary schools, library stock levels per pupil was found to be 13 books—meeting CILIP's target —while in secondary schools that figure drops to eight books per pupil. This is reflected in the borrowing statistics which show that secondary pupils make, on average, just four loans over an entire academic year.

The survey commissioned by Booktrust involved 225 head teachers or literacy coordinators in state primary schools and 45 librarians in state secondary schools in England, 1% of the total. It was carried by the Institute of Public Finance Ltd (IPF) and the results were interpreted by LISU at Loughborough University.

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