The Barkestorp Project: Investigating School Library Use

Abstract

For many years a conscious effort has been made to integrate libraries (public as well as school libraries) into the teaching in elementary schools in the city of Kalmar, Sweden. The starting point was Lgr 80, the Swedish curriculum for elementary schools and what it had to say about libraries and the "investigative method of working." In what was called the Barkestorp project, the teaching and learning process for school children was under investigation for three years. Observations were made of the way school children worked after libraries had been introduced into the curriculum in a systematic and conscious way, of how they solved problems, and of the body of knowledge, specific to the school situation and more general in nature, that they acquired. In addition, the impact of the library on the cognitive process was observed, as was the role the school librarian played, or should play, in this. It was a process in which some interesting patterns gradually became discernible in the interaction between librarians and teachers.