Weaam Almuzain

JEDDAH/DENV COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN SCHOOL

ER LIBRARIES IN U.S.A AND K.S.A.

Dr. Laura L. Summers

University of Colorado at Denver

2010
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Abstract

This action research focuses on the main differences between school libraries in both the
United States in the city of Denver, and Saudi Arabia in the city of Jeddah. The paper describes
what the school libraries contain from books, references, to materials and equipments. It also
describes the student’s activities in the library. The purpose of my paper is to find out if there
are huge differences between the two countries or they are almost same. Eagleton elementary
school library is the one school involved in this project. The librarian was very helpful and
understandable. The whole research will involve also some Saudi’s librarian points and reactions
about school libraries in Saudi Arabia. The goal is to develop the school libraries in Saudi Arabia,
which are appropriate for students and their grade level.
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Introduction:

Because Saudi Arabia’s school libraries do not attract students to come through or
encourage them to read, as a librarian, I would like to change this situation to enhance the
student’s education. The school libraries in the United States, as I see, try to develop student’s
information from the beginning of their lives until they finish their study. Most school libraries in
the United States assist students by not letting them throw their educational lives by convincing
them – in collaboration with teachers- to read in any free time they have. In contrast, in Saudi
Arabia, school libraries – until the last 5 years- were additional classes for students when the
teacher is absent. It never attracts students or even makes anything interesting for them. The
problem is that schools do not draw a lot of attention to libraries. Some times the books at the
libraries have the same contents for more than 2-3 years. Most of school libraries lack the
resources. I remember when I was in primary and middle school; I went to libraries just to see
what was new in the Novels section. I love reading but because the libraries never gave me
what I needed, I thought it would never change. Of course most of school libraries also lacked
modern tools such as; computers, projectors, faxes, scanners, and white boards. These tools
sometimes attract student to come to libraries for many reasons like researching. Computers
are important in the libraries, but since most teachers do not advise their students to search in
something interesting for class. Librarians see there are no needs of computers for students. If
there were a computer in the library, it would be used by the librarian only and not allowed for
students to use!

On the other hand, school libraries in Denver are really out of comparative. They are gathering
all what students need from books to new tools such as computers. The librarians are aware of
the big roles they play to develop the reading and information in students. They can see the
student’s ability in how he uses the library in the right way. Librarians know how to attract
students to come to the library by playing some activities that enhance their thinking. Unlike
Saudi’s librarians, they never do any activities that catch the attention of students.
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Research Statement:

In this case, I would identify this problem and know what schools’ libraries’ in Saudi
Arabia need to improve, whether it is the quality of libraries, or to attract students to be using
the library in their research. The school library in my country is just a complementary to some of
the classrooms, and sometimes we use it when we don’t have a class at that time. As a
librarian, I would like to improve our school libraries. I saw in some TV programs how students
in the United States are enjoying being in the library to learn new things. That never happens in
my country. I want to improve the way of using the school library by teachers and students with
the librarians together. I want them- teachers and students- to know that the library has more
sources than they can imagine. We have a class in high school called (the library); at first, we
thought it is about how to use the library, unfortunately, it became about the history of libraries
and books. So, many students don’t know how to use the library in the right way. In the United
States, librarians teach students from kindergarten how important the library is. Librarians read
stories to kids and ask them questions about the stories. In addition, the kids enjoy playing
games everyday; that teaches them new things they do not know. Besides that, they have the
right to choose what ever books or stories they want to read and take it home then return it in
the next day. This is a flexible way to encourage kids to read. The students follow this process in
all grade levels. Following this further, the kids will be more mature, their reading level will be
higher, so, most of them keep reading to know more than they study in the classroom. The kids
in primary and middle schools are enjoying being in the library class because the library has
computers for students. Some teachers let students use computers to search in particular
subjects related to class. That allows the students to be enlightened and more intellectual about
the subjects they study.
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In Saudi Arabia right now, there are processes that will change the way of old school
libraries method. Five years ago, the ministry of education developed a new style of school
library and called it (Learning Resource Center -LRC). This new center is developed to change
the student’s thinking about school libraries. It is more active and involved with the students’
education needs. It facilitates the organization of individuals and collective learning and
encourages the librarians well and includes the Centre's sources of human organs and its
operations in which they are implemented and evaluated in light of the objectives of education
and human resources and material available. LRC became the place to study the activity and
enhance the teaching and learning processes and provides the ability to study individual and
collective, including the opportunities provided for individuals for listeners or watchers the
individual learner and opportunities for learner’s guidance and leadership of teaching and
learning processes. The developers of LRC believe that LRC is found only to be used, not to close
the books and become a warehouse, because the students do not learn from education that will
benefit them in their life and future of this approach is only by transforming the abstract to the
practical curriculum, and this is only possible in the center.

