| Although school library media centers can be identified as participants in multitype library networks in at least 33 states, little is known about the degree of this involvement, the benefits to students, teachers, and administrators, the attitudes of librarians concerning the arrangements, or the contributions of school library media programs to these cooperative systems. This study was designed to examine the relationship between attitudes toward library networking and technology and the factors of network participation, years of experience, level of education, type of school assignment, degree of involvement in professional organizations, participation in continuing education opportunities, and number of technologies available as expressed by New York State public school library media specialists.;Factors which were determined to have a statistically significant relationship (p < .05) to attitudes toward library networking included: network participation, level of school assignment, membership and attendance at professional meetings, and participation in non-credit continuing education courses. A statistically significant linear relationship was also identified between attitudes toward technology and the following factors: years of experience, attendance at professional meetings, participation in both credit and non-credit continuing education opportunities, and number of technologies available in the library media center.;New York State school library media specialists ranked the establishment of interlibrary loan arrangements, the development of delivery systems, the provision of reference services, and maintenance of union catalogs as the most important services that networks could provide to school library media center programs. Viewed as least important were the development of library directories and the establishment of cooperative purchasing arrangements.;Little correlation was found between attitudes toward library networking and attitudes toward technology expressed by individuals employed in public schools in New York State. Further study is needed to determine additional factors which influence attitudes toward the two concepts and the significance of the interaction among the factors identified in this study.;A four-part questionnaire was distributed to 692 individuals and usable responses were received from 477, or 68.9 percent. The data were analyzed using the t-test, analysis of variance, multiple regression, and Pearson product moment statistical tests. |
