Are you doing your homework ... on homework clubs?

Not many Australian and, I suspect, New Zealand public libraries yet provide homework clubs. It is certainly not an aspect of public library provision which has been researched and quantified in either country. From the Centre for Information Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham has come a thought provoking report The value and impact of homework clubs in public libraries which in its introduction makes the point that in the UK also, `no information had been available concerning the impact of homework clubs on children's and young people's achievement, either in terms of educational attainment, or of wider social good, such as `improving communication skills and encouraging teamwork'.

The project team responsible for the report used a methodology involving

* a survey of homework clubs in the UK

* analysis of library held data on homework clubs

* selection of case study library authorities

* evaluation of the volume and impact of homework clubs in eight case study authorities

In the report the team notes that a Department of National Heritage report Investing in children: the future of library services for children and young people (London HMSO 1996) stated that

   ... the potential of the public as a force in support of reading and
   information literacy cannot be too strongly emphasised...

and that

   Some schools are opening them [homework clubs] but libraries can often
   offer more access opportunities, being open longer hours (Blenshort, C
   Managing library services for children and young people: a practical
   handbook London, Library Association 1998)

So what did the project uncover? First, that 42 per cent of the local authorities responding to the survey questionnaire provided homework clubs, and that most had established their clubs in 1997 and 1998. As the report states

   If all the authorities which planned to provide homework clubs went on to
   do so, the total proportion of authorities providing at least one club
   would be 62.5%. This is a remarkable growth over four years, which puts
   homework clubs firmly on the national study support agenda.

Secondly that public library staff--including senior managers--regarded homework clubs as a priority for service development. They acknowledged their value as a stepping stone to more general learning centres and considered they should be part of the lifelong learning strategy and a core library service.

The report contains numerous quotes from students, teachers and library staff about the value of the clubs, including a teacher's observation that homework clubs are `not divorcing learning and school from the rest of the community'.

As David Manning, director of the London Libraries Development Agency notes in the report's foreword

   Free, welcoming and accessible to all, based on the soundly democratic
   principle of helping people to help themselves achieve their own goals,
   Homework Help Clubs, their growth and demonstrable success represent a
   remarkable testimony to the power public libraries have to enhance, even to
   change lives for the better.

The value and impact of homework clubs in public libraries should thus provide real food for thought among Australian and New Zealand public libraries, and I would be pleased to hear from anyone--other than the Mount Barker Library, South Australia, featured below--who is already providing a homework club or service.

The 29 page report itself is available from CIRT School of Information Studies University of Central England Perry Barr Birmingham B42 2SU UK ISBN 090 4354164. Alternatively I can supply a photocopy of salient parts. Email [e-mail], or PO Box 622 Blackwood SA 5051 fax [phone].