Brainstorming Questions

In order to organize this action research, I began reflecting by brainstorming with the
questions that I had surrounding the comparison of the school libraries in Saudi Arabia and the
United States:
1- What is the importance of the school libraries?
2- What benefits the students will receive from the library?
3- What kind of resources the library has to improve for student’s education?
4- What kind of materials that library has to provide for student’s education?
5- Does the library have computers? Do students use them?
6- How librarian can attract students to use the library?
7- Are there plans to improve the school library – especially in Saudi Arabia?
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8- What are the librarian’s roles in improving the school library?

9- What are the activities that can be played in the library? And are they useful?
10- Can students participate in the activities of the library?

Research Question:

Will equipped school libraries, with new and modern materials, be able to enhance the
way of teaching students how important the library is?

 Are the teachers involved in these changes?

 Will students realize the importance of the library?
 Do teachers and students contribute to develop the school library in the way they
can benefit more from it?

Literature Review:

Analyze the source:

In order to complete this action research, it is necessary to know what studies had been
found on the subject of compression. I started my research in the Internet by using words like
school library, library development, libraries activities, librarian’s roles, library equipments,
using library as a resource and learning resource center. I began this search by exploring
various online educational databases for journal articles. I was able to locate many articles
related to my research using various combinations of these keywords. I searched Wilson Web
through the CU-Denver online library, but couldn’t find the exact articles I needed. I also
searched in Google Scholar and I found some articles related to my subject. I tried Bing and it
was very helpful because it gave the main keyword that I typed and also related articles to my
keywords to look at. The materials that I found gave me a great foundation in which to
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continue with my action research. I have also listed these materials in an annotated
bibliography at the end of literature review paper.

Summary of Literature
There are lots of articles I found related to the subject of school library. The sources in
English focused on how the school library is important for students and teachers. Also, some
articles indicated how librarians are doing a great job to develop the library to be completely
perfect. It also drew attention on the roles that librarians play to enhance a student’s ability.
The Arabic resources focused on how to develop the school libraries to be more affective for
both students and teachers. Some articles were implicating new changes to attract students and
teach them the importance of the school library. With these and many more studies I
examined, I concluded that investigating the differences between the two countries’ school
libraries.

Methods and Activities

The Participants

The school librarian in Eagleton Middle School; Sally A’ dragon

The person responsible of LRC in Saudi Arabia; Dr. Abdullah Alshehri

Kindergarten grade students

1st grade students

2nd grade students

Design of Study:

 What was your methodology and research design?

 What procedures did you use to answer your question?
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The method I followed is to collect data that helps me to organize my action research. I started
by interviewing the specialist in the Eagleton school library in Denver about the important roles
they are playing in the school libraries and how important school libraries are for teachers,
students and parents. I created interview questions that really helped me in order to complete
the action research. I also observed students during their normal class in the library;
Kindergarten grade, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. I was writing down every thing I observed to what
are the differences that I can figure out between these students and the students in Saudi
Arabia’s schools. During the data collection, I tried to find out whether that will answer my
questions or not. In some cases it did, the interview helped me find lots of answers regarding my
questions.

In order to answer my questions I listed before, I tried to contact a specialist in this field. I
first visited the Eagleton school library to see what type of library is it. The librarian answers
most of my questions in the interview I did with her (Appendix A). At the same time I sent my
research questions to the person responsible of LRC (learning resource center) via e-mail and he
did respond for the following questions:

Research Questions: Eagleton school librarian LRC responsible

Do equipped school libraries of Yes, It does help very much. Well, of course yes, but it
new and modern materials depends on kind of equipments
have the ability to enhance the and students level.
way of teaching students how
important the library is?
Are teachers well involved in They are already involved by The teacher must be involved
these changes? scheduling time for their with a specialist Learning
students to take tests on Resource Center in the
computers related to what they development of a regular share
read. of the library which encourages
students to embark upon the
Centre on a regular basis and
share these within the
curriculum.
Do students realize the They know how the library is If the library and the librarian
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importance of the library? assisting them if they want to have a high quality
find anything they want. performance, I believe students
then will know the importance
of the library.
Do teachers and students Yes, they do. I believe yes, and hope that will
contribute to develop the start soon in LRC.
school library in the way they
can benefit more from it?

Data Analyzes:

Analyzing the Interview:

In this interview, we were focusing –The librarian and me- on her experience first. Then we
began the interview by talking about the library and what is the importance of library in the
school.

She notices that the importance in this job is developing a love for reading in their students.
Creating a library that is welcoming and friendly along with developing a library that fits the
needs of the school community. She had a great connection with kids. She indicates that the
comfortable library with a good selection of books will attract the students to become more
readers.

