Scottish School Libraries
and Citizenship
Lauren Smith
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
@walkyouhome

A report on the work of the Learning Lending Liberty
project, a CILIP ILG funded study into information
literacy provision in the run up to the Scottish
Independence Referendum and General Election.
The paper presents research findings and
recommendations for practice.

“The lesson I learned then was that if
citizens are to make informed decisions in a
democracy, and further, if they are to have
the accurate needed to influence the
decisions which affect their lives and those
of others—to take advantage of their right
to know—they need assistance through a
maze of resources.”
Durrance, J. (1984). Armed for Action. NY: Neal-Schuman, p. xi.

Values of Librarianship
“A fundamental aspect of libraries is strengthening democracy.”
(Gorman 2000)
“Library and information services contribute to the development and
maintenance of intellectual freedom and help safeguard basic
democratic values and universal civil rights.”
(IFLA FAIFE Statement on Libraries and Sustainable Development 2014)

Questions
•How did school libraries support the provision of
information and information literacy in the run up
to the Scottish Independence Referendum and
General Election?
•What barriers do school library services face when
providing information and information literacy
relating to political events?
•What are the information needs of young people in
relation to political participation?

Online Survey
•Produced in Qualtrics, an online survey tool
•Distributed online, via mailing lists, Twitter,
Facebook, emails direct to staff members and via
library service managers
•Scottish Government data indicates that there were
249 members of school library staff across Scotland
in 2015 (Scottish Government 2016)
•Received 174 responses in total, with 83 completed
surveys. The completed responses represent
approximately a third of Scottish school library staff

Respondent Locations
Edinburgh City (11.34%) Aberdeenshire (8.25%) North Ayrshire (6.19%)
Dundee City (6.19%) North Lanarkshire (6.19%) Glasgow (5.15%)
Perth & Kinross (5.15%) Aberdeen (5.15%) Highland (5.15%)
Angus (4.12%) Argyll & Bute (4.12%) Scottish Borders (3.09%)
Moray (3.09%) Falkirk (3.09%) East Renfrewshire (3.09%)
Stirling (3.09%) South Ayrshire (2.06%) Shetland Islands (2.06%)
Clackmannanshire (2.06%) East Dunbartonshire (2.06%) Inverclyde (2.06%)
East Ayrshire (1.03%) Fife (1.03%) Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) (1.03%)
West Lothian (1.03%) Orkney Islands (1.03%) South Lanarkshire (1.03%)
West Dunbartonshire (1.03%) Dumfries & Galloway (0%) East Lothian (0%)
Midlothian (0%) Renfrewshire (0%)

Follow-Up Interviews
•Conducted by telephone/Skype with six participants
•Lasted between half an hour and an hour
•Semi-structured, with all participants being asked
the following questions:
• Can you think of any examples of activities (of any size)
you were involved in at school in the run up to the
referendum and general election?
• What do you think might be some benefits of being
involved in activities around political participation?
• What do you think might be the reasons for schools and
libraries not getting more involved in work around
political participation?

Young People’s Information Needs
The topics young people wanted to know about
included:
•The main political parties;
•Who their constituency representatives were;
•History of the electoral process;
•Manifestos from the main parties;
•Political issues;
•What the outcomes and repercussions of the events
were likely to be.

Response %
Computers with internet access 93 97%
Books about social and political issues 91 95%
Books about the political system 85 89%
Newspapers and magazines 67 70%
Citizenship lessons 47 49%
Politics lessons 32 33%
Displays about politics 27 28%
Other (please specify) 16 17%
Which of the resources below are available
for students in your school?

Information Provision
• Displays (e.g. General Election)
• Setting up and running dedicated web space information,
including election apps and websites
• Ephemeral material and manifestos - collections of material
on both sides of the referendum debate
• 'Read Around...' lists
• Providing library resources to support lessons
• Materials for debates and research topics (e.g. PSE extension
work)
• "The Day" website and "Issues Online"

“We hold our authentic schools elections
mirroring exactly the process for the general
election, Scottish Independence referendum
etc. (poll cards, voting slips, same election
furniture used in adult elections, full signage,
training for pupil election officials) and all
taking place in the library (used as a polling
station for the day).”

Information Literacy Support
• Courses at all stages S1 - S6
• Including political topics in information literacy (e.g. apartheid,
political systems)
• Using political topics as the focus of research projects and
discursive essays to develop political and information literacy
• Sessions delivered in the library
• Embedded in S1&2 literacy classes delivered by class teachers
• RISK programme (Research and Information Skills) course
• Trip to Aberdeen University library for training
• Ad hoc workshops for Advanced Higher students
• Tutor time

“I provide information and resources
on social issues, racism, charities,
human rights, poverty, issues
surrounding illiteracy.”
School librarians do political work

