| Purpose. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to determine the state of automation in technical and user services in school library media centers in 10 southeastern states, and (b) to ascertain variables which appear to influence the application of computer technology to library media center management.;Methods. A survey instrument was developed, field-tested, and validated. A stratified random sample of approximately 550 was drawn from a population of 6,000 school library media specialists from small, medium, and large schools and questionnaires were coded and mailed. The data from the 330 returned questionnaires were analyzed using frequencies, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple regression.;Results. The frequency analyses revealed that user services were the most highly automated of all library media services. Circulation is the single most automated management function. The ANOVA analyses yielded significant differences in levels of automation among some of the states and among all of the school sizes. Large schools in all states were more automated than either medium or small schools. A variety of sources of funding exerted the most influence on automation, according to the multiple regression analyses. Media specialists perceived a need for more automation of user and technical services.;Conclusions. Several factors predominate in the automation of library media management: (a) large schools are more automated than small schools; (b) circulation is the most highly automated management function; (c) the more varied the sources of funding, the more likely the school is to automate; and (d) library media specialists support, attitudinally, the automation of technical and user services. |