The librarian was glad to be a librarian and to be able to work with kids. She said the happiest
moment is when kids learn something tough, and they often make her smile. The student and
librarian relationship looks very positive and they enjoy interacting with each other.

On other hand, the responsible in S.A, said there is a developing of school libraries, which will be
called Learning Resources Center (LRC). And some schools started to change their libraries to
(LRC) from 5 years and some more. He also indicated that some LRC have computers to use on
it, but it is not for students use, just for administrators. They use it with students in one case,
which is training them how to use it only.
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During the interview, I was thinking that this work is not as easy as it seemed to me. Both
interviewers were talking about it as it is enjoyable work but with some troubling kids. The
librarian in Eagleton School was very patient with kids. She was given the opportunity at
Eagleton Elementary to transfer from teaching computer literacy to the library and felt ready
for a change. I learned from the interview that the library is not just for reading, but much
more. She was working there for 14 years and still enjoys the job. She was working and studying
at the same time to get her degree in school library. She could control the library and students
at the same time professionally.

Analyzing the Observation:

I did observe the Eagleton elementary school; grade 1, grade 2, and kindergarten.

In the observation, I focused on two main things: the library and the students.

The Library: The Students:

 It is well organized.  Students heading to the reading
 It has many sections and specialists. section.
 It has great collections of references.  They were good listeners.
 It has computers for students and stuff  Asking and answering questions.
use.  Did teacher orders.
 It has kid’s story section.  Making some noises.
 Internet access.  Playing games, 1st and 2nd grade same
 Media. game and kindergarten was different.
 Choosing books and stories to read.
Some students from 3rd and 5th grade were
taking an exam on the computers.

During the observation, I was happy to see how well organized the library was. The
library contains many resources that I have never seen in any school library in my country. I
learned that kids must learn reading even the most complicated books when they grow up to
have as much information as they need, so, they will know a lot when they become adults. The
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activities in the library develop thinking skills and literacy knowledge. Unlike the school library in
my country, it just had stories and book related to what we are studying. But that was 10 years
ago. The Minister in the Educational Ministry indicated that there is the development of the
school library to the so-called learning resources center and this project started more than 11 in
this development and winning comprehensive developmental and subject to the standards in
terms of space and manpower in these centers and other agencies. And also he said that
libraries have TVs and VCR.

Timeline:

January Design the study; plan data collection.

Face-to-Face: Absent.
Feb 20 AM
Feb 21 - Feb 27 Collecting Data Found some articles in Arabic
Feb 28 - Mar 6 Collecting Data Browsing in internet about
schools libraries in USA
March 7-13 Working for Observation/ Interview Waiting for Dave to find school
questions library.
Face-to-Face: Data collection due Organizing my data.
March 13 AM
March 14-20 Collect data/analyze (Analysis activity) March 17, Doing the Interview
and Observation
By March 21: Data Analysis Activity due by 11:59 PM. Finishing my data analyze and
posted in ecollage, March 22
Spring Break:
March 22-28
Mar 29 - April 4 Searching for article to Literature Review
April 5-10 Finalize literature review.
Face-to-Face: Literature Review Activity due in class on Done
April 10 AM Saturday, April 10th.
April 11-17 Prepare presentation.
Face-to-Face: Class presentations about final projects will
April 17 AM occur on Saturday, April 17th.
April 18 - 25 Work on paper draft.
By April 25: Turn draft in to peer for review.
April 23-25 Conduct peer review and return to peer.
By April 25, 2010: Self- Evaluation due.
April 26 - May 2 Work on final draft.
By May 2, 2010: Submit Final Project online.
May 3-6 Working for presentation
By May 7, 2010: Presentation Summary form
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Environmental Impact Statement:

In the end of the action research, I feel that I learned a lot by working on it. The focus on
action taken in this paper has constituted an interrogation of the impact of the differences
between libraries in schools, and led to greater understanding of the interactions between
developing values, students- teacher’s relationships and activities in different contexts. More
convincing evidence of impact is needed, which describes and evaluates changes made at
different levels, from the changing values of an individual teacher, changes in library practice, to
the way the school approaches change.

I knew that Saudi Arabia’s school libraries in its way to change the concept of old style of
school library. But this change will take a while to students to realize the important of school
library. The positive matter here is that the LRC is working hard to lead the students into reading
environment from kids to become adults. I feel that when the leaders of the school libraries will
know the differences if they open their mind and eyes to what are going on around the world.
Countries are working hard to establishing methods to teach kids the important of book and
reading. It happens in Saudi Arabia but not always.

