The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Schools Australia 2012 report stated the number of Australian government schools (6,697), Catholic schools (1,713) and independent schools (1,017), giving a total of 9,427 primary and secondary schools.
Almost all schools have a library of some description, but they vary enormously in terms of staffing, facilities and resources. At the lower end, there are schools with a few shelves of books and a member of staff whose responsibility it is to look after them, as part of a much wider teaching or administration role. At the high end, there are flagship library and IT hubs, with more than a dozen members of staff. Several of the team will be qualified teacher librarians. They will have a growing collection of print and ebooks and provide a range of services to students, including safer online experiences, group learning and study spaces, and more electronic resources.
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