District media personnel serve as advocates for the appropriate role of school library media in the learning process. Research has provided the link between school library media personnel and programs and a high quality education. School library media program areas included in this study were staffing, expenditures, size and age of the collection, and instructional resources and technology. District as well as building-level media personnel are positioned to assist students in developing the information literacy skills to meet the demands of the twenty-first century.
This dissertation investigated the relationship between school library media program areas and academic achievement on the End of Grade Reading Test and the Computer Skills Test, compared the school library media program areas in middle schools with district media personnel and middle school without such a position and examined the leadership and support provided by district media personnel on school library media program areas as perceived by principals, building-level media coordinators and district media personnel.
Data was obtained from a research sample of 97 principals, building-level media coordinators and district media personnel in 121 middle schools. An assessment document called the System-level Leadership and Support Rubrics (2000) was used to collect data. Additional data collected by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction were used to examine and compare the school library media program areas.
The findings indicated a significant relationship between the End of Grade Reading Test scores, the Computer Skills Test scores, and the school library media program area of staffing. There were significant differences in school library media program areas of expenditures, collection size, software, computers and resources between middle schools with district media personnel and middle schools without such a position. The perceptions of leadership and support provided by district media personnel was rated as outstanding in three of the four school library media program areas.