The development of the library in the light of traditional concepts of education has limited
effectiveness, and effective use of modern means of communication as sources of information
and tools that integrate with collections of books and other printed materials. In line with
modern educational concepts have emerged formula Learning Resource Center which integrates
together educational resources in all forms of print and audio-visual center includes such
materials in ways that help take advantage of them and make them available to students and
teachers alike. Does not stop turning the library into a center for traditional sources of
education at the mere collection of various forms of educational materials in one place, but also
includes works by many of them. Restructuring of the space available to perform the functions
of multi-center, is not enough that there will be a base for reading, but there must be a space
for listening and viewing and discussion, and places for singles, and places to work in groups.
Make way for wider participation by the teaching staff and guide students to build skills and
develop their self-learning through projects carried out by working groups or through individual
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work assignments within the activities to continue learning by using the sources of the center.
Strengthen the idea of use in return for conservation because it allows the Learning Resources
Centre the opportunity for the intensive use of books, other materials, stimulates utilization and
circulation in accordance with the principle that the best books and educational materials to
wear from heavy use of the aging and worn They are stored or kept out of the reach of the
targeted tenants.

Future Action:

No longer a school library for the time being just an activity outside the subjects
assessed, but has become a center of learning students can benefit from the use various sources
to obtain information in order to research and consultancy or reading recreation also became
the objective to strengthen and enrich the curriculum and keep abreast of educational thought
talk which stresses the necessity provide adequate opportunities for students to achieve
integrated development on an individual basis according to their abilities and inclinations and
aptitudes has led to the need to provide all forms of educational materials and apparatus of the
vessels in the external memory and machinery operation and planning expanded programs and
comprehensive services the school library as the hub of the educational process, educational
and cultural related.

So, the future I believe is to integrate new technology like computers and Internet in the
school libraries. Modern information technologies such as; computers, document cameras,
projectors, videos, TV’s, and audio medias play a major role in both teaching and learning, and
these are reflected the great importance in raising the level of teaching and learning and
increase educational experience, which is kept a memento, and less likely to forget. And the
computer is located on the scale of the pyramid in modern information technology for the high
ability to store and retrieve information according to the wishes of the beneficiaries. The
emergence of international online data network (Internet) that where the knowledge from
anywhere to anywhere she distinguished the computer in the service of libraries and users of
technologies.

Appendix (A):
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Interview Questions

1- Tell me about yourself.

2- Why did you decide to become a librarian?

3- What is important to you in this job?

4- What part of your work has given you the greatest feelings of achievement and

satisfaction?

5- What motivated you to seek a library degree?

6- What qualifications do you have that make you think you will be a success at this job?

7- How would you rate your communication skills and what have you done to improve

them?

8- Tell us about your experience with working in school library?

9- How do you connect what you do in the library with the classroom curriculum?

10- What do you see as the role of the librarian in the school setting and what do you hope to

bring to the library?

1- What kind of library attracts students, staff and parents?

2- How would you promote reading in students?

3- How do you develop and maintain a library collection that will meet the needs of our

students, parents, and staff?

4- What type of schedule would you set up for library classes?

5- What do you feel are the most important things students learn in the library?

6- What kind of activities being carried out with the students?

7- How do students benefit from these activities?

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8- What methods have you used or would you use to assess student learning?

9- How would you evaluate you students in doing (activity/ reading)

10- What do you enjoy most about working with children?

11- What kind of relationship do you have with your students?

12- What kind of materials do you have in the library? In what case do you use it?

13- What materials do you use most/ least?

14- Do you think some materials are not necessary in the library, why?

15- Are students allowed to use computers in the library?

16- What experience have you had incorporating computers in a library?

11- What questions do you have that I may be able to answer?

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Appendix (B):

My Observation:

Kindergarten
3
1st Grade
2nd Grade

0
Noise finding books asking quistions command obeys

Peer Evaluation
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Weaam,

I remember how much you spoke to me about this project and made me curious to find
out how it will turn out to be. I found your research to be very rich and informative. I appreciate
the number of resources you have used to support this research. Also, the choice of topic is a
very successful one. Libraries, I believe, are very essential in learning and teaching. They lower
inhibitions and enable students to WANT to learn more.

It was interesting that you chose to compare the libraries of two different countries. It
makes me appreciate what we have here and hope for the best for other countries. I am
especially fond of how you took the time to contact people from Saudi to see how their progress
was. However, I would have liked more answers from the Eagleton school librarian. I am
interested in what she dislikes about her school library. There are many librarians I have met
who wished for a bigger library for example, or even more classes.

Overall, your project was fruitful, well - organized, and enjoyable to read. It is hard to
find a person who values students and cares for their needs. I wish you the best of luck with a
future full of libraries.

Aseel Almubadal

04/22/2010