Type of support provided Examples
Provision of resources Displays, books, lesson support
Information literacy instruction Research techniques
Provision of space Venue for events e.g. public speaking and
mock elections
ICT space for subjects/lessons relating to
citizenship
Presence as a knowledgeable individual Pupils ask for help and advice relating to
participation
Relationship with teaching staff Making new staff aware of library
resources
Supporting research for lessons
Presence as a ‘political’ individual Facilitators of discussion and debate
Political Information Provision

Barriers to information and
information literacy provision

Barriers: Personal
• Not feeling confident or knowledgeable
enough
• Personal discomfort with engaging in
political discussion
• Not feeling it is relevant to library work
• Not feeling it is a priority

Barriers: Practice
•Lack of culture of library engagement in school
•Lack of time and resources
•Not feeling it is appropriate
•Risk aversion of schools
•Complexity of the issues
•Lack of age-appropriate resources about democracy
and political issues and participation

“We do not have up to date resources in our library
for modern studies but are trying to build this up.”
“Although we don't stock newspapers (due to
budget restrictions) students are instructed in
accessing good quality news online. We have a
small range of magazines that have been donated
but students are instructed how to access
magazines online.”

Some respondents indicated that
political education is seen as the
responsibility of specific departments
within schools:
“Citizenship and politics lessons are
provided by the Humanities and
Citizenship Faculty, not by the
library.”
“Modern Studies cover many
aspects of the political systems both
in Scotland and in the wider world.”

Barriers: Policy
•Perceived policy of neutrality of the library
•Council policies around politics
•Lack of clear guidance about what information
provision and support is appropriate

“They will be taught about politics and about voting
etc. but we are not allowed to promote any political
parties.”
“Any kind of political campaigning is not allowed in
[redacted] schools at all.”
“As an employee of [local authority redacted] I am not
permitted to discuss, debate or indicate my political
preference within the school.”
“We need to be very careful not to influence pupils in
terms of party politics. Staff are not allowed to express
political bias in any way.”

“I wish I knew how to engage them more on these
topics. I feel that the school is concerned with
keeping the tone so neutral that they are frightened
to engage at all - we are regularly sent Scottish
Independent newspapers but I am not supposed to
put them out for pupils to view as we do not have
the opposing viewpoint also available. It is political
correctness to the point of censorship.”

Key Points
• Different levels of political information and information
literacy provision across schools
• Lack of clarity about what they can and cannot do in terms
of information provision and involvement in discussion
about political issues
• Variation in the degree to which information literacy is
embedded in the curriculum
• Variation in the role that libraries and library staff play in the
education of pupils
• Library staff are keen to support pupils’ educational and
social development, including their political and information
literacy
• Pockets of good practice

Recommendations
•Explore where the boundaries are with reference to
how ‘political’ it is possible to get in school context
•Identify activities taking place in school that library
staff can support
•Share best practice for examples of information
literacy activities that may be replicated
•Record impact where possible as evidence of library
value

Potential to support
Curriculum for Excellence
“The librarian is ideally placed to see
commonalities between sometimes
disparate subjects in order to suggest
interdisciplinary projects”

The Four Capacities

“In some aspects the work I do in the
LRC is representative of the Global
Citizenship ethos but it is not a
formalized part of the lesson or support
planning process.”

Responsible Citizens
Attributes:
• Respect for others
• Commitment to participate responsibly in political, economic
and cultural life
Capabilities:
• Develop knowledge and understanding of the world and
Scotland’s place in it
• Understand different beliefs and cultures
• Make informed choices and decisions
• Evaluate environmental, scientific and technological issues
• Develop informed, ethical views of complex issues

Contribution of School Librarians
Librarians can help students understand:
• Why they are seeing certain information in a personalized
news feed;
• The agendas and political leanings of the companies that
provide news feeds;
• The lack of regulation around and transparency among
popular profit-driven news platforms;
• Profit-systems behind information e.g. platforms allowing
push notifications for profit, not public service.

“By shutting those doors you’re saying
‘we’re not doing this, we’re not having
these discussions’ and that leaves young
people without any guidance towards
good places to find information or
places to get ideas or even to start the
discussion. Because if you get kids going
they will come up with amazing ideas.”

“It’s like with the internet. We don’t
teach kids how to use it different
ways, we just block it, and if you
block it, it just goes underground and
they’ll do it on their phones or they’ll
be doing it secretly. It’s not that
they’re not doing it – but we just have
no way of helping them.”

Librarians can help students understand:
•Why they are seeing certain information in a
personalized news feed;
•The agendas and political leanings of the companies
that provide news feeds;
•The lack of regulation around and transparency
among popular profit-driven news platforms;
•Profit-systems behind information e.g. platforms
allowing push notifications for profit, not public
service.

Strategy for School Libraries
School Library Advocacy Project working on including
school libraries in How Good Is Our School document
School libraries need to be statutory
School libraries need to be properly staffed with qualified
and trained library workers and clear mission statements
Robust quantitative and qualitative data is needed
around the impact of libraries on attainment and other
outcomes as evidence for claims

Thank You
lauren.n.smith@strath.ac.uk
@walkyouhome