The study aims to analyze the current state on library operations with kindergartens located in Seoul city, and its perception and need on library operations by educational institutions and teachers. The research questions are summarized as follows.
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The study aims to analyze the current state on library operations with kindergartens located in Seoul city, and its perception and need on library operations by educational institutions and teachers. The research questions are summarized as follows.
1. How is the current state of library operation within kindergarten?
2. How are teachers' perception and need on library operation within
kindergarten differed depending upon background variables
(support from office of education and size of class)?
3. How are teachers' perception and need on library operation within
kindergarten differed depending upon background variable
(educational experience on library operation)?
The subjects in this study are 203 teachers in total working in 38 public or private kindergartens located in Seoul city. 152 responses that are appropriately answered in a questionnaire survey were analyzed by using frequency analysis, cross-tabulation analysis, and one-way ANOVA in order to examine the current state on library operation in each kindergarten and compared teacher's perception and need.
The date on current state of library operation within each kindergarten was collected from each institution and processed by frequency analysis. The author investigated how institutional perception and need on library operation within kindergarten were differed depending upon institutional background variables such as support from educational office and class size in case where the library was newly established.
The data was processed by cross-tabulation analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and frequency analysis. In addition, the author explored how teachers' perception and need on library operation within kindergarten were differed depending upon whether they had educational experience on library operation by using cross-tabulation analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and frequency analysis. The results are summarized as below.
First, the results on current state of library operation within kindergarten by frequency analysis showed that more than half of respondent institutions had their own libraries that were greater than 26.4m² in size, but more than half of such institutions answered 'average' when asked whether the space was sufficient for young children to do reading activities, which meant that they wanted a larger space for library.
Second, institutional perception and need on library operation within kindergarten showed a significant difference depending upon the support from educational office, especially in terms of budget relevance for collection of various books. The perception and need on library operation within kindergarten showed a significant difference in terms of the number of books in collection and the period of purchasing books according to class size.
Third, teachers' perception and need on library operation within kindergarten showed a significant difference in terms of budget relevance for purchasing books and non-book media utilization space depending upon educational experience on library operation. Regarding professional staffs in library facility within kindergarten, there was found to be a significant difference in the necessity of librarian and the major roles of librarian. And regarding the programs in library facility within kindergarten, the satisfaction on library program was shown to be significantly different. Upon the needs of library programs within kindergarten, the respondents mentioned about the reasons and difficulties for being unable to promote a follow-up program in library in overall. In particular, they answered that teacher's work burden, human resource shortage, lack of time, limited space in library room, insufficient budget for book purchasing, and lack of interest were causes that led to the difficulties in order of weightiness. Teachers' perception and need on library operation within kindergarten showed a significant difference in terms of the need for government support depending upon their educational experience on library operation.
In this study, the author surveyed the current state on library operations with kindergartens by frequency analysis method and compared the perceptions and needs of both institutions and teachers on library operations by adopting such variables as support from educational office, class size, and educational experience on library operation that were likely to have a significant impact therein. Among the three critical variables mentioned above, the support from educational office was found to be the greatest impact on library operations, whereas the educational experience on library operation had the greatest impact on teacher's perception and need.
The study has an implication that the support from educational office is needed for a number of kindergartens to create a more outstanding library environment, which contributes for preschoolers to cultivate a good habit for book reading in a stable and comfortable environment. Besides the support for library facilities, the efforts for developing and distributing a high quality of library program are needed to operate the libraries more effectively, and the training opportunities for librarian teachers and kindergarten teachers ought to be expanded.