ATTITUDES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS TOWARD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS AND SCHOOL LIBRARY SERVICE

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes of secondary school administrators toward librarians' personal attributes, the capability or aptitude of the librarian for fulfilling the role, and the effectiveness of library service. A second purpose was to determine the librarians' perceptions of their administrators' attitudes, as well as to garner suggestions for change to improve library service and to make librarian more effective.;The Administrator's Attitudes Toward Librarians Instrument (AATL) contained items placed in three categories: personal attributes of the librarians, capability for fulfilling the role of librarian, and effectiveness of library service. Mean scores were computed for the data. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was the computer program employed to obtain t-tests, and also, Pearson Product-Moment Correlations; these were used to test the hypotheses of the study. The probability for all tests of significance was set at .05.;The major conclusions of the study were as follows: (1) There were no significant differences between secondary school administrators and their librarians' perceptions of their attitudes as regards the personal attributes and the effectiveness of library service. (2) There were significant differences between secondary school administrators and their librarians' perceptions of their attitudes as regards the aptitude or capability of their librarians for fulfilling the role of librarian. (3) There were no significant relationships between the professed attitudes of the administrators and such variables as sex, age, education level, undergraduate and graduate majors, and size of school. Neither was there a significant relationship as regards the level of education of the librarian. (4) There was a statistically significant relationship between the number of years the administrators had served in the principalship and their attitudes. (5) The attitudes of secondary school administrators towards school librarians and toward school library service were positive in every category. (6) The librarians' perceptions of their administrators' attitudes were more positive in every category than the administrators professed. (7) Few suggestions could be given for improvement of library service or making the librarian more effective. Most suggestions were for larger facilities, larger budgets, and additional staff. (8) The majority of the libraries surveyed did not meet the lowest standards of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.;The findings of the study suggest that the attitudes of secondary school administrators toward school librarians and toward school library service are highly positive. On the other hand, the librarians perceived that the administrators would have a better attitude than the administrators professed. Based on these findings, several implications for improving practice and for future research were delineated.;Data were collected from fifty-three secondary school administrartors in the State of Wisconsin public secondary schools and forty-nine librarians in the same schools. Forty-two respondents were paired.