1. Croatian School Libraries Story Vanja Jurilj, MA Library, CASL president & Ivanka Stričević, PhD, UNIZD

2. Republic of Croatia: context  Preschool education 6 mnts - 6 yrs  700 kindergatens  Elementary (basic) education 6 - 14 yrs  901 elementary schools  Secondary education 14 - 18 yrs  425 grammar and vocational schools  Higher (tertiary) education 18 -... yrs  8 public univesrsities  Privat universities  Polytechnics  Population: 4,46 milion (2011 census)  EU state: 1 July 2013

3. School libraries and librarians  school libraries in elementary schools: 900  school libraries in secondary schools: 388  Every school library: school librarian  Professional profile of school librarians:  University study – librarianship (at 4 Universities)  300 ECTS (5 years university study)  60 ECTS in teaching competences  Included in 300 ECTS or in addition Bologna System: Basic scheme  Pregraduate study – 180 ECTS  Graduate study – 120 ECTS

4. Major challenges for school libraries/librarians  1) Two ministries responsible for libraries  Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports  Academic, special, research and school librares  Ministry of Culture  public libraries.  The Croatian Library Council - advisory body that subsumes both ministries  National and University Library (NUL) in Zagreb - serves both as the central library of the University of Zagreb and the national library of the entire Croatian library system 2) A lack of substantional financial investemnt in a school libraries collections 3) Legal requirements for the education of the school librarians are very high (university level in both LIS and teaching competences) but are not always followed  subordinated documents allow ´creative´ interpretations

5.  4) Uneven development of libraries  Although there are legislated standards by which libraries are meant to operate, school libraries in poorer places suffer from insufficient infrastructure  5) The measure of success of particular library  determined solely by the enthusiasm of individual school or librarian  6) The adoption and application of technology  not a part of a national plan, but instead depend on the awareness, interest, and financial capabilities of the library founder  7) Library software  several competing library-management software packages are used within the country, which inefficiently hinders cooperation

6. Factors that are positively affecting the advancement of school libraries  A long and rich history and tradition of librarianship has provided an excellent foundation for the sustainability of the libraries  Academic educational programs for the library profession  The law that obliges librarians to have graduate-level qualification which ensure professional status  Continuous transfer of knowledge and experiences within the country and with colleagues abroad  Conferences, seminars and periodic professional meetings on county or country level

7. Curricula reform 2015/2016  Recently under public discussion  Stresses the role of school library in two crosscurricular themes:  ICT usage  Learning to learn competences  Requires a close cooperation of teachers and librarians  Information literacy – stressed as an overall generic competence

8. Some reference points  Croatian Association of School Librarians  Croatian Library Association – School Libraries Section  Croatian network of scool librarians – knjiznicari.hr  School librarians on Facebook  Annual Conferences  School librarians’ Spring school  Proceedings  Conference of the Croatian Association of School Librarians