The School Library Helps Leadership for an Efficient School: The Greek Reality

Aikaterini E. Chatzianastasiou

(Ministry of Education, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract: The goals of the modern school library are directly linked to the goals of educational leadership. The  latter one requires an open to society school, innovatory; a school that transforms the educational process in order to foment the quality of learning. The biggest challenge for leadership is that of equal opportunities for all students in a world where information is widespread. The discovery of knowledge, the development of critical thinking, the acquisition of research skills and the improvement of performance are some of the basic goals of leadership for an efficient school. However, this cannot be achieved with the use of one and only textbook, neither face-to-face teaching is sufficient. The school library, as part of the educational process, contributes to the achievement of these leadership goals (Ntelopoulos, 2005). In many countries the school library is an indispensable part of the educational process.
The purpose of this research is to show the role of the school library in the management of school units in Greece aiming at a more efficient school. Analyzing the results of this research, the school libraries, whose infrastructure is far from that of a modern school library, malfunction and play a minor role in the educational process. Meanwhile, the role a properly organized school library can actually play to achieve goals in the management of school units, and the need to create school libraries in every educational institute is well understood.

Key words: school library, educational leadership, efficient school