School Library Journal Statistics

School Library Journal Research Series

The SLJ Spending Survey 2003

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. October 2003.
Media specialists are feeling the effects of the nation's economic downturn, but while funding takes a hit, school libraries expand their services.

Expenditures for Resources in School Library Media Centers FY 2001

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. October 2001.
After a few years of stagnation, spending on school library resources has risen for the last four years, and especially in the last two. But the increase seems to have done more to help libraries expand their electronic resources than to update book collections, according to our most recent biennial survey of school library expenditures and resources.

Location is Everything

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. November 2000.
When it comes to school libraries, geography is destiny. In part two of SLJ's biennial spending survey, we decided to examine school library programs, collections, and services through a regional lens.

How Do You Measure Up?

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. October 1999.
The data show that the average school library budget is up $1,000 from two years ago, and that media specialists are enjoying higher salaries than ever- increases of as much as $4,000 a year for those working at the junior high/middle school level.

The Wired School Library; Plug It In

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. October 1998.
If it's a technology that spins, beeps, whirls, flickers -- or crashes regularly -- a majority of library media centers nationwide are probably using it. While the mad rush toward creating high-tech library media centers has slowed somewhat since 1994, the trend still has definite momentum.

More Services, More Staff, More Money: A Portrait of a High-Service Library Media Center

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. May 1998.
If you're a school library media specialist who manages a large number of services for students and teachers, you probably also have more money for resources compared to your colleagues who manage fewer services. Regardless of your funding sources -- local, federal, gifts, or fundraising -- school library media programs in what we define as "high-service schools" have better materials budgets. How much better? Well, these high-service schools spend, on a national average, $8.80 more per student on resources than do non-high-service schools.

Small Change: Expenditures for Resources in School Library Media Centers, FY 1995-96

by Marilyn L. Miller and Marilyn L. Shontz. October 1997.
Say, can you spare a dime? Probably not. School librarians say their budgets are not keeping up