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Responses to the 2026 survey will be used to develop a report containing valuable benchmark information on school library staffing, budgets, resources, changing roles and technologies, and other important issues.
By taking part, you’ll help build benchmark data on staffing, budgets, resources, and trends in Australian school libraries. Your insights contribute to national advocacy and help highlight the essential role libraries play in learning and wellbeing.
The survey takes around 15 minutes and closes Friday 11 December 2026.
In this blog post we discuss:
The survey looks at important statistical information, such as staffing and budgets, as well as school library practices, services, resourcing, and trends.
We also ask open questions that give you the chance to share your ideas and offer insight into the day-to-day of your school library. We collate these and present them in shareable features (see below). All comments remain anonymous.
Released shortly after the survey, an initial snapshot of results is emailed to everyone who takes part. Broken down into 6 school size ranges, the summaries give an overview of budgets and staffing, plus other key items of interest such as services, trends and practices. You can access the 2025 Participant Summaries here.
The full report is published on our website early the following year and gives a complete breakdown of findings. You can access the 2025 Australian School Library Survey Report here.
Open-ended questions at the end of the survey give insight into school libraries as participants share their thoughts and ideas. As themes emerge, we collate these comments and share the voice of school library staff in feature documents.
Since 2015, we have produced over 20 feature documents, including Diversifying Your School Library Collection.
Other themes include: How do you incorporate AI in your school library? How can school libraries improve students’ emotional health or wellbeing? What are the challenges facing school libraries? What are the current trending topics in school libraries? How do you promote the school library? What are some ideas for collaboration or other innovative ideas you have implemented in your school library?
For more, visit the Softlink Resources – Reports & Whitepapers page.
Comments provided in the school library survey are used to inform articles written for external publications such as:
Sharing the voice of school library staff and their ideas matters to us. We also include comments in blog posts we think you’ll find interesting or useful. Click the images below for a sample.
Statistics and comments help us build snapshots around themes in infographics. Click the images below to view examples.
The Softlink School Library Survey was initiated in 2010 as a response to the Australian Government’s Inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools.
The inquiry received 387 submissions that led to 11 recommendations around funding, online databases, digital literacy, the role of school library staff, promoting reading, professional development, further study and research, and government partnerships with school libraries and teacher librarians.
Other points of interest shared in the Overview were that:
The full report is available here.
Since then, Softlink has surveyed Australian schools annually to highlight the issues and opportunities school libraries experience. 2026 marks the 17th year of the survey.
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